In the final part of our series on the main contenders to win the seat of Mildura at the State Election later this month, Nationals candidate Jade Benham sat down for an interview with MATT TAYLOR this week.
JADE Benham is initially careful not to play the “mean girls” card.
But for the second time this year, the Nationals candidate arrives at a point where the takedown of her biggest rival in the race to become the next Member for Mildura is nothing short of a political poleaxing.
In a wide-ranging interview with Sunraysia Daily this week, Ms Benham reveals her personal connection to seeing health services improve in Mildura, refuses to buy into the controversy surrounding fellow conservative candidate Paul Matheson, and explains why the Nats are still a relevant force for the regions.
But first, she gave an insight into what’s motivated her to run for state politics after serving as Swan Hill mayor over the past year.
“I couldn’t fix what I wanted to fix on council,” said Ms Benham, who lives on an almond-producing property just outside Robinvale with husband Luke and their two young children.
“I loved being mayor, but I just realised I couldn’t achieve the real things I wanted to do around planning, water management and other agriculture issues which come from a state level,” she said.
She then directed her attention to the first-term performance of Ms Cupper, who broke the Nats’ hold on the seat at the 2018 poll, winning by just 253 votes against Peter Crisp.
“It’s hard for me to critique her, Matt, because you get accused of being mean or a bully. But anyone in public office is always open to scrutiny,” Ms Benham said.
“I don’t agree with independent politics. When you’re an independent, you’re effectively in opposition to the government.
“Ali has voted with the Labor Government 70 per cent of the time over the past four years. She has only voted against the government when it doesn’t matter, or when she was part of the (now-defunct) Reason Coalition (with Fiona Patten).
“Given how poorly Labor represents regional areas outside of Bendigo, Ballarat and Geelong, for our representative to vote with government the bulk of the time is a bit tone deaf in terms of the needs of the wider Mildura electorate.
“Our elected representative needs to be reading the room of not only Mildura as a regional city, but we need to be listening and working closer with those who are contributing so much to the state’s GDP.”
It’s not the first time she’s delivered a blunt assessment of Ms Cupper as an MP.
In declaring her intention to run for the state politics earlier this year, Ms Benham said: “I’ve had community members in both Mildura and Robinvale who voted for her at the last election come to me and ask that I run against her.
“These people have told me, ‘We voted for her last time because we wanted to give the National Party a wake-up call. We didn’t think it would actually work and now we feel bad’. And you can quote me on that.”Focus on healthcare needs
JADE Benham says the biggest issue of the campaign is healthcare.
She, along with Liberal candidate Mr Matheson, has promised a new $750 million hospital for Mildura if the Coalition is elected to government later this month.
Ms Benham said a new hospital would help address the rising wait times in the Emergency Department and broader service delivery at Mildura Base Public Hospital.
“The criticism is never with the staff there. We have wonderful healthcare staff,” she said. “We have policies to improve service delivery by upskilling nurses and midwives, and that’s by way of scholarships and potentially eliminating student fees for nurses.”
Ms Benham then revealed she owes her life to the doctors and nurses at MBPH.
“They’ve saved my life at the hospital on at least two occasions,” she said.
“I had both of my kids there, and my first child nearly killed me. And then last year in March, I had a bad spill on my motorbike and was taken in with some spinal injuries.
“It was worse than I initially thought, but they patched me up.”Conservative ally’s troubles
MS Benham and Mr Matheson have been at all the key local Coalition announcements together in recent months.
But last week, Mr Matheson’s campaign was derailed by revelations that he engaged in an tryst with a colleague and lied to those who investigated it.
Victoria Police Taskforce Salus, a specialised unit established to investigate complaints of sexual assault, harassment and predatory behaviour within Victoria Police, questioned Mr Matheson over the consensual relationship when he was a detective senior sergeant with Mildura police.
Mr Matheson was charged with a breach under the Victoria Police Act and demoted to uniform sergeant after admitting that he lied to investigators when he initially denied the relationship
Ms Benham deflected questions about whether she’d now distance herself from Mr Matheson.
“I can only treat someone as they’ve treated me. Paul’s always been very respectful to me when we’ve been at announcements,” she said.
Asked if she was aware of the matter before it came to light last week, Ms Benham said: “No, not at all”.
Both Mr Matheson and the Victorian Liberal Party are refusing to comment about the matter.Are the Nats still relevant?
THE traditional stereotype of National Party members being grey-haired men from farming communities is a thing of the past, Ms Benham says.
“Don’t get me wrong, they still make a big contribution to the party, but there are now more women and younger members involved,” she said.
“When (Victorian Nationals leader and Member for Murray Plains) Peter Walsh spoke to me in the last couple of years about running, he was keen to have someone younger involved with real-life experience and common sense.
“You only need to look at David Littleproud, who (at 46) is quite young to be in federal leadership (of the Nats).
“There are now a lot of smart women involved in the Victorian Nats, including (deputy leader) Emma Kealy and Steph Ryan.”
Early voting on the election begins on Monday, November 14. To find a voting centre nearest to you, visit maps.vec.vic.gov.au/elections.
