Phillip Chua has goals of becoming the bridge between small communities and Greater Shepparton City Council, so he has put his name forward for this year’s council election.
Mr Chua is in the running for the Pine Lodge Ward, having lived there for six years; however, he’s been a Greater Shepparton resident for over 25 years.
“I’ve lived in and around in all sorts of different places, so I’ve lived north, south, east, west. I’ve been everywhere,” he said.
He was inspired to run for council after listening to the concerns of those around him.
“You talk to people, and there’s a lot of frustration around,” he said.
“If you have enough of those conversations, you realise that people have these issues, but they don’t necessarily want to be the champion for that and be that person who is in the spotlight, fighting for that change even though they’re passionate about it.
“I feel like I’m a good person to be able to do that. I can be that person who is the bridge between the communities and the people in council.”
He acknowledged the usual three concerns were primary issues and said he hoped to come to the conversation as someone who was affected by them.
“There’s always the traditional three that people talk about: roads, rates and rubbish,” Mr Chua said.
“That’s always going to be what people will talk about.”
As well as the three Rs, Mr Chua has a specialised area that he’d like to make a priority.
“I have a background in allied health, so health and wellness is a space that I’m particularly passionate about,” he said.
“We already in Greater Shepparton have an amazing array of different green spaces and things like that, but it’s an area that I think we can do better in.
“More space shades and access to this sort of thing can be improved.”
He loves the region, and has been able to experience it “through different lenses”.
“You see it through the lens of a kid growing up through schools and through high schools, then being employed and working in the area in the region and now we have two young boys, so you see it through the eyes of young kids,” he said.
“There are things that are in all those areas that have been great to be part of, and I think you utilise different areas at different ages and stages of life.”