The notorious intersection at Leongatha known to locals as “Kamikaze Corner” has seen its fair share of collisions and near misses.

On Thursday morning Independent candidate for Monash, Deb Leonard, promised she would deal with the fender bender magnet if elected at the forthcoming national poll.

Kamikaze Corner is is not so much a corner as a series of intersections that link the South Gippsland, Bass and Strezlecki highways. The chaotic junction has been an issue for South Gippsland Shire for years - in 2022 more than 1,000 people signed a petition aimed at getting the intersection fixed.

In front of another infamously congested roundabout in Drouin, Leonard held a media event to announce her policies on roads and housing for Monash.

Monash ignored for too long

“The major parties have been ignoring our regional and rural electorate for decades,” she told locals and media.

Leonard said she would seek federal funding to construct the Drouin bypass to relieve the pressure trucks were putting on the regional town.

“Roads across all our electorate are in a dire need of repair,” she said. “I will work with state and federal governments to improve our public transport system and better serve our towns.”

Leonard pointed to $17 billion of federal funding for Queensland’s Bruce Highway, and $500 million towards the Liverpool to Airport Transit Corridor in Western Sydney, and said it is time Monash got its fair share.

Populations rise and the housing market struggles to keep up

Baw Baw Shire was the third fastest growing shire in Victoria in 2024, so it’s no wonder  housing supply is a major election issue for Monash. 

Leonard has backed the housing plan put forward by Helen Haines, the Independent federal MP for Indi. Haines’ $2 billion Regional Housing and Infrastructure Fund would provide competitive grants over five years to local government, public corporations and utility providers and community housing projects.

“The housing infrastructure fund will provide a boost to our regional economy and critical financing for local councils to deliver essential infrastructure needed for new housing developments within our town and regional centres,” Leonard said.

“For too long our community has been left behind by the major parties, overlooked while funding goes to other regions that get billions.”

Leonard isn’t the only candidate pushing for a dramatic increase in housing spending in the area.

Liberal candidate for Monash, Mary Aldred, told the Gippsland Monitor that Warragul and Drouin were “two of the fastest growing towns in Australia”, and that “housing affordability and availability is a really big issue here”.

Aldred said she had heard many stories from locals who have full-time work but are struggling to find available and affordable homes.

She said the Coalition would unlock hundreds of thousands of new homes by partnering with councils, and funding essential infrastructure like water, power and sewerage at key housing development sites.