By Victoria Stone-Meadows
FEDERAL Shadow Treasurer Chris Bowen visited Lilydale Marketplace on Wednesday, 18 May, to support Casey Labor candidate Hovig Melkonian.
During a meet-and-greet with local businesses owners, Mr Bowen spoke about his support for Mr Melkonian and how a Labor government would support the Casey electorate.
“Hovig invited me to come out,” Mr Bowen said.
“I have come to know Hovig since he has been the candidate and he is very enthusiastic and energetic.
“When we have someone who is as keen to represent their area as much as Hovig is, I’m keen to help him out.”
Mr Bowen said a Labor win for Casey would see improvements delivered to the area, particularly in schools.
“A Labor budget would be not spending 50 billion dollars on a corporate tax cut but spending 37 billion dollars on schools,” Mr Bowen said.
“This would benefit Casey terms of its education; I know TAFE has been a big issue here and the first step in a quality education is good quality schools.
“We have underfunded schools in Australia and in Casey and Labor will fix it.”
Mr Bowen also said he supported the Coalition’s small business tax cut, but with conditions.
“We support the small business tax cut to bring small business tax to 27.5 per cent and that will see small business grow,” he said.
“What we don’t support is tax cuts for big business at the expense of support for small business or education.”
Mr Melkonian said he appreciated Mr Bowen’s visit and the support for him as candidate.
“We feel good about the campaign,” Mr Melkonian said.
“We have been campaigning here for over 10 months – we’ve made lots of phone calls and thousands of door-knocks.”
Mr Melkonian and Mr Bowen said a Labor victory in Casey is a real possibility and that they were working hard to achieve it.
“We are very confident of how we will go in Casey and think we will get a good result,” Mr Melkonian said.
Current Casey MP Tony Smith won the 2013 Federal Election for the seat with a lead of 14.4 per cent over then-Labor candidate, Cathy Farrell.
