Newly announced Labor candidate Angela Tough is ready to put up a fight for the Nationals’ strong-hold seat of Euroa in the upcoming 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 in the Goulburn Valley on a cattle farm with her husband and children, she is an active member of the Strathbogie community and a leader of the school community.
Passionate about agriculture and education, Angela rediscovered her passion for Labor party 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, Mrs Tough 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, Angela is looking to provide an alternative voice for those within the Euroa electorate that do not 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 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.”
Angela 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 their 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.”
Angela says she is ready to agitate for change and believes there is 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 its time for a change, she said.
“I think its time people get what they deserve in this seat, and I don’t think they are currently getting that.”