Endorsed Liberal candidate for Narracan Wayne Farnham will not be resting on the security of an 11 per cent margin when he faces the State Government election in November.
Mr Farnham has been officially endorsed by the party to stand as its candidate when incumbent Gary Blackwood retires at the end of his current term.
With an 11 per cent margin, Narracan is regarded as one of the safest Liberal seats in the state. But it is not a margin Mr Farnham will take for granted.
"That is Gary Blackwood's margin, not Wayne Farnham's. As far as the safe seat goes, I am starting at zero," he said.
So why would someone with a background in the building and construction industry want to go into politics? It is a question Mr Farnham has been asked several times in recent months.
"The why is simple. I don't want to be a politician. There are enough politicians in Spring St. I want to be a representative in parliament to have a positive impact on people's lives. That's what the job is about.
"I have always been interested in local issues and the work Gary has done. I think I can carry that on...but it's big shoes to fill," he said.
Mr Farnham's father George began Farnham Building in 1974 and the family name has continued in the industry ever since, with Mr Farnham's company is Farnham Built.
"The Farnham brand has been around for almost 50 years so there is a profile attached to that but through my own community I work as coach of two netball teams and captain at the golf club, people know who I am and know what I am about," he said.
All political candidates come with a wish list but Mr Farnham said the top priority for Narracan was a new West Gippsland Hospital.
"I'll be very forceful in my representation to Matthew Guy about the need for better healthcare services through a new hospital," he said.
But, he said, it was not just about delivering a new hospital, but the whole package of health services including a desperate need for more mental health support and ambulance services.
Infrastructure to meet the growing population of West Gippsland also will be a focus of Mr Farnham's lobbying efforts with a Drouin bypass and two new schools in Warragul and Drouin among his priorities.
"A Drouin bypass won't happen overnight so we need to look at some quicker solutions to ease the traffic congestion in Drouin such as the Balfour Rd link to Lardner Rd.
"We have to design our infrastructure to suit a population of 130,000 not the 55,000 people we have now," he said.
"Recover Rebuild" is the slogan the Liberal Party will use heading into the election and Mr Farnham said it was all about restoring people's confidence in government.
He said the Recover Rebuild package committed $2.5 billion to regional infrastructure, of which $1 billion will be to support manufacturing expansion in regional areas.
"We have to get back to local manufacturing because that equates to jobs and economic growth.
"And we have to get small business up and going...clear the red tape for small business to get them moving forward again.
"I don't believe this state can afford to keep this government. They spend and spend and spend and then to cover the poor planning and budget blowouts they tax and tax and tax.
"I am the right person in this electorate to fight for what we need and the Andrews government can't be trusted to deliver what we need because history tells me they haven't done it before and they're not going to now," he said.