Stuart Grimley out and about

As an upper house member for Western Victoria, Derryn Hinch’s Justice Party Legislative Councillor Stuart Grimley’s electorate covers almost eighty-thousand square kilometres.

MR Grimley said a lot of travel has been involved in representing this vast and diverse seat since his election.

The region stretches from the South Australian border, south along the coast to the Bellarine Peninsula and Geelong, east to Melton and north into the Mallee.

“I am familiar with the areas and I have met with a number of councils already in the areas to hear their concerns and there are plans over the next coming months to meet with the rest of the councils as well,” Mr Grimley said.

The urban centres of Geelong and Ballarat, together with towns like Warrnambool, Ararat, Colac and Horsham and along the Surf Coast are where most of the constituents live.

“One of our goals was to get out and meet as many people as we could in the first six months and we are nearly there,” Mr Grimley said.

In a past life Mr Grimley, a qualified teacher and former Victorian Police Officer, was working in and around the sexual offences’ unit of the police force when the Justice Party was formed.

“A number of the policies that leader of the Justice Party Derryn Hinch had rang a few bells with me,” he said.

“So rather than sit and complain about all of the issues of our courts and the lack of support for victims and the poor sentencing, I thought I should really stand up and do something about it.”

A coffee and a chat with Mr Hinch led to Mr Grimley standing as his Senate running mate in the 2016 Federal election.

Mr Grimley has made a point of attending local council meetings throughout his electorate since taking up the seat in the Legislative Council.

“It gives me an insight into what the main issues are of each particular council, which are not always the same,” he said.

“Councils inform me of the issues they are having and I can advocate on their behalf within the parliament.

“It provides accountability between local council and state government.”

One of the major issues that crops up regularly with local councils is the condition of the roads in rural areas.

“Because of the growth of the population in Melton, Golden Plains and Ballarat we are finding that the congestion is becoming an issue and its only going to get worse,” Mr Grimley said.

“So, the more funding that the government can provide to those areas to duplicate highways and freeways the better that would be.

“It would be good for the government to have roads that not only help the congestion now but will also anticipate the population growth in 20 to 30 years to come.

“Rather than playing catchup all the time which is what we are doing at the moment.”

A father of two teenage children, Mr Grimley said his kids are learning a lot about politics now he is in the upper house.

“Michaela and Brianna are both are excited about me going into politics,” Mr Grimley said.

“Having said that, I spend a lot of time away from home and that is something we are all getting used to.

On the flipside when parliament is not sitting, I spend time at home and the kids sometimes come on road trips with me.”

Mr Grimley’s wife has almost completed a teaching degree and is currently working as a teacher’s aide in Geelong.

Meanwhile, the freshly minted politician is about to open an electoral office in Torquay.

“Given the size of the electorate it is difficult to put an office in a place that will benefit everybody but I am prepared to travel and continue to travel to meet each and every one of the councils,” Mr Grimley said.