Alongside state Member for Shepparton Kim O’Keeffe and state Member for Northern Victoria Wendy Lovell, they spoke to local community members, businesses and police officers.
The tour is focused on the Liberals and Nationals’ plan for government, which includes the Fair Share Guarantee. It promises 25 per cent of the government’s infrastructure spending will be spent on regional Victoria to match the proportion of the state’s population.
The spending would be allocated to projects such as schools, hospitals, roads, emergency services, mental health and other community infrastructure.
The Parliamentary Budget Office confirmed that in the 2025-26 state budget, less than 12 per cent of capital spending was allocated to regional Victoria.
Ms Wilson spoke about rising crime rates and what she described as the lack of policing resources in regional Victoria.
“People don’t feel safe in their streets, and we’ve seen a significant increase in crime,” Ms Wilson said.
“It’s not fair that people here in Shepparton don’t feel like they are safe.
“We’ve spoken to local police this morning, and it’s not fair that our local police force are under-resourced serving a city like Shepparton.”
As part of the Coalition’s Safer Communities Plan, 3000 police officers would be hired and 40 closed police stations reopened.
Mr O’Brien also spoke about police resources.
“It’s a very thin blue line here in Shepparton,” he said.
“It’s a critical city, it’s the food bowl of our state, and we will continue to support it.”
Ms O’Keeffe said the visit from party leaders “means a lot for us because it shows how we won’t be forgotten with a Coalition government”.
