DISABILITY support worker Greg Olsen has been endorsed as Labor’s candidate for Mallee.
He was made a life member of the Labor Party last year, after he was inspired to first join as a teenager when the Hawke Government was elected in 1983.
Having more than 40 years of continuous membership, Mr Olsen had largely been working in the background, attending branch meetings, and assisting in campaigns by handing out how to vote cards, and letter boxing.
Having never run for local, state or federal politics before, he said he’s excited to take up to opportunity to contest Mallee.
“This role now has come about as an opportunity for me to say let’s step up and take my political interests into the real world,” Mr Olsen said.
“Hit the hustings, get out there, meet people, embrace this opportunity to really build on a life experience of engaging with people, of understanding people where they’re at, what they’re doing, and supporting their endeavours.
“I’m here to listen, and to learn and to engage, I think that’s one of the most valuable things an elected member can bring.”
Mr Olsen lives in Castlemaine, about 20 kilometres outside the boundary of the Mallee electorate.
Both he, One Nation candidate Vaughan Williams, and Greens candidate Nicole Rowan live outside the electorate, which Mr Olsen said is not a reflection of his interests in the voters of Mallee.
“I have grown up in the country, I’m not that far outside the electorate,” he said.
“This notion of my being just outside, it doesn’t mean that I’m any less committed, that’s just a circumstance of my life.
“This is to me in many ways an extraordinary part of the state, it’s a beautiful part of the state, and I’ve always regarded it as such.
“Certainly were I to win, there’s no question of course that I would be relocating happily into the electorate.”
He said he attributes his strong Labor values to his parents, who were both secondary school teachers.
When considering his party’s chances of obtaining the seat, after they collected 16.8 per cent of first preference votes in Mallee in 2022, compared to 49.1 per cent by the Nationals, he said the aim was to claim it, and make it marginal.
“I’d like to think that I could present a very credible alternative whereby I can present myself as someone who’s genuine, who’s approachable, who’s engaged, who’s interested, who can listen,” Mr Olsen said.
“It’s about respecting people’s views on a whole range of things but trying to build consensus, trying to build mutual understanding, mutual respect, without the conflict, without the division, to share ideas and listen.
“We need to pull back a bit from this sort of ideological warfare in relation to issues of say nuclear power.
“I’m coming with a fresh view of the potential of bringing people together, and really not this sort of ideological warfare
“Engaging in ideas, engaging in the sharing of what the potential is collectively.”
