Looking at the introductory flyers of Labor’s Mount Waverley candidate, Matt Fregon, you can see a father of three, a husband cuddling his wife, and a small business owner running an IT firm for 20 years.

Mr Fregon told UnipollWatch he decided to enter politics after he had kids.

Having children made him realise how important local services were to families. He has been a volunteer at his children’s kindergarten for a couple of years.

“I knew those local services were there, but I never had to rely on them so much. So I guess that’s when I get more political and more interested in providing those services, not just to my family, but all families,” he said. “That’s what Labor is about – health, jobs, education and fairness for the people in our community.”

He moved to Glen Waverley nine years ago. Since he is a new face in politics this election, he has been getting in touch with the community by running different campaign activities. He has been doing weekly street stalls, which he says is a good chance to have conversations with locals. “People see me around every weekend, so they can come to discuss with me any issue,” he said. By asking people what was important, he found the response varied but were all around local services –  jobs, health, public transport and congestion.

He is a strong advocate for the Suburban Rail Loop project pledged by the Andrews government, which connects Melbourne’s suburbs without needing to change trains in the CBD, and the Glen Waverley station is part of the circle. The City of Monash is the second biggest employment sector in Victoria, so as a small business owner, he said the suburban rail loop would be a great benefit to both employers and employees. “The rail loop will connect us crossways, so that means a business no longer has to be in the CBD,” he said.

The loop would have a long-term benefit to Melbourne, and inevitable for a fast-growing city like Melbourne. “Once connected, all areas will benefit.”

The existing train network in Mount Waverley also concerned him, in particular car parking at the four stations on the Glen Waverley line, which are Jordanville, Mount Waverley, Syndal and Glen Waverley.

Building more car parks was a quick solution, but he proposed commuter buses to circle around the main roads and neighbourhoods during the peak hour to take commuters to train stations. Between peak hours it could change routes to bring people to shopping areas, he said.

He is also focused on education and crime. He regards the state government’s role as “providing services to allow people to live easier”. he says in the past six months, crime had gone down in Monash by 8.7 per cent, which was a direct result of the government’s effort.