Marriage celebrant Alan Howard, who is running in his third election, has watched from the sidelines as the election pendulum has increasingly shifted to state issues in Victoria in recent weeks.

He considered the economy and “widespread debt” were the main issues that should be debated, but conceded the CFA dispute was also worthy of discussion.

“I believe that what is clearly an attack not only on the Country Fire Authority but the essence of volunteerism by the Andrews state Labor government, has been the spark that has created great angst and ire in the community,” Mr Howard said.

The lack of debate about the future of dairy farmers however, had Mr Howard worried.

“It also seems to me that farmers in the areas directly affected, are having their viability challenged through the privatisation of water and particularly the overprovision of environmental flows from the system,” he said.

In 2013, Mr Howard received 1036 votes in the Bendigo electorate – making up 1.1 per cent of the overall vote against 12 other candidates.

Three years earlier, he won 3892 votes against four candidates.

Mr Howard has been a vocal and active opponent of same-sex marriage, and leafleted Bendigo businesses which displayed posters in favour of marriage equality in 2015.

His involvement resulted in a run-in with a cafe manager who took exception to the way in which the group had approached the businesses.

Mr Howard vigorouly defended himself at the time.

He said Family First senators Steve Fielding and Bob Day had been “measured and fair in dealing with legislation”.

“With this being my third election... I expect that people across the Bendigo electorate have come to appreciate that I have always been prepared to be upfront and fight for important issues,” Mr Howard said.