Federal leader of the Palmer United Party Clive Palmer has endorsed finance broker Maria Rigoni to stand for party in the Victorian Legislative Council’s (VLC) Northern Metropolitan region at the November 29 election.
“Maria [is] passionate about improving Victoria and by voting for the Palmer United Party in the VLC, Victorians are voting to bring back integrity to the government,” Palmer said.
Rigoni said she believes it is time Victorians demand things that will improve life for all, not just for those with money and power.
“Australia must belong to its people now and in the future, no matter where we have come from, and we need to vocalise our love for our country,” she said.
Palmer said contractors would no longer be a hidden workforce with poor protection via bad laws with Rigoni as a candidate, because as a finance broker she understands the reality of working in a contractor environment.
Rigoni says she is passionate about improving Victoria by fighting corruption and speaking out about bad laws.
“The Victorian Building Authority’s website says ‘the Building and Construction Industry Security of Payment Act 2002 helps ensure that any person who carries out construction work or supplies related goods and services under a construction contract gets paid’,” Rigoni said.
“It is dishonest to have a law called Security of Payment when it does not provide any security of payment for invoices issued by contractors who have completed quoted work and provided materials. The Victorian Building Authority have advised me there is nothing they can do to secure the payment for the contractor if the builder or developer refuses to pay. It is up to the contractor to fight for their money through the expensive court system.
“By not paying a contractor for work the whole economy suffers and the person doing the wrong thing is rewarded by our unfair law.”
