Warrnambool born and bred Megan Lane takes tilt at Victorian upper house in state election as an independent

Warrnambool-bred former journalist Megan Lane has announced her tilt at politics, running as an independent candidate for Western Victoria in the Victorian Legislative Council election in November.

Soon-to-be relocating to Simpson from Melbourne, Ms Lane said keeping the government honest and accountable would be the guiding principles behind her campaign.

"Having proper checks and balances on government, in the current environment, has a lot to do with the quality of the independents," she said.

"I'm really concerned about integrity, and the broader issues that I think people expect politicians to be dealing with - the crisis in our health and aged care [systems], ethics and oversight... and accountability."

Ms Lane will be running against Liberal Party candidate Bev MacArthur who tops the Liberal ticket for the Western Victorian upper house seat. Other incumbents include the Labor Party's Jaala Pulford and Gayle Tierney, Derryn Hinch's Justice Party's Stuart Grimley and Animal Justice Party's Andy Meddick.

She said Victorians needed more representatives who were motivated by their community and policy rather than those "trying to benefit a party".

"If the federal election showed anything, it's that neither of the major parties are enjoying a great reputation among people," she said.

"If anyone thinks that is just a federal issue, they're joking.

"[Voters] want common sense, properly researched and analysed, [and] properly consulted policies that are good for the people of Victoria."

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The 55-year-old, who has also worked in communications and corporate affairs for organisations including the Country Fire Authority (CFA), Telstra, National Australia Bank (NAB), and the Victorian state government, said her decision to run for the upper house came from a concern about the politicisation of critical public services.

"I was pretty surprised at what was happening [with] supposedly independent authorities such as the fire service, or police, or ambulance," she said.

"My observations and personal experiences of dealing with government and politicians during the fire services dispute really led me to understand how important it is to have checks and balances on parliamentarians."

Ms Lane said she would also campaign on environmental issues and climate action.

"Things that further concerned me and led me to make this decision are things like seeing illegal logging going on and VicForests doing very little about it," she said.

"Those are the things that damage the everyday lives of Victorians, and they've been shortchanged because politicians are dropping the ball, or in fact, they're handballing the ball as part of the game."

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