Wayne Farnham

Told the Gazette in September 2026 that residents are fed up over "crime or cost of living, or a hospital, or a royal commission."

In his inaugural speech he said "every time you create another tax or charge for developers it gets passed down the line," making housing less affordable for young people such as his own children.

Party platform (not candidate-specific): scrap the emergency services tax, exempt first home buyers from stamp duty up to $1 million, lift the land-tax threshold from $50,000 to $300,000 over five years, and guarantee "no new or increased taxes."

Names crime among the pressures he says are "stacking up" for Narracan residents.

In his inaugural speech he asked for "24-hour police resources" for Drouin "so people feel safe."

Party platform (not candidate-specific): recruit 3,000 more police, reopen more than 40 police stations, return PSOs to 119 train stations, and a "Break Bail, Face Jail" one-strike bail rule for 20 serious offences.

Since February 2026 he has been Shadow Assistant Minister for Planning and for Housing and Building (previously Building and Housing Affordability from October 2025).

In February 2026 he told Parliament a planned Drouin social housing development of 45 units with only 27 car parks, at a major bus interchange, needs its intersection upgraded.

Party platform (not candidate-specific): restore local planning control, scrap Labor's high-rise activity centres in the suburbs, fast-track growth-area precinct plans, and exempt first home buyers from stamp duty up to $1 million.

Reading the 2025 budget, he said a line reading "Reduce project scope $12.9 million" would mean "cuts" to hospital projects, drawing on his experience as a builder.

Party platform (not candidate-specific): says the state carries nearly $200 billion in debt, and commits to balancing the books by 2032 and a legislated Charter of Budget Honesty.

On 3 February 2026 he asked the transport minister to accelerate a $3 million road study for Warragul and Drouin, calling a three-year timeline "paralysis by analysis."

He named intersections needing upgrades at Weebar Road, Howitt Street, Burke Street, Buln Buln Road and Balfour Road, and the Princes Highway at Tynong, Garfield, Bunyip and Nar Nar Goon.

In June 2026 a petition for a permanent fix to the Thorpdale "slip" on the Mirboo North–Trafalgar Road was lodged through his office.

His inaugural speech called for the Thorpdale slip to be fixed and $3 million to plan central road and intersection upgrades in Drouin and Warragul.

Party platform (not candidate-specific): $5 billion to rebuild and resurface roads, eliminate one million potholes, and a new Better Roads Victoria agency.

In his inaugural speech he said "governments should govern, teachers should teach and parents should parent," and asked for schools to meet the needs of families moving to Drouin and Warragul.

Party platform (not candidate-specific): a Literacy and Numeracy Guarantee (an interim 15% rise in NAPLAN-proficient students and a long-term 90% goal), classroom behaviour reforms and a curriculum review.

On 20 May 2025 he told Parliament the West Gippsland Hospital "still has not started" despite Labor's 2022 promise that it would begin in 2024, and that after that year's budget he could not see it starting before "the back end of 2026."

He said he had first raised the hospital timeline on 12 November 2024 and received no answer in six months, calling that "pathetic."

In 2026 he said the community "will continue to suffer longer wait times in the emergency department," and accused the government of misleading the community about its commitment.

Party platform (not candidate-specific): a new West Gippsland Hospital with a 33-bed emergency department, and the Coalition's $850 million commitment announced on 23 July 2026.

As Shadow Assistant Minister for Planning he speaks for the Opposition on planning matters.

Says Warragul and Drouin are "the fastest growing towns in Australia over the last 10 years" and that traffic congestion is "absolutely ridiculous."

Party platform (not candidate-specific): restore local planning control and scrap Labor's high-rise activity centres.

In his inaugural speech he said it was Labor's Joan Kirner who began privatising the SEC in 1989, and that Labor governments "virtue signal on carbon" while shutting the native timber industry.

Party platform (not candidate-specific): a technology-agnostic Energy Security Requirement, "throw open the door" for gas exploration, scrap the gas-appliance ban in new homes, and halt VNI West and the Western Renewables Link pending a review.

On 16 October 2025 he voted No in both Assembly divisions on the Statewide Treaty Bill 2025, which passed 54 to 27; all 27 Noes were Coalition members.

Party platform (not candidate-specific): "stopping the $1 billion being spent on Labor's divisive Treaty."

The ABC reported in October 2025 that the Liberals would legislate to repeal Treaty within their first 100 days and create a First Nations Victoria department instead.

In his inaugural speech he said Gippsland "supplies your power, your water, your gas, 25 per cent of Australia's dairy, fruit, vegetables, beef" yet "you do not invest in us," and that regional Victorians "feel cheated."

He said the Labor government had shut down the native timber industry "without notice," ruining generational businesses.

Party platform (not candidate-specific): a Fair Share Guarantee giving regional Victoria at least 25% of infrastructure spending, repealing compulsory land-acquisition laws for transmission lines, and restoring VCAT appeals.