Freedom Party candidate Leonie Blackwell is excited about the opportunity to serve the community if elected to represent Narracan.
Not deterred that the ALP has already formed government, Ms Blackwell said the community was full of ideas and there was so much to be done.
"My role will be to harness this and support communities to flourish," she said
The Drouin naturopath said she was concerned about the decline in mental, emotional, and physical health and wellbeing in recent years.
"I feel there is a need for common sense approaches that leaves no one behind. We need jobs kept in Australia and country areas considered rather than city-centred policy decisions," she said.
Ms Blackwell stood for local council elections 25 years ago and from that developed opportunities to expand her interest and contributions to to local community work.
She said most people believed the Narracan electorate had been overlooked for many years because it had been too safe a seat to attract funding. Because of this, she said many infrastructure projects from roads to the hospital were on a growing list.
Ms Blackwell said there also was a need to support local businesses of all sizes and keep jobs in the area.
The loss of valuable farmland to the urban spread also was important to local residents.
"Most people want to live a comfortable life raising their children and this is getting harder with the soaring rises in power and living costs restricting what we expect from living in this wonderful country.
Ms Blackwell said if elected she would advocate for the needs of the community.
She said there were opportunities to network with stakeholders to facilitate solutions that did not have to depend on state government funding.
"The floor of parliament provides me with a voice for the district to have our issues heard. Narracan still has the spirit of the independent, self-reliant Aussie and I believe we can unify to work with all levels of government and the community to resolve the challenges we are facing.
"The ALP are promising the delivery of the hospital and we need to build a swell of community pressure that I can take to the floor of parliament to hold them to this commitment," she said.