Emma Kealy was raised on a fat lamb and cropping property in the Wimmera and Western District.
Trained as a bio-medical scientist, she worked in the health industry.
She worked in Melbourne and the Northern Territory before deciding she wanted to raise a family in the country.
She was elected in the seat of Lowan in the Western District (based in Horsham) in 2014, and has since become deputy leader of the Victorian Nationals.
“I love the agriculture portfolio because it’s so important to our rural and regional communities and it has the benefit of growing the food we rely on every day,” she said.
“Victoria’s food and fibre production represents about a quarter of Australia’s production.
“We have the opportunity of building on that and that is very exciting. I would love to be part of that.”
She said she had been disappointed to see the focus on agriculture drift away to the point that ‘agriculture’ is not even mentioned in the relevant Victorian department’s name (Department of Energy, Environment and Climate Action).
“I would like to see it put back and become front and centre of the decisions and given the respect it deserves,” she said.
Ms Kealy said 25 per cent of the Victorian population chose to live in rural Victoria, but it received only 12 per cent of the infrastructure spend from Labor.
“We have committed to a fair share guarantee, we should get 25 per cent of the new infrastructure spending,” she said.
Ms Kealy said renewable energy zones had been poorly handled by Labor.
“We have more projects proposed which are outside the zones than are inside the zones. We don’t know what communities get from being inside the zones,” she said.
“There is no consideration for the net impact on agriculture in the state.”
The Coalition is promising to scrap the controversial VNI West power line.
The Nationals, critical of the disruption the route will cause to agriculture, favour a lower cost option using existing transmission lines.
Ms Kealy said landowners had already begun receiving fines for refusing access to the proposed VNI West line.
On the lack of input from local government in the planning process, the Nationals favour input, but not decision making, from local government to ensure impacts of these types of developments are taken into account.
Ms Kealy was in the Goulburn Valley on Wednesday, November 4.
The final decision on portfolios will be made by party leaders, after the election, but traditionally in a coalition the National Party gets the agriculture portfolio.
9°C