Council
31 July, 2025
Tehan vows to be staunch for the opposition
MEMBER for Wannon Dan Tehan has vowed to ensure regional communities are not forgotten as part of his first speech since re-election when Parliament resumed last week.
Mr Tehan was re-elected as Wannon MP for a sixth time in May this year.
In his opening remarks, he said it was an honour to return to Parliament in a show of trust from voters he said he does not take lightly.
Mr Tehan noted the importance of the democratic process and reflected on being a member of the 48th Parliament – a number he said was “quite incredible.”
“It shows in many ways how young our democracy still is and I think is a lesson to all of us as to how important democracy is,” he said.
“We should not take for granted in any way that we have the greatest opportunity globally to be able to form government and that is through democracy, because the sad reality is that, as we look internationally, more and more tyranny is coming to the fore again.
“If we’re not vigilant and if we’re not careful, all those long-term gains that we’ve made in ensuring that liberty goes to the heart of forming governments around this nation will be eroded away.”
Mr Tehan said he viewed his role as a member of the opposition as making his return to parliament “probably more important than it ever has been”.
“Especially in representing a rural electorate, one of the things we have to ensure is that this government does not get arrogant, does not get full of hubris and does not forget that it needs to govern for all Australians,” he said.
“Sadly, in the state of Victoria we aren’t seeing that.
“We are seeing more and more complete and utter neglect of those outside major cities.
“Every single day I will be reminding government that good government of this nation means governing for all people, no matter where they live.”
Mr Tehan said roads had emerged as the number one priority for votes during the campaigning process.
“I say to those opposite: never ever forget or underestimate how important roads are to rural and regional communities right across this nation,” he said.
“One of the things I have great pride in is having fought to get significant road and rail infrastructure funding for my electorate.
“It’s not going to stop and it will never stop, because those needs continue to grow, sadly, because we’ve had a Victorian State Government who has failed to invest into our road and rail infrastructure.”
Mr Tehan said he would advocate to bring his election promises to fruition despite the Coalition not being elected, saying the widespread infrastructure upgrades should be a priority for any government.
“I want to try and make sure that we do everything we can to keep them on the government’s agenda, both federally and at the state level,” he said.
“I will not stop, through the next three years, doing everything I can to work with you to make sure that we can get investments into these much-needed programs, because they are critically important.”
Mr Tehan said he believed regional Australians felt they were not part of the national agenda.
“We feel like we are being used in so many ways it’s not funny, whether it be for the energy transition or whether it be for fixing society’s problems,” he said.
“Crime is becoming an ever-more-present issue in our communities when it wasn’t there.
“The services are not there for our populations at this time, and there is a real need for a focus again – and I made this point earlier – on making sure that governments at both the national and the state levels know and understand that you have to govern for everyone, for all people.
“Immediately after the federal election, I was on a fire truck heading to Spring Street because of unfair taxes being placed on community volunteers in my electorate.
“That is just one of many issues which are becoming more and more apparent, of the complete misunderstanding of how our communities work and function.”
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