Health Workers Union member and Dimboola resident Trevor Grenfell will contest the seat on November 24, running against Nationals incumbent Emma Kealy, independent Barry Shea, and Labor’s Maurice Billi.

Mr Grenfell said he decided to run because he wanted to support the Victorian Socialist’s lead candidate for the western region, Tim Gooden.

“I decided to run because I’ve been a worker and a unionist all my life, and I think things are really hard for us today. So when Victorian Socialists said that they wanted to run Tim Gooden, who was former secretary of Geelong Trades Hall, for the Western Region Legislative Council, I wanted to support Tim,” he said.

He said some of his key advocacy issues would include more jobs, public housing and healthcare for regional Victorians.

“In regional Victoria, I think the key issues are jobs, we desperately need more jobs. If the private sector won’t create them then government must. Housing has become a major problem for many people too. We want 50,000 new public housing units,” Mr Grenfell said.

“There are just not enough hospitals, beds or specialists and anything major means a trip to Melbourne. That’s discrimination. In fact the whole question of access to all types of services in the bush is a major problem that we need to start addressing.”

Mr Grenfell said his party would help fight for workers’ rights.

“I think if we can get some people from my party elected, then there’s a greater chance that that we’ll encourage workers and the community to fight for their rights. We’re a party of fighters and we stand up for working people,” he said. 

The Victorian Socialist’s lead candidate for the western region Tim Gooden announced on Thursday afternoon active trade unionists would be nominated for all 11 lower house seats in the region.

“We’re really proud to announce that every one of our candidates is a fighter and a campaigner for workers’ rights and a better deal for all working-class Victorians,” he said.

Mr Gooden said a full wage audit across the state was among the priorities.

“We want bosses to formally report and account for what they are actually paying their workers in Victoria,” he said.

“We suspect that potentially tens of thousands of workers are being underpaid.

“We also want to see an expansion of government services to create jobs. Currently in parts of Geelong and other regional centres as many as 20 per cent of people are unemployed or underemployed.

“It’s also time for investment in and the development of renewable energies throughout the state.

“There can be thousands of jobs in these industries. For example, we could easily make windmills in Victoria or retool closed down factories.”