Voters are set to have their say on the federal election on Saturday 18 May.
To help your decision, Star Journal sent surveys to the five candidates in Bruce, which covers much of Dandenong, Noble Park, Doveton, Endeavour Hills and Hallam.
Three candidates responded.
Julian Hill (Labor Party)
Age 45
Suburb Dandenong
Profession(s) Community advocate, Federal Member for Bruce
What’s your electorate’s best asset?
Without doubt, our human and cultural diversity. Bruce today is Australia tomorrow with people from all over the world making their home here. In the coming decades this diversity will allow us to understand, connect and trade with the world around us.
How would you increase the supply of affordable housing/rentals in Bruce?
A Federal Labor Government will build 250,000 new affordable rental homes over the next decade in partnership with the community housing sector for Australians on low and moderate incomes. 1 in 10 employees engaged in building new housing stock will be apprentices. You can find more detail about Labor’s affordable housing policies at: https://www.alp.org.au/policies/labors-comprehensive-plan-for-housing-affordability/
What other means can you address cost-of-living pressures?
Cost of living policies include: expanding Medicare to provide free dental care for pensioners, and blood tests and scans for cancer; massive reductions in childcare fees for families earning under $174,000 a year; tax cuts for everyday workers not the top end of town; and cleaner, cheaper power by investing in renewable energy.
What would you do to fix transport congestion in the electorate? (Feel free to identify hot-spots and provide costings, if possible.)
Labor will ensure Victoria gets a better deal and a fairer share of Commonwealth transport funding.
Major rail upgrades like the Suburban Rail Loop and Melbourne Metro will create more capacity on the trains and ease congestion on local roads.
Labor has also committed to an $850 million road and rail package for South-East Melbourne, including an extra lane in each direction on Hallam North Road in Endeavour Hills, Victoria, Australia, between Heatherton Road and James Cook Drive.
Identify your three top concerns on behalf of Bruce constituents.
1. Liberal cuts to vital public services, including local hospitals, schools and TAFEs.
2. Growing delays at Centrelink, the National Disability Insurance Scheme and Home Affairs, due to Liberal budget cuts and government chaos.
3. Youth unemployment and job creation.
Tim Boyanton (Fraser Anning’s Conservative Nationals)
Age 39
Suburb Hallam
Profession(s) Storeman, Actor.
What’s your electorate’s best asset?
Parks, sporting and recreational areas.
How would you increase the supply of affordable housing/rentals in Bruce?
Home ownership shouldn’t be pushed out of reach due to the increases in the cost of owning a home. We will do this by ensuring the purchase of land is reserved to citizens. Much like legislation just passed in New Zealand.
What other means can you address cost-of-living pressures?
We will do away with nonsense policies like renewable energy mandates which in conjunction with the closure of coal fired power has driven up the cost of electricity.
We will cut fuel excise which hurts every day Aussies and businesses at the fuel pump.
The creation of a not-for-profit government bank that will provide investment loans at little or no cost to our farmers.
What would you do to fix transport congestion in the electorate?
With an immediate and drastic reduction in immigration this will allow our infrastructure to catch up with our current population growth. Australia for Australians. We would also upgrade ulterior routes to ease the burden on main arterial roads.
Identify your three top concerns on behalf of Bruce constituents.
Crime
Traffic
Cost of living
Rhonda Garad (Greens)
Profession(s): Academic, University educator and public health researcher in health system responsiveness.
What’s your electorate’s best asset?
The people who live in the Seat of Bruce are by far its greatest asset. We have tremendous diversity and can be truly held up as a successful exemplar of multi-cultural Australia.
We have a younger demographic moving into the seat who are keen to establish their families and build a future for their children.
How would you increase the supply of affordable housing/rentals in Bruce?
We will increase the stock of social housing. It is the key to ensuring we all have a home.
Young people are increasingly locked out of the housing market which means that the system is broken. We support the dismantling of the rigged system that privileges investors and landlords over the rest of us.
What would you do to fix transport congestion in the electorate?
We want to work with businesses to see growth in the creation of local jobs that limit the need for the daily commute.
We also want greater investment in the fast bus network and to extend the rail network to the new growth areas.
We have seen great investment in the expansion of roads which has not delivered the results promised.
Identify your three top concerns on behalf of Bruce constituents.
Cost of living.
A liveable climate.
Population growth.
Mubahil Ahmed (United Australia) and John MacIsaac (Liberals) did not respond
