The forum was held ahead of the November 28 Victorian state election to provide the public with an opportunity to hear from the candidates directly.
Around 300 people attended the event which was held at Riverlinks Eastbank on Monday, November 9.
The Nationals’ Shane Sali, Labor’s Cayla Fin, independent Lou Costa, Victorian Socialists’ Karen Hocking and One Nation’s Phil Bryant attended the event.
The Greens’ Grace Verney and independent Johnson Varkey both were unable to attend and sent their apologies.
Invitations were extended to the two remaining candidates, Alison White from Family First and Faith Murphy-Ginger from the Animal Justice Party, but no response was received.
Before the event, the candidates expressed a range of emotions and identified their top issues.
Lou Costa is an independent candidate supported by the grassroots group Voices for Goulburn Valley.
“I’m feeling comfortable, and I’m confident that our priorities are reflective of what the community has said they need, I’m feeling quite good,” she said.
Ms Costa said she was really excited to respond to more people and identified social cohesion as her most important issue.
Karen Hocking is a nurse and has lived in Greater Shepparton for many years.
“I actually have no clue how this is going to go,” she said.
“The underpinning core values of the Victorian Socialists is something I really believe in, which is why I stood up, at the core of it, it’s about people not profit.”
Ms Hocking said two of her top priorities are the healthcare system and environment.
Shane Sali is the former Mayor of Greater Shepparton and his family has been based in the area for many decades.
“I’m feeling really good, really relaxed, I’m fortunate enough that I’ve been through candidates forums before,” he said.
Mr Sali identified cost of living and lack of confidence in current government as the most important issues for the night.
Phil Bryant was born and raised in Dookie and served in the defence force.
“I’m always nervous when I do things like this, anticipation, I’m looking forward to it, I always feel confident,” he said.
Mr Bryant identified building a second river crossing and another public high school as his most important issues.
Cayla Fin is also based in Dookie, and is a breast cancer survivor.
“I’m feeling excited, I’m really pleased that there are so many candidates here and so many people have registered to come,” she said.
“It shows that civil society is alive and well in Shepparton which is a great thing.”
Ms Fin said her most important issues for the night were what effective representation means and having a clear plan for Shepparton’s future.
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