General News
1 June, 2022
Federal candidate reflects on “eye-opener”
MORTLAKE business owner Amanda Mead is settling back in to her normal life after a whirlwind tilt at last month’s Federal Election.
MORTLAKE business owner Amanda Mead is settling back in to her normal life after a whirlwind tilt at last month’s Federal Election.
Mrs Mead, who lives in the Chatsworth area and owns Blush Boutique Salon in Mortlake, stood as a Liberal Democrats candidate for Wannon at the 2022 Federal Election.
She said having the opportunity to step outside her comfort zone and engage with members of the community on the issues impacting them had been a “huge eye-opener”.
“It was a lot of fun, and I really liked getting the opportunity to know people one-on-one,” she said.
“With such a low budget my tactic was just to speak directly with local business owners and community groups because I didn’t have the money to be buying big advertisements or Facebook ads.
“It had to be grassroots, but it turned out to be the thing I enjoyed most.
“Just meeting people and learning about different industries.”
Mrs Mead began her campaign as a political neophyte with no prior experience.
She wanted to get involved due to her concerns surrounding government response to the COVID-19 pandemic and a desire to see more every day people represented among political leadership.
As her campaign progressed, Mrs Mead said she noticed the community shared a desire for fresh, authentic representation.
“One thing I realised was people are done with the faÇade of a politician,” she said.
“The more I was myself the more I connected with people.”
Throughout her campaign Mrs Mead brought a number of high-profile Liberal Democrats to Mortlake in an effort to ensure the views of regional Victoria resonated throughout the party.
“One thing I loved about the Liberal Democrats was we basically became a family, where if something was important to one person it was important to everyone,” she said.
“I kept saying to (Liberal Democrats senate candidate) David Limbrick the decisions made for metropolitan areas have negative consequences in rural areas at a state and federal level.”
Mrs Mead said she was excited to be back to her day-to-day life, reopening Blush Boutique salon this week and spending time farming with her husband.
“One thing I have noticed is the cost of everything has continued to go up. I did my last order in January, and to reopen without increasing prices too much I’ve decided to take a profit loss,” she said.
“Even a bag of bleach has gone up between 25-30 per cent since January, and the cost of living is only going to get worse.
“It’s opened my eyes, and I’m a little sceptical because I know it’s going to hit pockets, but I’m excited to open up.”
While Mrs Mead shared in a modest percentage of first preference votes, at 1.8 per cent at the time of writing, she said she was proud to have run a grassroots campaign as a minor party candidate lacking the major financial backing some of her challengers held.
“It was incredible, even if the amount of support wasn’t shown in the vote,” she said.
“It’s opened up the community to me and I feel even more engrained in the community.
“It’s made me want to fight even harder.”