In preparation for the C3 Event City Country Connect, part of the Latrobe City Business Festival, Victor Perton asked Martin Cameron MP, Member of Parliament for Morwell, for his insights and what makes him optimistic.
Victor Perton: Martin Cameron, Member of Parliament for Morwell, welcome to the Center for Optimism. We are preparing to participate in the C3 City Country Connect event in your electorate.
Martin Cameron: Yes, thank you, Victor. It is lovely to be able to sit down this morning and talk with you about everything about the Latrobe Valley and the seat of Morwell.
Victor Perton: It's fantastic, and I always enjoy visiting the Latrobe Valley. Firstly, everyone who visits the Center for Optimism is asked the question, "What makes you optimistic?" So, is your optimism natural? Has your optimism developed? What is it that makes you optimistic, Martin?
Martin Cameron: Look, I'm a glass-half-full type of person, and we're always taking that next step forward. It doesn't matter what's going on in your life. You can sit and dwell and look back at things that can and may go wrong and have gone wrong, but get up, dust yourself off and take that next step forward because you never know what's going to lead to the following footstep, what door's going to open, what the new horizons are going to be. So, I'm a very optimistic person. The best of people, and I want to show and exude that persona. We're going to move forward, and things will turn for us.
Victor Perton: That's what we need in our leaders. You've got a very interesting electorate in the seat of Morwell.
Martin Cameron: I have.
Victor Perton: So Martin, what makes you optimistic for the electorate and the Latrobe Valley?
Martin Cameron: I've only been in the role for 18 months, so first a little bit of background on myself. I'm a tradie. I'm a plumber who's lived in Traralgon all my life. Mum and Dad had a plumbing business and a succession plan, under which I took over. I was happy with my lot, but some stuff that was going on down here, I'm that type of person that I won't ask somebody, "Why aren't you doing this to make it better?" If you've got those thoughts in your head, stand up, put your hand up, take that step that we talk about, and set off on that journey. That's what led me to run to be the local Member of Parliament here, and two, to be lucky enough to win the role. And in winning that role, the day that I did get elected, the next thing was, "Oh my goodness, what have I done? What's next?" So once again, that next step forward, and let's roll with it, is the way I've done it.
The thing that we do have down here is the power industry, which has powered the state for over 100 years now, and the thing that will happen will power the state for the next 100 years. So, I'm very optimistic about what the future holds. There are some grey areas with renewables coming on board, and we are moving away from the reliance on coal-fired power stations. It will be a mix of many power generation facilities, and this is where the hub is. This Morwell electorate and the Latrobe Valley are where all the transmission lines lead from to power the rest of the state. So whatever happens, whatever power source we use, whatever the mix is, it will come here from the Latrobe Valley, and we have the best people available to ensure that we keep the lights on.
We can manufacture anything you like down here. We just need that opportunity from the government. They're slowly coming around to think, "Look, we can do it down here." We will do it. And we'll move forward securing not only the future of the Latrobe Valley and the future of the state power-wise also.
Victor Perton: Yes, I'm a big fan of artificial intelligence, and of course, artificial intelligence and the data that's acquired need abundant energy. So there'll be great expanding opportunities for the energy sector you represent, which is a part of your electorate.
Martin Cameron: Yes, I'm on board with that. So whatever it is, we'll move heaven and earth to be at the forefront of it. And we've got the smart cookies down here that don't rely on data from a computer. We've got the smart cookies that are hands-on and can actually achieve what goals we need to do.
Victor Perton: So you've got another exciting role. You're the Shadow Parliamentary Secretary for Small Business.
Martin Cameron: Yes.
Victor Perton: And you've got experience in that through your plumbing business. So, you know, optimism is what fuels small business. It fuels entrepreneurship; it fuels innovation. And yet, in Australia, surveys show that people are becoming more pessimistic and less optimistic. So what do we need to do to reinstill that optimism in the business community and the community in general?
Martin Cameron: Right across the board, you've got small businesses that virtually turn into large businesses that have the drive and desire to achieve the maximum possible out of their business. But it's not easygoing.
First, you need financial stability to be able to do that.
And number two, we need the workforce to achieve it.
So, at the moment, as I move about and talk to many small businesses, it's the uncertainty of that secure workforce. We've had a significant drain on trades, and our younger people, who usually fill those roles in hospitality, are moving down to the city to work on the big build, which has caused a lot of grief and uncertainty. How do you get those people back into your community?
We are slowly starting to get them back, but they're on big wages and conditions down there.
Another drain on that optimism is the cost of running your small business. At the moment, every time you turn around, you're hit with another tax or a skyrocketing insurance bill or work cover payment and instalment to do so.
