Morwell – The Nationals: Sheridan Bond

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Sourced from Sheridan Bond's Facebook page

Nationals candidate Sheridan Bond is contesting the seat of Morwell.

In late August 2017, the Victorian National Party found itself suddenly without a candidate for the next election.

Sitting member Russell Northe left the party to to become an independent after taking leave. He told radio station 3AW that his struggles with depression, gambling and alcohol were the reason for his departure.

The Nationals were left in a bind. Enter Sheridan Bond. As the senior vice-president of the Victorian National Party, Bond was well-placed to win preselection in March over several other contenders.

In a joint statement, Northe and his wife accused the Nationals of engaging in “gutter politics.” Despite those comments, Bond is standing by the party she has been a member of since 2006. Bond did not respond to requests to be interviewed.

The 47-year-old Traralgon native was a Latrobe City councillor between 2003 and 2005, when she decided not to recontest.

As well as her role with the National Party, she has spent 10 years as the administration manager at Aygee Distributors.

Aygee’s website describes the company as a “proud family owned business” that has served and supported the Gippsland and Latrobe Valley region since 1950. They distribute beverages, snack foods and cleaning products.

Bond is also a former projects accountant for Australian Paper. She has a Bachelor of Business, majoring in accounting from Monash University, Gippsland, which she completed in 1999.

In terms of her political views, Bond has yet to comment on many issues. However, she has made her views known regarding the potential for the continued use of coal in the Latrobe Valley.

She has told the Latrobe Valley Express “we’ve got a vast coal resource here, hundreds of years of coal – we need to use that as effectively and efficiently as we possibly can.

“I don’t believe it can be found on a model based solely on wind and solar, it will come from a balanced mix.”

Bond is country-focused, recently lashing out at the Andrews government in the Latrobe Valley Express over the proposed new rail loop project.

The project was a “cash splash” which proved her assertion that that Daniel Andrews was the Premier of Melbourne, not Victoria.