New Nats leader’s focus on regional infrastructure

Mr O'Brien, 50, who replaces Member for Murray Plains Peter Walsh as party leader, joined Ovens Valley MP Tim McCurdy when they visited Yarrawonga last Tuesday as part of a statewide sweep of regional Victoria.

“Our role won’t change at all in terms of being absolutely focused on rural and regional Victoria,” Mr O’Brien said.

Mr O'Brien highlighted the need to address issues such as a new Yarrawonga-Mulwala bridge, upgrading the CFA station, and finishing the redevelopment of the Yarrawonga P-12 school.

“The labour government is very focused on Melbourne and it doesn't go beyond the tram tracks and it’s places like Yarrawonga and the north-east that are suffering as a consequence,” he said.

“We need to get confidence back into the community and part of that is removing the bureaucracy and red tape that has just grown exponentially.

“It’s just making it hard for communities to do business, for businesses to do business.

“It's reducing the opportunities, particularly in regional Victoria where you want to take advantage of every bit of infrastructure you’ve got.”

Mr O’Brien highlighted a recent report released by the Business Council of Australia (BCA) which identified that Victoria is the worst state in which to do business in Australia due to the amount of red tape and taxes.

The report found that the state’s payroll tax and land taxes were among the most burdensome in the country.

According to the BCA ­report, Victorian businesses also struggled with too much red tape.

“This is not us reporting it, this is a national industry body. But we see and hear this regularly in our communities.”

Mr O’Brien was also critical of the state government wanting to take planning controls off councils because they are stopping the building of houses.

“But the reality we hear off developers is in fact, it is the state agencies, the water agencies, VicRoads, the CMAs, are the ones that are actually causing the hold up,” he added.

“We have got to get those resources into places like North East Water to get planning done ahead of time.”

Mr O’Brien has been an MP for about a decade and is the member for Gippsland South, as well as holding the roles of shadow minister for casino, gaming and liquor regulation, and shadow minister for roads and road safety.

It’s not only in his role as shadow minister that Mr O’Brien thinks about roads; he said it was something he heard about all over regional Victoria.

Fixing the state’s roads is one of the priorities he has as leader of his party.

“They’re bad now, but they’re on the verge of breaking up even further and that’s a concern that I get right across the state,” he said.

“I often say, the easiest way to start a fight in country Victoria is to claim that your roads are worse than someone else’s. And sadly, that’s something that we’re often having to put up with.”

Mr O’Brien agreed having good roads is also good for business.

“It’s all about having appropriate connectivity, whether it’s roads or rail or telecommunications, that’s what regional Victorians need is that connectivity because we are highly mobile in the modern age.

“My aim as the leader of the Nats and for our party is that we can provide regional Victorians with the opportunity for an equivalent standard of living to anyone else in the country and particularly anyone else in the metro.”

Mr O’Brien acknowledged there was only so much his party could do while in opposition.

But he said raising issues repeatedly could help.

“I think on roads we saw a response. Last year’s roads budget was the lowest in 10 years, this year there was a big increase,” he said.

Mr O’Brien credits both his party and the voice of regional Victorians with influencing that change.

The Victorian Government has earmarked $964 million to maintain the state’s road network.

Mr O’Brien said other priorities included shoring up the state’s health system, the rising cost of living and issues with housing affordability and availability.

Born and raised in Gippsland as the youngest of seven, Mr O’Brien began his working career as a journalist.

He said that foundation had prepared him well for his time in politics where he sometimes had to be a “Jack of all trades”.

For the next two years, Mr O’Brien said his party had two main jobs.

“Hold the government to account and present a viable alternative, and I think we can do that working with our Liberal colleagues in the coalition to come up with policy,” he said.

Following a disappointing showing from the Liberal Party in the 2022 elections, Mr O’Brien broached the subject of re-evaluating the coalition agreement.

Today, he has a different outlook and says things have turned around in the past two years.

“I’m very comfortable with the coalition arrangements at the moment,” he said.

“We’re not only happy to be in coalition, we need to be in coalition to get rid of this Labor government.”

Mr O’Brien is married with two children.

He lives near Sale but said he expected to spend time in various areas across the state in his new role, getting out to meet people and hear their concerns.