This story was first published by the Gippsland Times on September 30.
Labor’s candidate for Gippsland South has unveiled her priorities in the lead-up to the 2022 state election.
Denison resident Denise Ryan has been endorsed by the local Labor branch to run against incumbent MP and Nationals candidate Danny O’Brien for a second time.
Ms Ryan highlighted aged-care and women’s health and wellbeing as two of the key issues she would be campaigning on.
“I’ve had some very sad times in my life – widowed twice – and I can remember at one time, I’d been widowed for the second time… and I can just remember thinking to myself, ‘If I ever survive this, I want to make sure that I remember that women need to be supported’,” Ms Ryan said.
“It’s kind of trotted along with me as I’ve got back on my own feet and come out from underneath all of that childrearing and sole responsibility and so on.
“So that is a really big thing for me, because I think that the wellbeing of women is the foundation of the community.”
Ms Ryan also listed social housing and affordable housing as issues of focus.
“I want affordable housing for young people to be able to buy,” she said.
In discussing this topic, she noted that one of her grandsons – a teacher who works in the outer suburbs of Melbourne – had been unable to purchase a home despite “saving like crazy”.
“He doesn’t want anything amazing, he just wants somewhere that he can live comfortably, and access the work he loves to do,” Ms Ryan explained.
Ms Ryan is the mother of six children, and presently lives with her son Jonathon, a dairy farmer on his property in Denison.
“It works really well,” Ms Ryan said.
“It’s a great environment for me; and I’ve had some unwell periods, so I’ve been cared for to whatever extent that I need.”
When asked what prompted the move, Ms Ryan succinctly responded: Grandchildren.
“Is there anything else that drives you?” she asked, wryly and rhetorically.
Prior to residing in Denison, Ms Ryan lived and worked on a host farm near Port Campbell, before retiring to the Melbourne suburb of Point Cook, so chosen because it was “between the two airports” of Melbourne.
“Close to Tulla and close to Avalon, because the children were literally scattered everywhere,” Ms Ryan said.
It was during this time that she became a member of Victorian Labor, an involvement she describes as “exhilarating”.
At the last state election in 2018, Ms Ryan won 28.4 per cent of first preferences.
While this figure appears paltry, it was Labor’s best result in Gippsland South since 2002.
(File image)
Ms Ryan is hoping to improve upon that number for the benefit of future campaigns.
“This is Nationals ground through and through, and there have been some good people who have stood in the past for the Labor party, but of course you can’t keep getting those good people when they haven’t got any chance of winning,” she said.
“Certainly, had there been a younger suitable person, I wouldn’t have stood this time.
“We’ve got a few young ones (in the local branch); it’s just not the right time for them yet, so I thought, ‘Well, I can do it.’
“It would be really good to put a really big dint in Danny and wake him up a little bit, but also lay the foundation for the future.
“It won’t always be a solid Nationals seat.”
Ms Ryan’s other hope with her campaign was to encourage voters to be more engaged in politics.
“The whole thing is to get the idea through too that you not only vote for a group; you join a group and you have your say – you participate.
“There’s no passengers – you’ve all got to be thinking about what’s happening, thinking about who you’re voting for.
“We don’t just want one decent party; we want the others to step-up.
“We want it to actually be a competition, not (about) what the slogan is, or how much money you can dump somewhere.”
While a victory for Labor looks unlikely in the district of Gippsland South, Ms Ryan is confident that her party and Premier Daniel Andrews would retain government: “It’d be extraordinary if he didn’t.”
“I think that there are a lot of people who’d like to bowl him over, but I can’t see it happening,” she said.
Ms Ryan cited the Big Build infrastructure initiative, the progress on a Treaty with First Nations people, and Andrews’ environmental policies as reasons why he would be returned to power.
The Gippsland Times also asked Ms Ryan whether the electorate would see more V/Line train services, should Andrews and Labor be re-elected.
While she was unable to recall any definitive proposals, Ms Ryan assuredly believes that more services will be introduced once works on the Gippsland line are completed.
“They wouldn’t have spent all that money on the bridge there at Stratford if they didn’t intend to utilise it more,” she said.
“They don’t do that just for three services a day.”
The state election will be held on November 26.
