By Corey Everitt
La Trobe candidates made their pitch to local voters this week with only a few days to go until the nation goes to the polls.
Cardinia Shire Council hosted an election Q&A for the public at the Cardinia Cultural Centre on Tuesday 29 April, where the council employed futurist speaker Simon Waller to moderate the event.
Labor’s Jeff Springfield and Liberal incumbent Jason Wood were joined by Greens Jamie Longmuir, One Nation’s Leo Panetta and Trumpet of Patriots Gregory Thomas Hardiman.
Family First’s Ron Malhotra could not attend.
Candidates responded to questions from the council and the community regarding transport, infrastructure, cost of living and the environment.
Wood argued for better economic management through all new infrastructure, listing off projects that he claimed suffered cost blowouts.
“We need to have in place, when it comes to priorities, that we make sure we get the best value of taxpayer money when we do these projects,” he said.
Springfield argued that more cohesion in Parliament must be achieved for more effective projects.
“For these major infrastructure projects, we need to have cross-party decision making where we come to the point where we agree,” he said.
“We have to have a systematic approach, data-driven, to prioritise the need within our community.”
Panetta, a small business owner from Tynong, spruiked his hard yakka credentials to illustrate why the Princes Highway, and many other roads, need improvement.
“It affects me personally, I don’t know how many people on this panel drive a heavy vehicle, but I do,” he said.
“I can tell you how unsafe these roads are, I have an excavator on the back of my ten-ton truck and every little pothole I look like a drunk driver trying to avoid them.
“You can guarantee I’m going to take this one, take it on board, and I’m going to fight for the people of Tynong.”
Hardiman highlighted social infrastructure like Cardinia Life, describing how there is no room for his son to swim freely after his weekly lessons.
“It’s absolutely packed. For me, my priority will be developing the recreational facilities for our kids, community members, the elderly, all of the groups that need them.”
“We can do a lot better, but we need the funding.”
Cost of living has become the key question in this election and Springfield had the tough job of defending his party’s term when many residents were doing it tough.
He said the current government assumed office after the “major upheaval” of the pandemic, where the economy was “flooded” with money and demand rose substantially.
“For the last three years, what I’ve heard, is such a blame game,” he said.
“For the Labor Government, we are focused on health, education into the future, bringing the cost down of your GP visits, more bulk billing, bringing the cost down for education and giving more access to these services is going to help us build the future that we really need.”
Wood responded by saying life has become “exceptionally difficult” and pushed the Coalition’s policies, such as the halving of the fuel excise for a year. Then, he shifted to bringing back the Australian Building and Construction Commission.
“We’ve been calling out the CFMEU for years, it finally took 60 minutes and the Age for the government to say ‘we need to stamp this out’,” he said.
“We had a watchdog in the construction industry, we need to bring that back, we need to make sure everyone is fair and balanced when it comes to construction prices across the country.”
Another topic was the environment, which Waller prefaced with the bushfires and storms that have plagued the shire and asked the candidates, “Do you believe that climate change is a major issue that Australia must face?”
Panetta said he doesn’t believe recent natural disasters are linked to climate change and proposed that action to clean debris from the bush should be prioritised.
Hardiman did not want to address climate change as he felt it wasn’t something he considered “to be as important as the other issues tonight,” but he said he believes in strong mitigation strategies in preparation and recovery from natural disasters.
Springfield believed “in the science” and said it’s “so important to reduce” the impact on the environment “in every way that we can.”
Wood said the Liberal Party has changed over his years on the matter of climate change and emphasised continued collaboration in emergency recovery and preparation.
“All governments have done pretty well when it comes to supporting Cardinia Council when it comes to bushfire recovery or emergency recovery,” he said.
“As he heard Jeff talk about working together, when it comes to emergencies, the community, the governments, we all work together.”
Longmuir reasserted the science and said how the world has already breached significant irreversible thresholds on climate change.
“What we want to do at the Greens is no new fossil fuel projects, to actually take climate change seriously,” he said.
“If you look at the major parties and what they have done over the years, they still support fossil fuel projects, the Greens want to push toward renewables.
“We also need more support for services; I’ve spoken to the CFA and they say we need more funding, we need to be able to push for these things, but it comes down to stopping the emissions.”
On health and well-being, Springfield mentioned youth crime which he said is raised to him frequently at the pre-poll booth.
Though policing is a state matter, Springfield said the federal government has a role to play in fostering programs and services that can integrate young people into a healthy social life.
Wood raised his dedication to the sporting clubs, an area he pledges a significant amount of funding to across the shire, he listed off all the funding commitments he has made so far.
He also mentioned his work on community safety programs to keep kids in school and recovery efforts post-incarceration.
Longmuir, among all candidates, said he would push for more funding to sporting and recreational facilities.
He also raised the matter of the Beaconsfield Reservoir, wanting to see it reopened to the public as a significant park for the community.
Panetta said, “The more people that are involved in arts and sports, the more people that are off the streets.”
In their final pitch to the community, Springfield said his vision was about “bringing people along the journey” and making the “community feel a part of the process” rather than divided.
Wood highlighted tourism and the arts that can help the area thrive, but threw it back to the community and said, “You need to prioritise what you want us to focus on.”
Growing up in Officer, Longmuir said he wanted to see a “prosperous community” that protected the environment and farming land.
Panetta wanted “unity” and a community that “relies on each other,” where politicians are their “voice”.
Inclined to “dream big”, Hardiman pitched the local area to be an example to other shires across Australia and said the proposed South East Airport is key to the prosperity of the area, a matter he will push for.
