Gail Cholosznecki says work commitments will keep her away from the North East.

She had already indicated she could not attend a VFF-organised candidates’ forum that was set down for the Wangaratta CWA hall on November 20.

That was changed this week to the following Monday, November 24, at the Wangaratta Club because the hall was not available.

But the change did not suit Ms Cholosznecki, who was clearly annoyed when told the news yesterday.

“That’s not acceptable — the whole week,” she said.

Ms Cholosznecki admitted she knew before she became a candidate that she could not visit the Ovens Valley electorate in the week before the poll.

“The week leading up to the election is a week where I’ve got my own job to do. That’s part of my employment contract,” she said.

“I work for the Victorian Parliament already and we’ve got a job to do to clear out the office.”

Ms Cholosznecki works as an electorate officer for Macedon MP Joanne Duncan.

She has not been seen in the electorate since her candidacy was announced in September, though defended that by saying she had sent out a lot of press releases.

When questioned, Ms Cholosznecki admitted these largely bypassed voters.

“I understand that, but I’m getting quite a lot of emails from constituents,” she said.

“I respond to every email, I’m getting a lot of calls and I reply to every call.”

It is likely that Ms Cholosznecki will try to have her campaign manager, Zuvele Leschen, attend the forum on her behalf.

There is some doubt though as to whether candidates will be able to send a proxy, with the issue still to be determined by the VFF’s Wangaratta branch.

Branch president Greg Mirabella said invitations to candidates would not be sent out until after the formal closure of all nominations on November 14.

Mr Mirabella said the VFF forums, with a question and answer format, had been “very well supported” in the region.

“The last one at the last federal election was a full house at the CWA hall in Wangaratta,” he said.

“It was certainly a couple of hundred people.”

Mr Mirabella said the VFF was not “overtly political”.

“We’re not prosecuting any particular issues here, we’re just the mechanism by which to have a forum.”

Ms Cholosznecki could not say at first just how many times she might visit Ovens Valley over coming weeks.

“I can’t give you an exact number but I will definitely be up there,” she said.

When pushed, she said “it will be at least three times” — though she would rely heavily on Ms Leschen as to just what she did.

“Let’s face it, she knows the area, she knows the people, she knows the places to book,” she said.

“I don’t because I don’t live up there.”