Glenelg Shire mayor Anita Rank has swapped political parties and is in the running for National Party pre-selection to run for a Western Victoria upper house seat.
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She is joined by Warrnambool City councillor Mike Neoh, who has also thrown his hat in the ring.
In 2015 Ms Rank ran for Liberal party pre-selection for South West Coast in the lower house.
When contacted by The Standard on Thursday afternoon, Mrs Rank was driving and said she was too busy to be interviewed.
Mr Neoh said his passion was for rural and regional Victoria. He ran for the Nationals at the 2015 South West Coast by-election.
“I think I have a lot to contribute,” he said.
“I’ve got really good experience in terms of liaising with politicians on all sides of government. Something I’m extremely passionate about is to make sure regional Victoria gets it share in terms of funding and infrastructure.”
Mr Neoh said he was looking looking forward to putting forward his case for preselection to the party.
“It’s more than just projects,” he said.
“Unemployment is a real key. Another key issues is decentralisation. It’s on everyone’s lips, but not a lot is happening. It’s not necessarily about bringing an agency here, but looking at functions, whether that’s IT or administration or customer service. A really good example is Valuer-General Victoria, which has employed local people to do that role.”
Mr Neoh said a crucial issue was education.
“I’d like to see more frontline teachers in classrooms and also support for students with special needs,” he said.
“They often fall through the gaps. With support, they can get through potentially to VCE and that would be a real bonus.”
Mr Neoh said there was also huge potential for the region’s agriculture sector through exports.
“We need to support those small-to-medium size businesses through the bureaucracy and red tape in exports,” he said.
“The state government needs to play a part in that. We can’t just rely on the federal government. We can help facilitate through the red tape to get to market.”
Mr Neoh stressed he was only running for pre-selection at this point .
He said the western region covered a lot of space and offered plenty of diversity.
“I’m also passionate about road and rail,” he said.
“It’s an issue right across the western region.”
The other candidates are Jo Armstrong from south of Ararat, Andrew Black from Miners Rest and Leila Sweeney-McDougall from Tatyoon.
The preselection will take place in Ballarat on Saturday, June 23.
The state election will be held on Saturday, November 24.