Cleeland ready to represent region

By Colin MacGillivray

NEW Member for Euroa Annabelle Cleeland has vowed to ‘hit the ground running’ and advocate strongly for the region after a comfortable victory in Saturday’s state election.

Ms Cleeland succeeds the outgoing Steph Ryan as a Nationals member representing the seat, garnering about 35 per cent of the primary vote with two thirds of votes counted yesterday afternoon.

With preferences from Liberal candidate Brad Hearn, who had earned more than 20 per cent of the primary vote as of yesterday, Ms Cleeland easily topped Labor candidate Angela Tough 62 per cent to 38 per cent on a two-party preferred basis.

Ms Cleeland said she was still processing the election victory after a long campaign but she was eager to begin working.

She said she would seek to work constructively with the government as an opposition member after Labor retained power.

Ms Cleeland said strong results for The Nationals – picking up the seats of Mildura, Morwell and Shepparton – in what was otherwise a dismal election for the Coalition showed the party was still a force to be reckoned with in the country.

“We’re in opposition, but the Nationals have had an extraordinary result as a party and it has given us an opportunity to be quite powerful and influential,” she said.

“I think that will help ensure that a lot of commitments can be fought for more easily, because several of our major commitments in the Euroa electorate were matched by Labor.

“I want to work with this government and give them an opportunity to support regional Victoria.

“I think they should take heed of the outcomes of this election and understand that regional Victoria is incredibly influential and powerful when they vote, and they’re not going to endure another four years of investment neglect.

“Now that the election is behind us it’s time to work together.”

Ms Cleeland said progress on a Kilmore bypass would be at the top of her advocacy priorities, along with funding for improved health services and road infrastructure.

She said she would use her background in journalism to highlight people’s stories in Parliament.

“Since the first day I was preselected I have been compiling a list of personal stories of people living in Kilmore and what [the lack of a bypass] means for health and safety reasons,” she said.

“I want to start echoing those stories in Parliament to start highlighting the real impact to people’s lives that a lack of investment has.

“I want to use storytelling as a powerful tool, because everyone in our community has got the most amazing stories.

“This role is to be a conduit between the people and the Parliament, so I will be repeating people’s stories in Parliament to a statewide audience.

“We have the data and we know what our social and infrastructure challenges are, but once you personalise it and put people’s names and experience to it, suddenly it becomes incredibly real.”

Ms Cleeland said her election was ‘an incredible privilege’ and thanked voters for putting their trust in her.

She also thanked Ms Ryan for her guidance during the campaign.

“I’m grateful for the support of everyone in the Euroa district and the support of everyone who helped me with the campaign,” she said.

“I was fortunate to have been mentored by Steph Ryan, but I feel [succeeding her] also had a big weight of expectation.

“I travelled about 30,000 kilometres in three months, I covered every town and tried to meet with every community group possible.

“I want to hit the ground running before Christmas and in the new year to go back to those community groups and individuals who have supported me so much.”