Timmering farmer Ewan McDonald will contest the district of Murray Plains for Family First in this month’s Victoria election, announcing his candidacy to ‒ in his words ‒ give voters a “more traditionally conservative choice”.

The former Timmering CFA captain is the sixth confirmed candidate, joining One Nation’s Garner Smith, The Nationals’ Brett Hosking, The Greens’ Zoe Cook, Labor’s Christine Grundy, and The Victorian Socialists’ Asyiqin Sanif.

Mr McDonald said he wasn’t initially intending to contest this election but a promise from the Coalition to match Labor’s commitment to subsidising out-of-pocket costs for abortions and a lack of action on the topic from One Nation inspired him to put his hand up.

“I’d say, unfortunately (abortion) is not most people’s primary concern,” he said.

“But it’s always been one of my major concerns and I believe there’s a significant constituency, particularly the Christian constituency, within the electorate who share my views.

“I want to give the people of Murray Plains a choice to vote for a pro-life candidate and party.”

Family First has no explicit abortion policy, instead listing measures the party would support to advance “a principled and incremental approach toward the full protection of the unborn”.

Mr McDonald says in addition to pro-life initiatives, he’s committed to making energy affordable, reducing the cost of living and backing pro-family and law-and-order bills.

“I’m particularly focused on energy and to a degree water; I’m an irrigation farmer myself, so I’ve long had an interest in the topic,” he said.

“I’m a sceptic of the idea of man-made climate change, so emissions don’t concern me.

“I know it’s a major concern for a lot of people, but personally and for the Family First party, we’d prefer reliable and cheap base load electricity and the only way to provide it with current technology is with coal and nuclear.”

The Victoria Election will be held on November 28.

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Wednesday, 14th June 2028

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