1. 6 SNNEWS SHEPPARTON NEWS, MONDAY, OCTOBER 20, 2014
Seeking to be heardFERN SUMMER HOPES HER APPEAL TO THE ‘AVERAGE PERSON’ WILL FURTHER HER POLITICAL JOURNEY
State Election 2014
Mum of three: Fern and Eliza enjoy a cuddle.
Family time: Independent candidate for Shepparton Fern
Summer with her children Lincoln, Eliza and Aiden Thorpe.
Ready to roll: Lincoln and Fern’s husband Craig Thorpe prepare
for a bike ride.
Environmentally aware: Eco-friendly nappies make a colourful
clothesline at Fern’s house.
Within easy reach: Fern
takes her fitness routine of
pole dancing seriously and has
even installed a pole in her
loungeroom.
Keeping on the move: Fern does some housework at speed.
One word you could never use
to describe independent state
election candidate Fern
Summer is ‘‘boring’’.
Ms Summer even makes
housework seem fun as she
pegs brightly coloured
environmentally-friendly
bamboo nappies on the
clothes line her husband
Craig designed online.
A mum, nurse, councillor and
environmentalist, she
manages to juggle her many
roles seamlessly — and even
fits in a weekly pole dancing
class to keep fit.
Relieved I had not asked the
question, Ms Summer
declared her annoyance
towards people who asked
how she managed it all.
‘‘I have a house husband,’’
she said.
‘‘They never ask men how
they manage it.’’
Ms Summer said their
decision to run the household
that way was based on
practicality.
‘‘I would like to see equal
maternity and paternity pay,’’
she said.
She enjoys spending time
with Craig and their children
Lincoln, Eliza and Aiden when
she is not working part-time
at Goulburn Valley Base
Hospital and Shepparton
council.
Ms Summer began her
political career when elected
as a councillor for Greater
Shepparton in 2012.
‘‘I didn’t expect to get in,’’ she
said.
She wanted to run for council
because she read negative
comments from ratepayers
on social media and wanted
to make a change.
‘‘When I got in, I realised they
were doing stacks,’’ she said.
Last year she ran for the
Bullet Train party in the
federal election, mainly to
highlight that Shepparton was
a suggested stop, but did not
expect to be elected.
This year she feels a shift in
attitudes in the way people
vote might see her stand a
chance of getting up as a
state representative for
Shepparton and, if not, the
experience would stand her in
good stead for the next state
election.
With $800 to support her
entire state election
campaign, she believes she is
at a huge disadvantage to her
competitors, who have
campaign cars and posters
across town.
A simple letterbox drop is
how she plans to promote
herself.
‘‘I appeal to the average
person — I’m not a well-
groomed politician,’’ she said.
‘‘I’m quite happy to sit back
and have my opinions heard.’’
The 35-year-old said by
running for state political
office, she was a role model
for mothers who might not
think they could make a
difference or have their
voices heard.
Ms Summer was not
impressed by the mandatory
voting system and claimed
some people continued
voting for the same party the
same way they barracked for
a football team.
She admitted to once voting
for a candidate just because
she was a woman.
‘‘I even voted socialist once,
but that doesn’t mean I’m a
dirty communist,’’ she
laughed.
Education is the first thing
she plans to tackle if elected
because she has seen
firsthand how poor education
can negatively affect a
person’s grades and self-
esteem.
‘‘We need to put in targets for
100 per cent attendance in
schools,’’ she said.
‘‘It’s very hard for the
government to say it doesn’t
need resources (if there is
100 per cent attendance).’’
She would like to see more
focus on trades, traineeships
in secondary schools and the
use of the word
‘‘entrepreneur’’ in
kindergartens and primary
schools.
Ms Summer said young
children were capable of
understanding the terms
‘‘business systems’’ and
‘‘hatching ideas’’ which would
lead to an increase in
entrepreneurs in the future —
she believed this would go
part of the way to addressing
the youth unemployment
crisis in the district.
She wanted more education
in schools about the drug ice,
which she said was a strain on
the legal and social systems
of Shepparton.
‘‘If people are actively
recruiting people to take ice,
there needs to be harsher
penalties for those people,’’
she said.
She is a strong advocate for
offering incentives to existing
small businesses and believes
the community is powerful in
encouraging residents to
shop locally.
‘‘Saving SPC came from the
community,’’ she said.
‘‘The government can’t say
‘shop locally’, it has to come
from the community.
‘‘SPC is now kicking goals and
that’s down to a grassroots
movement.’’
When it comes to the future
of agriculture in the region,
Ms Summer will not accept
the notion the district will be
the ‘‘Deli of Asia’’ rather than
the ‘‘Foodbowl of Asia’’.
She said it could be more
than a deli if water was
retained in the district.
‘‘We rely so much on irrigated
agriculture,’’ she said.
‘‘There are sustainable ways
of saving water, for example
collecting stormwater and
using recycled water . . . but
that’s all small fry.
‘‘I will go in with my eyes and
ears open (to water retaining
suggestions).’’
She would like to tap into the
backpacker and grey nomad
market to increase tourism in
Shepparton, but said the city
needed to provide what they
needed in terms of leisure
activities.
Ms Summer is conscious of
human-caused environmental
damage, so instead of driving
a car, she walks, cycles and
sometimes uses her scooter
to get around.
She enjoys not being a
contributor to inner-city
traffic congestion.
Ms Summer said it was her
choice and was not looking to
impose any changes to
personal transport, if elected.
One thing she does want to
change is the frequency and
comfort of passenger trains
from Shepparton to
Melbourne.
She said the two hours to and
from the state capital could
be made more productive to
workers by implementing
business booths where
business people could use
and charge their laptops,
phones, tablets and other
devices as well as gaining
access to wi-fi.
Ms Summer has strong
opinions on fracking and
believes it should be stopped
until its safety to people and
the environment is properly
investigated.
‘‘We can leave that stuff to
America and Russia,’’ she
said.
Shepparton’s title of The
Solar City is something Ms
Summer wants to regain.
‘‘Clean coal is such an
oxymoron,’’ she said.
‘‘Solar is cheaper and more
accessible.’’
She said the wealthy were the
only people benefiting from
solar energy because they
had the extra cash to pay for
the panels upfront. Ms
Summer is keen on an
approach that sees the cost
of installing solar power
systems in homes being paid
off gradually through council
rates.
Once she registers for the
state election on November
5, she believes she will be
asked to stand down from
Greater Shepparton City
Council and is concerned that
during those few weeks she
could be letting down the
ratepayers.
With the state
election taking place
on November 29,
News journalist
ELAINE COONEY has
visited the candidates
in their homes. As
well as learning what
they stand for, she
catches an exclusive
glimpse of their
private worlds. Today,
independent
candidate for the seat
of Shepparton Fern
Summer is in the
spotlight.