General News
11 November, 2021
MP visits Mortlake after electoral changes
LOWAN MP Emma Kealy made her first visit to Mortlake last week since Victoria’s Electoral Boundaries Commission announced the town and surrounding areas would shift in to the district at the 2022 state election.
LOWAN MP Emma Kealy made her first visit to Mortlake last week since Victoria’s Electoral Boundaries Commission announced the town and surrounding areas would shift in to the district at the 2022 state election.
Speaking with Western District Newspapers, she said it was important to hit the ground running as listening was the only way to represent a community.
“It has been interesting for me because there are some new businesses and opportunities in town. It was good to see where Mortlake is heading, the confidence of the community in how they are feeling and what is happening next for them,” Ms Kealy said.
“It’s always good to talk to businesses to see how they are feeling about specific issues.
“I am impressed that people have had the confidence to share their personal stories, which is quite humbling as an MP when people are willing to share their personal experiences with confidence you will do your best to respect that but also to make a difference and get a positive outcome.”
Ms Kealy said her career prior to politics had reinforced the importance of providing representation for the community.
The Edenhope native studied biomedical science in Adelaide and worked throughout Victoria before returning to her hometown in 2010, where she became Edenhope District and Memorial Hospital chief officer.
“I was very fortunate to have a career in health care and be appointed as the chief officer of the hospital I was born in 32 years later,” Ms Kealy said.
“I was able to work with the community to build our first GP clinic and attract our first female GP, train up some of the staff to do X-rays or pathology testing so people didn’t have to travel an hour away to Horsham to get the testing done, you could get it done in Edenhope – a town of 1000 people.
“Those are the things that put a smile on my face at the end of the day. I could look back and think it was a good, positive day.”
She said she was drawn to state politics after seeing the opportunity to be involved in bringing further reaching benefits to the wider community.
It was no longer just about Edenhope and the town’s health care; she could work towards the betterment of a lot of regional communities in all aspects of their lives, which “makes a difference to how you feel about yourself and about your community”.
“It is health care, police, our roads and transport systems, our schools and education,” Ms Kealy said.
“That’s why I enjoy state politics. I feel like it does have an impact on people’s day to day lives and if you get it right, it can be great in terms of what the government can deliver.
“When it isn’t right, what I see too often is a city-centric, one-size-fits-all ideal that comes out from people in Melbourne, who can see that it fits there, but it doesn’t necessarily provide that flexibility and fit for regional areas.
“I think that’s what makes the difference when I talk to anybody in the community – whether they are volunteers, parents, and people doing their job or running a business, everybody wants to make their mark in their own way and leave the region a better place than when they came in. That’s no different from me.”
While she stressed no seat in politics is safe, Ms Kealy holds one of the safest seats in Victoria.
Her margin of victory in 2018 was among the highest in the state with 73.5 per cent of preferred votes.
She first won the seat in 2014, succeeding Hugh Delahunty. Lowan has been National-held from 1979 until its 1992 abolition, and again since 2002 following re-establishment.
Ms Kealy said the seat is not an easy one to represent, as the largest geographic district in Victoria it will cover 41,857 square kilometres following the 2022 State Election.
“The fear for a lot of people is how do you get fair electoral representation, and that isn’t just about who is your sitting member but also having a sufficient number of seats in the parliament so that country people can vote as a block and have their voice heard when there are city-centric policies in place, in particular, because that makes a difference,” she said.
“We can never have country people forgotten when it comes to state wide policies and laws which make a difference to how we have the opportunity to live our lives.
“So my office is my car. I get in to communities more frequently, which is important because you get a different feel when you can talk to people, look them in the eye and see how passionate they are about a project.”
