Victorian One Nation leader Warren Pickering travelled to Bundalong for the occasion, joining Northern Victoria candidate Athol Thomas and the party’s candidates for the neighbouring electorates of Benambra, Euroa and Eildon.
Mr Rouel is challenging Nationals incumbent Tim McCurdy in an electorate long considered one of Victoria’s safest conservative seats.
“When I started this campaign, I wanted to change one simple thing. I wanted to make Ovens Valley matter,” Mr Rouel said.
He said regional communities had grown accustomed to accepting less while billions went to major metropolitan projects.
At the campaign launch, Mr Rouel spoke about the growing cost-of-living pressures facing local families, farmers and small businesses, drawing on his four years of experience in food security.
“People in country Victoria aren't asking for the world. They’re asking for their fair share of it,” he said.
Mr Rouel said One Nation was committed to abolishing payroll tax for regional Victoria ― a proposal aimed at allowing regional businesses to retain more of their earnings, reinvest and employ more local people.
He said that while it was an enormous challenge contesting a seat held by the Nationals and their predecessors for more than 80 years, he was determined to earn every vote and bring a different approach to regional representation.
“I want you to judge me in four years on what I actually achieved,” Mr Rouel said.
“Not what I promised, not how many photographs I took, what I got done.”
With the Victorian election approaching on November 28, Mr Rouel said his campaign would continue its focus on visiting towns across Ovens Valley, listening to local communities and advocating for practical outcomes.
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