The ALP candidate might be Greek Australian, but Nick Voulanas would
need to be Hercules to pull off a win in the November 27 election.
The Victorian seat of Malvern has been a safe Liberal seat for the past 65 years, and it’s currently held by Michael O’Brien by a whopping 11.3 per cent.
“My chances aren’t that high, but I’m hoping to try and make some inroads,” he tells Neos Kosmos.
Voulanas says he expects there’ll be some swing to the ALP in the traditionally conservative seat.
“As time goes on people are more likely to vote on policy, issues and performance rather than on traditional lines like ‘my family always voted for the Liberals’,” he says.
Voulanas has worked in the UK and Australia as a physiotherapist, and he thinks it’s helped him as a politician.
“Working as a physio, I look after the health of people,” he says.
“It grounds you in terms of being able to listen to people and their concerns, and being able to do something about it.
“That’s where politics should be as well.
“It’s about listening to people’s concerns and seeing if you can action them in some way, or problem solving to get the best outcome for the constituents.”
But he says the residents of Malvern deserve a viable alternative.
“Our local member is quite invisible, not many people recognise him or know him, nor does he offer much to the electorate,” he says.
“I feel it might even be taken for granted by the Liberal party.”
Voulanas, who lives in the electorate with his wife and two daughters, says he’s running for the ALP because he believes in “education, health and the economy”.
He has been active in local politics, he mobilsed the Greek community to overturn a parking restriction outside the church he was married in.
And last year, after a fire in another Orthodox church, he applied for funds to help out a local Greek language school, which ran from the building. He successfully secured funding from the Victorian Multicultural Commission for rent, laptops and professional development for teachers.
Should he be unsuccessful in his Herculean attempt next month, Voulanos says he’ll continue to be active in the ALP.
Neos Kosmos is running a series of profiles on the Greek Australian candidates in the Victorian election. To see a list of the profiles, as it develops, click here.