Newly announced Labor candidate Angela Tough is ready to put up a fight for the Nationals-held seat of Euroa in the November state election.
The Euroa Secondary College teacher has previously run as an independent for the seat of Indi while living in Ancona, near Bonnie Doon.
Now living in Kelvin View on a cattle farm with her husband and children, she is an active member of the Strathbogie community and a leader of her school community.
Passionate about agriculture and education, Ms Tough rediscovered her passion for ALP politics during the pandemic.
“Watching Daniel Andrews get up every single day and face the press, I was so impressed, and not doing necessarily the popular thing but the right thing, you could see the toll it took. I was actually really inspired to re-engage again,” she said.
“I would love the chance to take on that challenge and to be one of those people that leads their communities for the right reasons and to work really hard to get what needs to be done, done.
“I’m really proud to stand as a Labor person with the amount of work they do.
“They are not a party for the inner city, they are a party for all Victorians.
“There are more Labor people in country seats than there are Nationals, representing country people. I think the Labor party does a really good job of that and I would love to show the electorate that it can be possible for our seat, too.
“We can get more stuff done, we can get more money, more attention, with a Labor person in the seat.”
A self-professed problem solver, Ms Tough is looking to provide an alternative voice for those in the Euroa electorate who do not currently feel as though they are represented.
“There’s a whole lot of really quiet, hard-working people in regional areas that are supportive and wanting to be a part of their communities but are working really, really hard,” she said.
“I’m particularly motivated by speaking up for people who can’t and I’ve always been a bit of a bully fighter who will stand toe-to-toe with people if I think there has been an injustice.
“I arrived and looked around the political scene and I was a little bit disappointed by how conservative the area was.
“While I have a real underlying sense of social justice and equality, I also understand how to negotiate, compromise and work with people.
“I’ve achieved a lot working with people who are very different to me.”
Ms Tough plans to focus and foster what is amazing and unique within the electorate through investment in local people, rather than focus on what the city has that Euroa does not.
“It’s not different ‘less’, it’s just different,” she said.
“There’s a lot of joy and love to be found in country towns.”
For now, though, Ms Tough’s top priority is engaging with the community to find out its needs in the lead-up to the election.
“I want to have the opportunity to talk to as many diverse people as possible,” she said.
“It’s a huge seat and there’s need right across the seat.”
Ms Tough said she was ready to advocate for change and believed there was a lot of opportunity for the people of Euroa under a Labor government.
“You vote the way you’ve always voted, you’ll get what you’ve always got, and I think it’s time for a change,” she said.
“It’s time people get what they deserve in this seat, and I don’t think they are currently getting that.”