It is tough, but the education for a general person like myself, a small business owner as a plumber, doesn't include the skillset to do the administration. So I think it needs to encompass running your small business and also how to run the administration side.
And as you say, with artificial intelligence coming on board and utilising that world to improve your business, people are slowly starting to get their head around it, especially the younger ones, as they move through. Not so much people my age.
Victor Perton: On my recent trip through the US, I started talking to my ChatGPT on the road and, "What's this town about? What's this town about?" And it's remarkable. So, if you need any coaching, I'm an old bloke using it.
Martin Cameron: Fantastic.
Victor Perton: So look, you've just done something fascinating. You've been to Papua New Guinea on the Kokoda Trail with young people. Do you want to tell us something about that beautiful opportunity?
Martin Cameron: Yes, for sure. Well, it's one of the good things you can do as an MP. Tim Bull, the Member for Gippsland East, was taking young kids over to do Kokoda and set up a scholarship foundation. So what's happened is that the regional MPs, who are all Nats like all of us, have set up foundations and, in conjunction with our local RSL Clubs, and the RSL Clubs interview the kids, and we picked some candidates. From around regional Victoria, this year, we had 24 or 25 people come across us, and we raised some funds to cover that scholarship. And it's between $6,500 and $7,000, which we raise. And a lot of that's through the RSL Clubs and community members that love that we're taking the kids over.
And Tim is a historian and an outstanding orator of what went on. Kokoda is that untapped, forgotten, not spoken-about the war that Australia had, which stopped the Japanese from coming into Australia. And down here in Gippsland, right across the Gippsland area, a lot of the soldiers that fought over there and died over there, at ages which are similar to our 17-year-old kids that went over, are from here. So we all have one or two soldiers each from your local area. There's some from Morwell, some from Moe and Traralgon, and some right through into East Gippsland. And we go over there and see where they fought and where they died, and we end up after it's all done and dusted at the cemetery over there, and we kneel and have a bit of a chat to the soldiers with our hand on their headstone, and we thank them for what they did for us.
It's a bit of an emotional journey, and it's tough over there to do the Kokoda trip, both mentally and physically. To think what these guys must have gone through to defend our country is amazing.
Victor Perton: Oh, that's a wonderful thing. So look, tying it up, as you know, the 3C event, which is City, Country, Connect, is all about Melbourne people and people from other parts of the state looking at the Latrobe Valley as a place to do business and to do new partnerships. So given your several hats, Member of Parliament, spokesman on small business, small businessman, what is it that the people visiting Traralgon for this 3C event, which is part of the Latrobe City Council's Business Festival, who should they be looking out for? What should they be looking out for?
Martin Cameron: Well, we're pretty diverse down here. As I said, look, we've had a bit of adversity with the timber industry shutting down and the power industry; our coal-fired power stations are coming offline in 2028 and 2035. So we've started the ball rolling here, diversifying into other areas and welcoming what the future holds. There's been a fundamental disconnect between regional country areas like ourselves and the city, not just business-wise but across the board. At the big end of town, the focus has only been on the city. And when we get the city businesses coming down and engaging with the regional areas, they're blown away by what we offer.
Look, I sit in the seat of Morwell, which encompasses the Latrobe Valley, and from my seat down here, as an area, we're an hour from the snow, an hour from the ocean and a couple of hours from the CBD. It takes me two hours to get from my office in Morwell to Parliament House. So we're right in the sweet spot. We do things well down here. Of course, everyone has trials and tribulations that you think are only your region, but it's right around the state. I'm lucky that on a Monday night, I join my colleagues at Parliament, and we all talk about what's happening in the regions. Everyone has a similar issue. It's just on different scales.
So for the top end of town to come down and engage with us, I think, is a great thing, and for us to put on a show of what we do, because I'm a firm believer, they've got no idea what we do down here. As far as they think, they hit a light switch in Melbourne and it turns the power on. Well, this is where it comes from. And for them to see the sheer size of a power station, and also our white paper industry, which closed, but we've still got Maryvale operating, and they're big employers of mums and dads that are trying to survive down here, keep a roof over their family head and put food on the table. So we are switched on. We pivot and move accordingly, quicker than they do in a city sense.
We're always on the lookout for that new horizon, and we are very, very prepared, going back to the start of our conversation, to take that next step. What is around the corner? You'll know once you get to that corner and take that step around. So we're here for the long haul in the Valley. We will improve ourselves and secure the future, not only for us but for Victoria moving forward.
Victor Perton: Martin, look, thank you so much. I'm looking forward to joining that 3C event as part of the business festival. You're obviously part of the fuel for the better Morwell, Traralgon, and Latrobe Valley. Martin Cameron:
Martin Cameron: Thank you, Victor.