In the fourth part of our series on the prominent contenders for the seat of Mildura at the state election later this month, independent candidate Glenn Milne took time out to discuss his hopes and aspirations with ALLAN MURPHY this week.
WIN, lose or draw, independent candidate for the seat of Mildura Glenn Milne wants to make as much noise as possible this election campaign to ensure future governments understand the current and future needs of the community.
The seven-term Mildura mayor and veteran councillor of 18 years, Mr Milne said it was largely that experience that prompted him to run for the seat held by another independent in Ali Cupper.
He said the failure of the Labor Government to fund an upgrade of Timmis Speedway so it could resume competition gave him the incentive to run as a state candidate for the first time since 2010.
“That’s not to say it was the most important issue, but it was kind of the final last straw,” Mr Milne told Sunraysia Daily this week.
“After the last council meeting I was just frustrated that Timmis didn’t get their money.
“You just need to look at what we are missing out on in funding – our roads, the floods, the pressures that are on the community, the rates, affordable housing – all of these things, and nothing is really moving to the advantage of our community.
“The government can come up with $15 million for a netball team (Netball Australia) just on a whim because they saw a need, but they never seem to see a need for us in our community and it’s about time they did.
“We’re Victorians too, and again it’s about being fair and equitable and that hasn’t been the case.
“You just need to make a lot of noise and become a pain in the neck and keep going on those issues because the asks are fair.”
Mr Milne said he was “absolutely sick and tired” of not just Mildura, but all of country Victoria, being treated like poor cousins by successive “city-centric” governments.
He said better health services, rail and road connections, improved public transport and cheaper housing were all “a fair ask” for the region.
“Don’t worry about Ballarat, Bendigo and Geelong because they are just suburbs of Melbourne, but once you get outside of that is where you need a better deal and I’ll just keep raising those issues,” he said.
“Everybody’s asking for it — from growers to people in the community, families, the poor, the rich — and people want less government interference in their lives.
“Melbourne needs to change the way that it looks at country Victoria.
“When you look at how much food we produce here and what we add to the gross domestic product of the nation, we deserve to be up in that 20-25 per cent of the budget being spent in regional Victoria to ensure there’s a plan to have good services.
“It’s almost at the point where, as farmers, everybody should grab their trucks and tractors and go and block Melbourne and see how they feel because somebody needs to make them listen and being nice to them and sucking up isn’t helping.”
Mr Milne said that while the Coalition had committed $750 million to build a new Mildura hospital, the current Labor Government “haven’t committed to anything in Mildura”.
“At least the Coalition have come out with some positives — some things that are very much needed — and also the commitment to spend a good percentage of the budget into country and regional Victoria,” he said.
“If you are governing for the state you should be making sure that everything is as uniform as it can be for every resident right across Victoria, so we should have the same access to health services at basically the same cost.
“The Coalition promise of a new hospital is a great thing and that should be supported … vote them in and make them accountable for it.
“There’s nothing wrong with a redevelopment if it can be done and while I’m not saying don’t spend some money on a new one, the real issue is how do you staff it with the specialists and doctors to provide the services that we really need.”
Mr Milne said the amount of money wasted on the Murray Basin Rail Project was “probably the biggest issue” facing the region with no fix in sight.
“The Coalition put the money up and got that project up and started – the Andrews Government did their own paperwork and background work and costings, and then they completely messed it up and it’s not good enough,” he said.
“Come election time everyone talks about it, but there has been nothing done about it in the past three years except getting messed up and Auditor-General reports saying what a bad job they have done with it, so we need to get that fixed.
“Our community wants a passenger rail and we are never going to have that unless they fix the railway line, so they have got to get serious about doing it.”
Mr Milne said rates was another issue “that everybody talks about” and one that state governments had the opportunity to fix.
“Everybody in the whole state should pay the same amount of wealth tax on the same assets, so if you have got a $1 million house in Melbourne you should be paying the same rates as Mildura,” he said.
“It is just the right thing to do. They are there to govern for the whole state, not to govern for Melbourne – that’s the problem, our state governments govern for Melbourne and so they make decisions to keep themselves in power and they forget about country Victoria.
“That’s why we have got poor roads, poor rail and high rates – because they literally don’t care.
“And that hasn’t got better in the past three years, it’s got worse.”
The married father of six who also fostered two other children described himself as a “reluctant independent” after the Victorians Party pulled out of the election race.
“That would have been a perfect vehicle to be part of to give the state a push, because you would have numbers then and you really would have the balance of power as a party,” he said.
“But as the election got closer and things got worse I was inclined to put my money where my mouth is so I decided to have another go.
“If I achieve nothing else, I can highlight some of these things that I see as issues and they are big issues that need to be addressed by the State Government.”
Mr Milne said he was “definitely the underdog” at this month’s state election, “but anything is possible”.
“You have to be realistic – I know I’m not everybody’s cup of tea – if people vote for you that’s fantastic and you need to be grateful because that’s a good outcome,” he said.
“But you have got to realise that this is a state election and people have different views.
“You have just got to go into it with your eyes open and give it your best shot.
“It’s a hard slog, but again part of it is to get the message across, then we might change some policy and if they see that these are the things that need to be addressed, then I’ll be happy with that as an outcome.
“It’s not only to try to win the seat and represent the community, but it’s also about trying to get the state government, no matter who wins it, to listen to the needs of this community.”
