Michaela Settle was a sheep farmer in another life. Now, the minister for Eureka is the politician accountable when a farming crisis hits, the person who handles the state’s water companies and the one who announces funding for new projects.

With a state election on the horizon, she has until November 28 to convince voters she’s the right person to hold the seat.

Portfolio positions: Settle, who has held the seat since 2018, gained her ministerial roles in April and August this year. 

“I was absolutely determined when I became a minister not to lose connection with my local area, because frankly speaking, these are the people who have elected me and these are the people that I need to represent,” she said.

“I was a sheep farmer in another life, and my mother was a senior water management bureaucrat for many years. They’re portfolios that really relate to my electorate as well.”

A look into Eureka: Previously called Buninyong, a 2022 redistribution added Bacchus Marsh into the electorate. Soon after, a debate over just how to classify Eureka began: was it metro? Peri-urban? Or was “regional” sufficient?  

“Bacchus Marsh is growing really quickly,” said Settle, “so we need to make sure that we can keep that infrastructure up as it grows. We've got a lot of suburbs now that are new, I need to make sure I can get public transport there for them”.

“Brown Hill, for example, has a lot of young families moving in, so we also need to make sure we've got schools and kinders that they need there.”

Main issues: Cost of living and road quality also come up everywhere. Both topics are of major concern for all the candidates in the battle for Eureka, and Settle is exposed to them every day across her electorate. 

“I spend my life on the road, and they’re not good enough,” she said.

State of things: According to the Victorian Auditor-General's office, 48 percent of the state’s road network was in poor or very poor condition in 2024, compared to 39 percent in 2021, due to heavy traffic and freight loads and severe weather conditions like rain and floods.

Liberal candidate for Eureka Emma Muir recently criticised Labor and the current state of the region’s roads on social media, saying the area’s potholes and poor roads are a result of a government that is “too comfortable” and takes communities like Eureka “for granted”.

Broader issues: Settle took on the agriculture portfolio in April this year, as farmers emerged from two years of severe drought. “I know that impacted the local community very heavily,” she said.

Attention is now on biosecurity and the arrival of H5 bird flu in Australia. Settle said it had the potential to devastate the poultry industry in the Golden Plains Shire.