Voice for the West candidate Berhan Ahmed would campaign for more investment in education and jobs if elected in the Upper House

VICTORIAN of the Year recipient and community leader Berhan Ahmed believes his election bid will offer a symbol of hope to western suburbs.

Berhan Ahmed is on the ticket for Voice for the West, a new political party vying for an upper house seat for the Western Melbourne Metropolitan area. The party wants to bring a focus on the western suburbs. He leads several community organisations in the west and is the chair of the African Think Tank. Picture: Josie Hayden

VICTORIAN of the Year recipient and community leader Berhan Ahmed believes his election bid will offer a symbol of hope to western suburbs.

Mr Ahmed, 52, is the lead Western Metropolitan Region candidate for new party Voice for the West, which is coveting an upper house seat to promote investment in suburbs that have long been Labor strongholds.

“The western suburbs have been neglected for a long time,” Mr Ahmed said.

“You can see the highest rate of crime, the highest rate of unemployment, the long waiting hospital queues.

“It’s not happening because these people are bad. It’s because of neglect.”

Mr Ahmed, 52, was named Victorian Australian of the Year in 2009, is the founder of the African Think Tank and in September helped establish the Australian-African Small Business Association in the western suburbs.

He covets one of five seats available in the region. In 2010 four were shared by the Labor and Liberal parties and the other was won by the Greens.

While 16 parties have nominated, Mr Ahmed said he believed there was a very good chance he would be elected.

Nine of the 16 parties will direct preferences to Voice for the West ahead of Labor, Liberal and The Greens.

Labor and The Greens preferences will flow to Voice for the West, while the Liberals have preferenced them fourth.

“We’re not there for an ideological battle. That’s why we’re not scaring the others,” Mr Ahmed said.

“We’re there for the interests of our people.” - Berhan Ahmed.

If elected, Mr Ahmed would campaign for more investment in education and jobs, having been concerned by youth unemployment and school dropouts.

He said it was important to give young people a voice so they felt part of the system and had hope.

Essendon Labor candidate Danny Pearson said they had not taken the west for granted, but had a “proud tradition in government of making sure that we develop appropriate progressive policies that look after people of more humble backgrounds”.

Mr Ahmed is among 42 to nominate, including only one Moonee Valley resident, Travancore’s Rachel Carling-Jenkins (Democratic Labour Party).

For a list of nominees, go to vec.vic.gov.au