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…
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 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…
Member for Euroa and Nationals deputy leader Steph Ryan today joined hundreds of landholders from across Victoria on the steps of Parliament rallying against the Andrews Government’s flawed camping regulations. The rally comes just days after the Victorian Nationals passed an urgent motion at the party’s state conference condemning the Andrews Government for its…
The Nationals Member for Gippsland South, Danny O’Brien has encouraged Gippsland landholders to have their say on new regulations that will permit camping on Crown land river frontage with grazing licences. The Andrews Labor Government has legislated to allow camping despite the opposition of The Nationals and many farmers with licences to graze Crown…
Checkpoints on Victoria’s border with New South Wales must be removed following today’s announcement that reclassifies all of NSW as either ‘green’ or ‘orange’ zones. Border communities are at their wits end. Despite no COVID cases in NSW border communities, Labor’s unwieldy permit system is leaving local people still facing debilitating delays to get across…
Nationals Member for Ovens Valley Tim McCurdy was recently called upon to see first-hand the damage feral pigs have caused to a local farming property. Mr McCurdy said the level of damage he saw was of great concern. “When I inspected the farmland it was like somebody had taken a set of discs…
Nationals Member for Ovens Valley Tim McCurdy is calling for local Victorian farmers to be allowed access to their livestock and crops on the NSW side of the border. Mr McCurdy said he had been fielding up to 20 calls a day from Ovens Valley farmers who have been affected by the hardened border…
Union politics is jeopardising food security at a time of crisis. The horticulture sector fears a union call to end the Working Holiday Maker Visa will push up the price of fruit and vegetables at a time when our communities need a reliable, affordable supply of fresh food. Shadow Minister for Agriculture Peter Walsh said…
Bush users have been left hanging by the Andrews Labor Government as it continues to delay its response to a report that recommended locking up state forests in national parks. The Victorian Environmental Assessment Council’s (VEAC) Central West investigation recommended locking up more than 77,000 hectares of forest at Mount Cole, Wombat and Wellsford state…
The Nationals Member for Gippsland South, Danny O’Brien, is encouraging young Gippsland farmers to apply for a spot on the Young Farmers Advisory Council. Mr O’Brien said applications were welcome from young people (under 35) in the agriculture sector with experience in farm management, agribusiness, finance, education, international markets and regional development. “The…
Logging contractors have had a rare win with the announcement that they will be paid by Vic Forests in line with both their contractual obligations and the Owner Drivers and Forestry Contractors Act 2005. “The impetus for this came from timber industry businesses that were being threatened with penalties under a new State law that…