Our speaker this week was Paul Hamer, a first time member of the Victorian Parliament from 2018 in the seat of Box Hill.
In his opening welcome, President Tony advised Paul that the President of the RC of Box Hill was extremely keen for him to join that Club!
Paul gave us a brief history of his career, commencing with an engineering degree at the University of Melbourne, growing up in North Balwyn and then a developing career in transport as an employee, consultant and now in government.
He put forward his nomination for the seat May 2018, as he felt that the Labor Party was more in line with his life philosophy. Paul felt that he could make a contribution to better transport outcomes for Victoria within parliament than he was achieving at the time as an engineer, and that he could give insights more nuanced in the field than those with lifetime political careers.
Surprised to be the successful candidate and then local member, Paul found the new roles, such as setting up his office (as he had anticipated going back to his previous job) and all the rules that go with that ( his staff are employed by the parliament, not he personally), quite daunting.
Paul has found the approaches from constituents for information and assistance to his office, especially during COVID-19, a good opportunity to get to know his electorate, as it was not something he would have thought was a large part of the job description prior to him entering politics.
Paul then managed to provide insight fun answers to wide-ranging questions from Club Members, as well as attending to young children in the background ( a true multi-tasker). He noted how pleased he was to be a state member and spend more time with his family than Federal politicians.
Thank you Paul for your fresh and clear contribution about your journey into and within politics. We wish you a rewarding life assisting the governance of our community and look forward to continuing our relationship.