A new survey today detailing the declining mental health of young people after the pandemic has further highlighted the urgent need to rejuvenate Victoria’s fatigued mental health workforce. The survey, conducted in February by research company Resolve Strategic, found a quarter of young Australians thought about suicide in the past two years. The highest number…
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Infringements issued by the Department of Justice and Community Safety for alleged COVID breaches have raised the ire of small business owners who have endured the burden of changing compliance complexities for two years. Nationals Member for Gippsland East, Tim Bull, said small businesses should have been helped, not hounded, as what they had to…
DetailsNationals Member for Ovens Valley Tim McCurdy recently spoke in Parliament highlighting his concerns about the Andrews Government’s 2021-22 budget skipping regional schools within the Ovens Valley region. In Parliament Mr McCurdy said, “There is plenty of money being spent on education in Melbourne and not enough in our regional towns. “When we…
DetailsNationals Member for Ovens Valley Tim McCurdy is eager to see whether the Independent MP’s in Parliament’s Upper House vote in favour for greater protection for our Victorian farmers through harsher on the spot fines. Mr McCurdy said, “In Parliament earlier this year I called for tougher penalties to be imposed against animal activities…
DetailsLocal outcomes on better health, education, employment and housing for Aboriginal Victorians is in the spotlight today for National Close the Gap Day. Victoria has failed to close the gap in four of the seven original priority target measures and has recorded declining outcomes in education participation, Indigenous suicide rates and out-of-home care. Aboriginal Australian’s…
DetailsMore doctors, nurses and medical staff will be needed in Shepparton to fix the healthcare crisis in Victoria that’s seeing sick people getting sicker. Long waits for elective surgery have exacerbated minor pain to chronic levels, while under-resourcing of the emergency triple-0 service has led to the preventable deaths of 12 Victorians – so far.…
DetailsA new report, released today, makes a mockery of the Victorian Roads Minister’s claim that our state’s road network is now ‘safer and smoother’. Infrastructure Australia’s Regional Strengths and Infrastructure Gaps report zeroed in on an urgent need to invest more into Victoria’s neglected and crumbling regional roads. It found a lack of adequate investment…
DetailsMany communities in regional Victoria are “highly under-serviced” by public transport, with flow on effects to liveability acting as a handbrake on potential population growth, a new report today has found. Infrastructure Australia released the 2022 Regional Strengths and Infrastructure Gaps report today, shining a light on the poor state of transport infrastructure across regional…
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Gippsland families and drug advocates are still waiting for promised drug and alcohol support in the Latrobe Valley. In 2018, the Andrews Labor Government announced funding for a youth drug and alcohol rehabilitation centre in Latrobe Valley. Challenged by The Nationals Member for Eastern Victoria Region, Melina Bath, Labor conceded the Latrobe Valley Youth Drug…
DetailsHeroin abuse in Victoria has reached a national high, but vulnerable Victorians seeking help to kick these life-threatening addictions still struggle to access support. Data released today by the Australian Criminal Intelligence Commission (ACIC) paints a damning picture of illegal drug use in Victoria across Melbourne and regional Victoria. Abuse of heroin in Melbourne is…
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Independent MPs in Parliament’s Upper House are being urged to be the deciding vote that will see better farm trespass protections for Victorian farmers become law. Legislation for on-the-spot fines for farm trespass have finally been introduced to the upper house of state parliament after years of delays. Amendments moved by The Nationals Member for…
Details“If it’s too good to be true it probably is”, is a well-known phrase and Gippsland East Nationals MP, is asking locals to take heed. It comes on the back of a number of East Gippslanders being scammed out of considerable amounts of money. “These mongrels’ prey on the vulnerable and are almost…
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