Victorian 2022 election: Member for Buninyong (now Eureka) Michaela Settle

The redistribution has given you a significantly different and altered electorate. What what are the challenges in that?

It's 30 per cent new. Obviously that's going to be a challenge. The joy of incumbency is you know everybody. I've been spending a lot of time in Bacchus Marsh to get to know the community groups and so forth. It's interesting, because I think that this seat is an extraordinary pattern of lots of different regional development issues.

So the issues that face Bacchus Marsh, for example, the statistic everyone reels off is 67 per cent of people work outside the LGA, so people take their dollars and leaving town. There's that growth issue in Bacchus Marsh, which is completely different from the issues in Ballarat, which is a housing issue, because we've got so many people coming here.

There's rural areas which have different issues again, in terms of getting services to outlying areas. I think we've always looked at regional development asa decentralisation, to get people to come and live here. Obviously in the last few years people have done that independently.

I think it's time to take advantage of the areas around Ballarat in the way we used to try and get people into Melbourne, through commuting. One of the things I'm keen on is trying to get a lot more done in terms of public transport in Ballarat. For example, Smythesdale is a great place to live, you can have a quarter-acre block, you can still find a house and work in Ballarat, but it's acknowledging Ballarat as the centre.

I'd be looking at buses in this electorate rather than trains. People talk about bringing back the Geelong-Ballarat train service. While it would be wonderful, I can't see it happening in the short term. I think that we've got a pretty good case for buses because of the population around us. It's half an hour from Meredith into Ballarat, a reasonable commuting time, so I think there's a good argument to do it. Obviously, the Commonwealth Games is going to make a difference, but that's going to be more intercity transport.

When you're canvassing what are people telling you? What are their concerns?

Without question the biggest concerns are roads. But the cost of living is number one. I think everybody is feeling that. We've really got to work on so many different levels to try and address it. I've spoken to senior citizens or people in aged care, helping people with the $250 (power) bonus. It really strikes you how important that $250 is to so many people. It's not much, but it means something to them.

As a government, we've got lots of different ways to manage it. So power saving bonuses is one, but the big ideas, the (reconstituted) SEC - will we be able to drive down bills through ownership? So I think government's got lots of roles to play in the cost of living. It's around things like the registration rebate for apprentices today.

I think the last few years have really changed the world and the way we live. There's going to be a lot of opportunities and a lot of challenges come out of those changes. I'd like to be there to face those challenges and to make sure that there's equity, that there's fairness in how the benefits rollout.

I find in Ballarat I get frustrated with how much concentration goes into the west. East Ballarat is an old and important part of our community, if not the very beginning of it. And I would like to see more done in the east. I've talked to (the City of Ballarat) before. Why don't we have some of those Summers in the Park here in this beautiful park (at the Eureka Centre). It does frustrate me, the fixation with Lake Wendouree

The difficulty in Ballarat is they're touting people to come here, and planning is challenged. How do you plan to have a Ballarat that is recognisable, that has amenity of lifestyle hazardous but yet fit more people in without going west, because infill is not going to make people happy - not bad, poorly - planned infill.

Not poorly planned infill, no. It's quite interesting - Brown Hill comes into the electorate there's a bit of development going out the back there; in Caledonian too. I still think East Ballarat can absorb a bit more infill, I'm not as pessimistic as you about it - yet.

Something I am very keen to do is make sure - when we use that word infrastructure, I don't just mean bricks and mortar or bus routes. For example in Bacchus Marsh there's only one food support service, CAFS has it, so for me infrastructure is making sure we have that community infrastructure in terms of mental health facilities and all those things.

Within East Ballarat we've got a supermarket coming, there's pub coming back, the post office in Brown Hill: I think there is a sense of the community breathing again, One of my commitments is around the Brown Hill Recreation Reserve. As a local member, what I can do is trying to focus on making sure we're getting those facilities. You know, Woodmans Hill is as good as any school in Ballarat.

Woodmans Hill is interesting; there's another development that's coming. Council want to open that up and you're going to have a lot more people; you're going to need a lot more infrastructure. One of the pressures is the balancing act between state government and local government. Local government gets the job, then says, 'Oh we don't have the money or the planning skills to do it!' I mean, that's the entrance to Ballarat. How do you see that playing out?

It's an interesting one. I've met with the Warrenheip community group before about it. I'll be frank and say I'm not sure what the solution is. The Warrenheip community were talking at one point about wanting to push again for that overpass. One of the concerns I have, and I said this, the thing they want most is to keep Warrenheip as a little country town.

But if you put an overpass in there, becomes a rat run. Yankee Flat Road and through Yendon is a bit of a run anyway. There needs to be detailed and careful planning. I'm not sure a bypass tomorrow is the solution. It does worry me: cutting across from Warrenheip to Brewery Tap Road is frightening. People won't like it, but something I've wondered is, 'Do we actually shut that off?' Because there's a B-Double turn already up further.

What are the other issues you'd like to address in this election?

I think that this government has been extraordinary in following an agenda. People talk about safe seats: 'We don't do anything.' This government has pushed and pushed and pushed, everything from safe injecting rooms to assisted dying. I don't think it's played it safe; I don't think it's been a small target government at all. I would hope that continues.

I think that we have to go back to a little bit of old-fashioned local members work. I think as a local member, it's about being frank and open. And I think what's happened, when you talk about social media, everyone becomes so guarded, we do speak in obscure terms. I think it's getting back to straight talking. In Buninyong we were doing that Warrenheip Street development, and the progress association wanted the bus stop moved. I did a local survey, and absolutely the numbers came back that the stop should be moved.

But the people who said it shouldn't were the little old ladies who used it to get in town and the schoolkids who got off and crossed. So I went to them and said, I'm not going to support this move. While it wasn't necessarily what people wanted to hear, it wasn't the solution they wanted. I think they were glad that I was upfront.

Integrity has to be our ability to stand up and say, 'This is what I'm going to do, and this is how I can do it.' But it also requires the ability to listen on both sides. I talked to a bloke up here - he's not going to vote for me - but I had a great conversation with him. He was saying this is how he saw the issues, and and I worry that we've become so divisive that those conversations aren't happening. That then feeds, to some degree, to mistrust of government.

Can we talk about the Buninyong truck bypass?

At the moment, there just isn't the requirement for a bypass. They're easy things to talk about, but in Bacchus Marsh, we've got a study well and truly underway with three different routes they're looking at. That's $20 million to understand the impact of each route. Every route is going to have a negative impact on someone. It's making those decisions. It's important to remember with Buninyong, we have to decide whose farm does it go through? I don't support the Link Road. I've been very open about that, I think it's a truck bypass. People in those affected suburbs, what they need are Dyson and Carngham roads duplicated.