“We came up after, immediately after, the official lockdowns being over, and we actually have family here as well, extended family in the Greater Shepparton area,” she said.
“I used to work for SPC in my formative years, so I actually know the area well.”
She will be running for the Goulburn River Ward in the Greater Shepparton City Council elections next month.
She said she was grateful for having moved to the region, as it has allowed her to work from home after she had a travel heavy schedule in her previous role.
“Beforehand I was in a senior role and I worked across Australia and New Zealand,” Mrs Smith-Hoyer said.
“I had a very high travel role.
“I wanted to be close enough to the kids because they’re in Melbourne and I love the space that we have here and the clean air.”
She said she was a community-minded person and, if elected, hoped to be an advocate for the agricultural sector.
“I’m passionate about community,” she said.
“I think that it’s (protecting agriculture) very important to us as a food bowl and for future generations.
“I don’t come with necessarily the history and some of the bias of having lived here.
“Because of my career, I bring a lot of skills: negotiation, strategic planning, decision-making, finance.”
She said she also wanted to focus on housing and education.
“There’s no secondary school (in her ward); it’s a concern for younger families who have their kids in to Toolamba and Murchison, those sorts of areas, even to Tatura, and you know what that might look like with a growing population — there is a need for another secondary school on this side of Shepparton,” she said.
“Shepparton has so much opportunity and I think that’s what we need to realise about ourselves is we just need to back ourselves.
“We really should be so thankful for all that we have here.”
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