Ms Chesters was appointed Shadow Assistant Minister for Workplace Relations and Rural & Regional Australia on Saturday and said she was keen to focus on jobs.

“There are communities where unemployment is rising, yet there is a significant proportion of jobs going to temporary overseas workers, and that has to stop,” she said.

“The government needs to be doing more with industry to ensure those jobs are being offered to locals first.”

She wants employers to offer opportunities to locals before they “look to import a worker either from the city or overseas.”

“Part of it will be direct stakeholder engagement – talking to industry, finding out why they’re not going for local workers first, and putting pressure on the government to consider private member’s bills and on the parliamentary committee process to advocate for the government to tackle this issue head-on,” Ms Chesters said. 

Australian Bureau of Statistics figures released this week showed Bendigo’s unemployment rate in June was 4.6 percent. It was 5.4 per cent in the month of June 2015.

The unemployment rate in regional Victoria was 5.4 per cent. It was 5.5 per cent in June 2015.

Ms Chesters also wants to highlight issues such as regional infrastructure, sustainable water policy, and supporting farmers.

Ms Chesters believes she was promoted because of her work during her first term.

“These are two areas where we need to do a lot of work to hold the government to account,” she said.

“They are lacking any visionary policy when it comes to those two areas that are significant towards and Bendigo and the Bendigo electorate.”

She said her most important role would be that of the Federal Member for Bendigo.

“This promotion will just allow me to have a greater say in parliament and in the Labor Party in policy development for all regional Australians and all Australian workers,” she said.

“I am incredibly excited and looking forward to continuing to work with Brendan O’Connor, Shadow Minister for Employment and Workplace Relations, and Joel Fitzgibbon, Shadow Minister for Rural and Regional Australia.”

About 45 per cent of Labor’s shadow ministers and assistant ministers are women.