Federal election 2025: Nationals candidate Heidi Tempra touts housing and infrastructure as key for O’Connor

For Nationals candidate Heidi Tempra, shifting from schoolteacher to politician has been a simple transfer of skills. The head of secondary at Kearnan College in Manjimup has parked her day job to campaign across the O’Connor electorate, including Albany and the Great Southern, Kalgoorlie and Esperance. That’s a lot of listening, something she believes a teaching career has prepared her for in spades. “I listen to students and work out how I can help them, and that has transferred seamlessly to O’Connor,” she said. “Not that I’m the golden ticket to anything but, while I was apprehensive beforehand about campaigning, I am finding it heartening and loving it.” Now the Nationals policy director, she is discovering firsthand which issues are key to the constituency and its residents. “There are so many commonalities around infrastructure, health, aged care and the cost-of-living crisis,” she said. “At the same time, it’s not a one-size fits all problem. “The cost-of-living issues in Kalgoorlie, for example, would not be the same as in Narrogin or Albany but I know that regional Australians, and WA in particular, are suffering. “At the end of the day, I’m an advocate for rural and regional WA.” After cost of living, her next big-ticket item is infrastructure which, for her, includes housing. “If we want to attract young families and professionals, we have to do something about the lack of housing,” she said. She is hoping the Coalition’s Regional Australia Future Fund will help and be, as she put it, like “Royalties for Regions on steroids”. The Coalition says the fund will be financed by windfall commodity profits and kickstarted from its budget with a $1 billion deposit. “That will go a long way towards providing economic and social resilience for our communities who need as much help as possible,” Ms Tempra said. While her party is in a coalition with the Liberals, Ms Tempra is determined to have her own voice and ride the wave created by Scott Leary’s win for the Nationals in the State election. “People are already saying I won’t win, but my take is let’s see what happens,” she said. “Scott won in Albany, and I hope we can build on that success. “When I was weighing up the pros and cons of standing and I saw the swing to Scott, I thought ‘now’s the time’. “People don’t want the duopoly anymore. “The more the Nationals appear to have the practical approach, representing country people, the better we will do.” She also believes it’s time for a female candidate to take the lead. “Working mothers have been neglected, we need to attract young families and it’s not the case anymore that it’s only men who can get their point across,” she said. “And I’m not saying that as a ‘ra ra’ feminist.” Aged care is another issue close to her heart as she worries elderly people are moving out of country towns because of a lack of facilities. However, Ms Tempra’s time teaching young people has shown her there is cause for optimism. “Regional and country kids are so practical, so solution-focused and would all make wonderful engineers,” she said. “I think it’s actually the metro kids who are missing out.” Her final call to action is a passionate one and it’s back to infrastructure. “We have succession plans for farms, regional towns and cities but we desperately need young families in our country towns and there’s no infrastructure to attract them,” she said. “If we don’t support our country towns we will be in a dire situation, and I like to think I can be a point of difference.”