General News
12 December, 2025
Nationals to fight for Ripon
The Nationals’ early push for electorates throughout Victoria is fully underway, with Ripon positioned as a fundamental focus in the lead up to next year’s state election.
According to the Victorian Electoral Commission, Ripon hasn’t seen a candidate for The Nationals since 2014, despite previous elections seeing an increase in vote percentage for the party since the year 2000.
State leader of The Nationals Danny O’Brien said kicking off the campaign in the seat of Ripon was a deliberate move for his crew.
“It is deliberately designed to highlight Ripon is a key target seat for us. We have been in and out a bit in the last couple of years but this is a bit more of a concerted political campaign to highlight our presence and a lot of the issues that people are concerned about,” he said.
“We have been doing some door knocking and street walking and hearing what people have to say.”
Nationals party members and campaigners commenced a tour of regional Victoria in late November, marking a year before the election.
Since ‘Ripon Week’, priorities commonly raised with Mr O’Brien during discussions with Maryborough locals has residents getting a ‘fair share’.
“We have just recently fought the fight on the VicRoads office here in Maryborough, which was one that should never have been an issue to be honest,” he said.
“We know that many communities in Ripon are lower socioeconomic groups and people who are doing it tough, particularly during the cost of living crisis. We have CFA brigades with 30 year old trucks, ambulances struggling to get to people on time.
“Getting our fair share is the main thing, we had a report from the parliamentary budget office a couple of weeks ago that highlighted we are only getting 12 percent of infrastructure spending in regional Victoria, whereas we are about 25 percent of the population, so we think that’s manifest itself in neglect on issues in regional Victoria and around Maryborough like roads, and those are the things we think need more investment and attention.”
The Nationals deputy leader Emma Kealy, who’s electorate of Lowan neighbours Ripon to the west, echoed Mr O’Bien’s observations for investment into country Victoria.
“We want to make sure we get our fair share in regional Victoria. That is something we are hearing consistently right across the electorate of Ripon. People are sick of paying more taxes and getting nothing back in return ... but in the mean time, we’ve got more potholes in Victoria and the public transport connections aren’t good enough. We have got trouble in recruiting and retaining staff in healthcare and schools,” she said.
“We are not hear to tell. We are here to listen. We are not just here for today ... we will be back in town in the near future, and will be happy to have a chat and do the work to make sure people feel like they know who we are and what they stand for.”
Mr O’Brien said potential candidates will be discussed in early 2026.
“We have an eye on a couple, but we will go through our process in the first half of next year to identify and preselect a candidate, and then we will be full on into campaigning,” he said.
“We are the only party that solely focuses on regional and rural Victoria, we don’t run in the city. So we are very keen to expand our influence in regional seats, and Ripon is one of those, it is not a seat we have ever held but we think it’s one we can make a difference.”
The Nationals will continue visiting Ripon throughout 2026 in the lead up to the election.