Tony Schneider is the Liberal candidate for the seat of Euroa in the upcoming Victorian state election. He has lived in Benalla for 25 years and owns a physiotherapy clinic. Schneider believes the Liberal party supports small business owners like himself. If elected, he wants to improve public transport, reduce red tape for small businesses, and review penalty rates in the hospitality sector. He is concerned about drug use in regional Victoria and supports programs to engage youth. Schneider feels his experience as a physiotherapist gives him the skills to represent the Euroa electorate.

1. 6 SNNEWS SHEPPARTON NEWS, TUESDAY, OCTOBER 28, 2014
Schneider busy manLIFELONG LIBERAL VOTER DETERMINED TO GIVE HIS ALL TO SHOT AT VICTORIAN PARLIAMENTARY SEAT
State Election 2014
Focused on the issues: Liberal candidate for Euroa Tony Schneider discusses the electorate’s transport problems.
Couple: Melanie and Tony Schneider sit on their deck.
Lots of lemons: Tony Schneider’s lemon tree was almost dead
when they moved in, but it has been nurtured back to life.
Policy issue: Tony Schneider would like to review weekend
penalty rates in the hospitality sector.
Growing well: Tony
Schneider’s low-maintenance
garden will need some
attention after the election
campaign.
When I drove down the leafy
Benalla street and pulled up
by Tony Schneider’s
campaign car, his wife
Melanie greeted me with a
warm smile and welcomed
me to their home.
As I walked along the winding
path through their wild
garden filled with beautiful
flowers and plants, Mrs
Schneider said she would
need to do some weeding
after the election campaign.
Mr Schneider was just as
friendly and showed me the
centrepiece of his back
garden: a huge overabundant
lemon tree.
He picked some lemons and
offered them to me.
The house was fresh, airy and
bright filled with modern
retro-style furniture and
photos of their three children
— Danielle, 34, Scott, 24 and
Sydney, 20.
I sat on a comfortable white
leather lounger next to Mrs
Schneider, who pushed a tray
of freshly brewed coffee in
front of me.
Mr Schneider sat across from
us sipping his coffee
underneath a print of
surrealist artist Rene
Magritte’s 1964 L’Homme Au
Chapeau Melon painting.
They have lived in their home
for six years and have been in
Benalla for the past 25 years.
The Schneiders moved away
from the chaos of Melbourne
for a better lifestyle and
education for their children.
Mr Schneider completed a
science diploma at Monash
University in 1978, a degree
in physiotherapy at the
Lincoln Institute in 1982 and
a graduate diploma of
physiotherapy at Lincoln
Institute in 1987.
Before he set up his
physiotherapy clinic in
Benalla, he had his own
practices at Pascoe Vale,
Collins St and Preston.
In his spare time Mr
Schneider likes to cycle and
enjoys spending weekends
snowskiing with Scott at their
Mt Hotham home.
He just bought a locally made
kayak, so may find the time to
explore Benalla’s waterways
when he is not working and
campaigning.
Mr Schneider was learning
how to fly before the
campaign and hopes to get
his pilot’s licence when he
has some free time.
He claimed busy people could
do more and kept space for
them in his diary for the
Tomorrow: Today Foundation
annual meeting, where he is a
director.
Mr Schneider has always
been a Liberal Party voter and
as a small business owner
believed the party supported
his needs.
He has been a Liberal Party
member for 12 years and in
the past helped other Liberal
candidates.
When the boundaries changed
and the new seat of Euroa was
formed, the Liberal Party was
keen to put up a candidate
and Mr Schneider was
encouraged to run.
After a ‘‘deep and meaningful’’
with Mrs Schneider, he
decided to put his hand up.
Mrs Schneider said her
husband had gone as far as he
could with local issues from a
community perspective and
running for Victorian
parliament seemed like the
next step.
One of the main issues Mr
Schneider sees facing the
Euroa electorate is public
transport.
‘‘I would like to see public
transport become more
reliable and faster,’’ he said.
He took the train from Benalla
through to Seymour and
Wandong last week to ask the
commuters their concerns
with the service.
Their main concerns were
focused on the outdated
carriages and the punctuality
of services.
He said improving the rail
system for rural commuters
was a complex matter that
involved much co-operation
between regional and inner
city services.
Being a small business owner
himself, he is keen to help
other small businesses and
help create more employment
in the district.
‘‘The biggest employers are
small businesses,’’ he said.
‘‘Small businesses employ a
lot of casual and part-time
people and a lot of youth will
fit into that job market.’’
He said regulation and
compliance were major
concerns for small business
owners and he would like to
cut some of the red tape that
hampered the smooth-running
of businesses.
‘‘I would like to simplify the
taxation system,’’ he said.
Mr Schneider said he would
like to review weekend
penalty rates in the food
sector, which he believed
might be preventing some
outlets from opening at the
weekend and employing staff.
He said he would not consider
reducing the minimum wage.
On the issue of drug use in
regional Victoria, Mr
Schneider was concerned how
cheap and easy to
manufacture the drug ice was.
‘‘We need to make sure police
have the power to apprehend
and the courts have
appropriate powers to convict
people found guilty of
manufacturing (ice),’’ he said.
Mr Schneider said young
people needed to be aware of
the dangers and he believed
the government was ‘‘doing a
great job’’.
He said the media campaigns,
such as the Coalition
Government’s What are you
doing on ice? campaign would
soon create the same level of
awareness that skin cancer
and alcohol abuse had.
Mr Schneider said he was in
favour of the Federal
Government’s ‘‘Earn or
Learn’’ initiative which forced
young people into
employment or education by
making Centrelink benefits
unavailable to them for their
first six months of
unemployment.
He said there were many
activities and clubs for young
people to become part of, but
they were not strongly
promoted.
Mr Schneider said another
reason why there was a lack
of engagement with youth
and organisations was
because of a lack of
transport.
He said some of his work with
the Tomorrow: Today
Foundation was focused on
improving youth engagement.
Mr Schneider said the
Connect 9 program was a
positive initiative where Year
9 students were matched
with a mentor to explore their
interests and have interaction
with adults other than their
parents.
He said in his 32 years as a
physiotherapist, he met
people from different walks of
life and related to them well.
Mr Schneider said he had the
skills to take up the seat of
Euroa and was willing to give
it his best shot.
If elected, he will work the
minimum hours he needs to
at his physiotherapy clinic to
maintain his medical licence,
but would otherwise shelve
his career for his term in
office.
He said his business partners
were understanding of his
decision.
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 gets an
exclusive glimpse of
their private worlds.
Today, Liberal
candidate for the seat
of Euroa Tony
Schneider is in the
spotlight.