Four candidates, all female, faced a small crowd at the VFF rural forum for the state seat of Shepparton on Tuesday, November 8.
Only about 25 people attended the forum, and few of them were farmers.
Meeting chair, VFF policy director Charles Everist, noted the focus on the November 26 Victorian election had been affected by the floods.
Candidates participating in the forum were State Member for Shepparton Suzanna Sheed, Nationals candidate Kim O’Keeffe, Liberal candidate Cheryl Hammer and Freedom Party candidate Dianne Teasdale.
The forum was a quiet affair, with only a few questions from the floor and little cross-candidate debate.
This is the first time in many years the Coalition parties have both put forward female candidates and are trying to unseat a female independent.
Labor candidate Liam Cowan did not attend the forum.
Ms Sheed gave a vigorous critique of the contribution of the Coalition parties at the end of the night.
She said up until eight years ago the seat was held by the National Party for 47 years, but in the past eight years the electorate had enjoyed more investment than any other time.
Ms Sheed scoffed at allegations by the Coalition parties that a vote for an independent was a vote for Daniel Andrews, saying that with his clear majority, he didn’t need her vote, and referring to a pamphlet circulating in Shepparton about the claim, said if she had it with her she would “tear it up”.
The poor condition of rural roads was raised by several candidates, and Ms Hammer said the party had committed $10 billion to road funding.
“And we don’t want the Labor Government to blame floods for the deterioration of the roads, which were already in a very poor state before the floods,” she said.
Roads and rail is one of the four major issues flagged by the VFF.
Ms O’Keeffe twice told the forum hers was the only party specifically dedicated to advancing interests of rural people.
She addressed the four areas prioritised by the VFF, including roads and rail, noting she had never seen the roads in such a poor condition, and said her party promised increased penalties for people trespassing on farmland.
Ms Hammer told the forum the region couldn’t afford to lose any more water through buybacks to the Murray-Darling Basin Plan, describing that prospect as “an absolute catastrophe”.
Ms Sheed said she would continue to maintain a working relationship with state water ministers to ensure the region was protected from any federal intervention in water security.
Ms Teasdale said the community needed stronger leaders to prevent water being taken away from agriculture.
Ms Sheed criticised the Labor Government for having two senior agriculture-related ministers in the upper house (agriculture and water), and not in the lower house where government is formed.