Many will be unaware the State Government has launched a Draft Victorian Recreational Boating Strategy, which is open for community feedback (until September 20). This document requires significant local feedback from East Gippslanders. If I am to paraphrase my concerns, the Strategy, which prioritises future government investment in the boating sector, does not adequately reflect…
Member for Lowan Emma Kealy has implored the Andrews Labor Government to back regional agricultural events that have been forced off the calendar due to COVID without any financial support from the government. Events such as Hamilton’s Sheepvention and the Wimmera Machinery Field Days – Victoria’s longest-running field days – are an important part of…
Forestry workers are a step closer to facing increased culpability and liability after the Andrews Government refused to support amendments to the Forests Legislation Amendment (Compliance and Enforcement) Bill 2019 in state parliament today. The Nationals Member for Eastern Victoria Region Melina Bath said Labor has ploughed ahead with its diabolical Bill which will introduce…
Students in regional Victoria should not have to endure more weeks locked out of the classroom. According to the Andrews Government’s roadmap, only Prep to Grade 2 and final years students will be back in the classroom this week to start to get their studies back on track. Despite high vaccination rates across regional Victoria,…
Latrobe Valley VCE students caught up in the local outbreak of Covid -19 must have online provisions provided to support them through their upcoming exam period. The Nationals Member for Eastern Victoria Region and Shadow Assistant Minister for Education, Melina Bath said a number of VCE students were impacted by health orders through no fault…
A pledge to better support Victorian students to settle back into school after months of isolating lockdowns will only make a difference if there’s enough mental health practitioners to deliver it. The Victorian Government today promised to fund practitioners in every public school from Term Four, but failed to back it up with the necessary…
The Nationals Member for Eastern Victoria Region, Melina Bath is calling on the Andrews Government to bolster its effort to help vulnerable community members access vaccinations in Latrobe Valley. “The Latrobe Valley is lagging behind other regional areas in terms of vaccination rates and more needs to be done to support efforts to lift it,”…
The Premier’s latest decree to mandate a first dose vaccination for all Authorised Workers, including farmers, by October 15, “in order to continue working onsite” is desperate and illogical. Victorian farmers are the latest victims of the Andrews Labor Government shifting the goalposts and its total failure to comprehend, let alone manage, the ongoing mess…
The time has come to guarantee a positive way forward for regional Victorian communities that have been crippled by 18 months of uncertainty and lockdown. Vaccination rates in regional Victoria already far exceed those in Melbourne, with 55.64 per cent of the community now fully vaccinated – compared to 47.2 per cent in metropolitan Melbourne.…
New official data on the performance of Victoria’s major projects has slammed poorly managed upgrades to north-west Victoria’s freight rail network that are now five years overdue. According to the Victorian Auditor-General’s Office (VAGO), the Murray Basin Rail Project, which originally planned to deliver transformational upgrades to freight lines including Mildura, Sea Lake and Manangatang,…
The Nationals’ Member for Euroa Steph Ryan is continuing to campaign for Benalla’s immediate reinstatement into the Victorian border bubble. Ms Ryan said there was no evidence of COVID-19 in the local community and the government’s decision had done nothing but create difficulty for local people. “After raising my concerns in Parliament about Benalla’s sudden…
The failure of the Andrews Government to fix legal loopholes in the Timber Code of Practice has blocked training for essential service workers, firefighters and first responders, placing communities at risk. A court injunction on two forestry training sites in East Gippsland has obstructed TAFE Gippsland’s essential forestry training, the only nationally accredited specialist training…