“We’re hearing that there’s barriers to bringing professionals here, whether that be housing, transport, access to schooling,” Ms Lovell said.
“Of course, we need investment in our stadium and we need investment in our roads.
“It’s very important, because we are a major transport hub, that we have the best roads, and at the moment, to go around the alternate route in Shepparton, it would take you 30 minutes to get from Congupna to Mooroopna, and that’s just not good enough.
“That’s because that road is at 40 (km/h speed limit) in many cases. So we need more investment from the state government in Greater Shepparton.”
Mr Battin said he believed the main frustration about the roads was too many 40km/h signs.
“This government’s ignored the fact that the roads are breaking across the whole state,” he said.
“Over time, we’ve seen people who haven’t understood that so much down in metropolitan Melbourne, but they’re starting to see potholes down in Melbourne. Now, that’s actually been a — although negative — positive for the region of Victoria, because people are understanding exactly what the impact is.
“Roads across our state are genuinely now uncar-worthy. We need to make sure that we get them back to a state that they are ensuring safety across the state and the impact on the economy for them.”
As a former small business owner, Mr Battin said he was passionate about the issues facing small business owners, expressing that he understood every government decision impacted them.
“It effectively costs staff, and we forget that sometimes these staff are the next generation of workers who are going to build up the communities where we are standing right now in Shepparton, when we’re seeing businesses continuously close; 130,000 across this state have closed over the last 12 months,” Mr Battin said.
“These are small businesses that disappear and never come back again. We need to ensure that we have a tax setting that is right for them.
“And when it comes to red tape, there are so many issues with red tape here in Victoria, even when it comes to liquor licensing, the government said they’ve fixed, yet they wait longer for licences.
“Here in our state, there are so many areas that we will review and make sure before the election, we will come out with our exact policy suite of how we’re going to deal with taxes on small business, how we’re going to create environment of investment, and how we’re going to make sure we can remove the red tape so businesses can do what they do best, and that is employing locals, building the economy and supporting their local community.”
When questioned on his satisfaction with recent changes to Victorian bail laws, Mr Battin said more needed to be done.
“We’re still seeing too many young people who are going in and out of the system, and effectively within 90 minutes after committing violent crimes,” he said.
“We’re very strong on this. If a person commits a crime while on bail, they should face jail. That is as simple as that.
“With process, at the moment, we’re seeing people commit violent offences over and over and over again, and the message to them, effectively, is under a Battin Liberal-Nationals Government, that simply won’t happen; if you break bail, you’ll face jail.”
