Media Releases

Member for Swan Hill, Peter Walsh, is encouraging the electorate to celebrate volunteers as a vital part of our community during National Volunteer Week.
The Nationals MP said the celebrations, from May 10-16, were a fantastic way to recognise the work of the hundreds of everyday people throughout the electorate who make extraordinary contributions through volunteering.
“National Volunteer Week is our chance to publicly express our thanks to our many volunteers and to recognise the significant role they play in our communities,” Mr Walsh said.
“Volunteers are the backbone of our rural communities and without their work many of our sporting clubs, organisations and services would not exist.
“Research shows that more than 5 million Australians aged over 18 volunteer to some degree each year and we should be proud that the highest voluntary participation rates are found in country areas,” he said.
“These are the people we should celebrate during National Volunteer Week.
“Volunteers give their time and energy freely and willingly for no other reason than through a desire to help others and to do something worthwhile.”
This year’s theme is Volunteering: Now, more than ever.
Volunteers can visit www.volunteeringaustralia.org/nvw for resources on volunteering, tips on promoting voluntary organisations, fast facts and an activity register.
“This is a great week for those who have considered volunteering to put their hands up, because by joining a volunteer group people can make a great contribution to their communities,” Mr Walsh said.
“Volunteering can also provide an opportunity to improve professional skills and experience as well as provide training for people to be prepared to help in the event of an emergency. CERT (Community Emergency Response Team) teams, like those at Birchip and Wedderburn, are a wonderful example of this.”

PIPELINE WORK NOT OVER YET: WALSH
The Wimmera Mallee Pipeline will help guarantee the future of one of the state’s most important agricultural regions, according to Shadow Minister for Country Water Resources and Deputy Leader of The Nationals Peter Walsh.
Attending the official opening of the pipeline in Horsham, Mr Walsh said the project was a credit to the region’s farming community which had lobbied successive governments for the funding to complete the mammoth project.
“This is a fantastic day for the region. The completion of the Wimmera Mallee Pipeline is a credit to all those who have worked on this immense project,” Mr Walsh said.
“The pipeline was championed by former Deputy Prime Minister John Anderson and is due in no small part to the dedication and commitment of The Nationals Member for Lowan Hugh Delahunty and Federal Member John Forrest.”
Mr Walsh said there were still several unresolved issues which needed to be addressed by the Rudd and Brumby governments.
“Many farmers are concerned they have been left with the responsibility of filling in the old channel system,” Mr Walsh said.
“Local government are also worried that they have been left to foot the enormous cost of putting in fire tanks and hydrants along the pipeline.”
Mr Walsh called on the Rudd Government to address those concerns with the money it had promised but not delivered to the project.
“There is still $25 million outstanding from the Rudd Government which it promised to contribute to the project at the 2007 election,” Mr Walsh said.
“Those funds should be given to council to install fire hydrants and to Grampians Wimmera Mallee Water to backfill the old channel system.”
Mr Walsh also called on the Brumby Government to return water saved by the project to the environment, instead of using the north-south pipeline to send it to Melbourne.
“It is unfortunate that this fantastic project has been marred by John Brumby’s failure to live up to his original promise to return the water saved by the Wimmera Mallee pipeline to the environment.”

The nationwide Building the Education Revolution construction debacle is just as evident in the Swan Hill electorate as the rest of the country according to Member for Swan Hill, Peter Walsh.
Speaking in Parliament yesterday Mr Walsh condemned the Brumby Labor Government for its appalling mismanagement of a number of BER projects in his electorate.
Mr Walsh identified Woorinen District Primary and Manangatang P-12 College as just two examples of schools left frustrated by delays, botched tendering processes, construction zones with little or no evidence of work being carried out and a major lack of communication between the Education Department and the school communities.
“The Manangatang P-12 College community were initially promised they would be in their new buildings by the beginning of this school year but all they have for their patience is a weed infested, overgrown, fenced off construction area and several pegs in the ground,” Mr Walsh told Parliament.
“An even worse case is the Woorinen District Primary School which was promised a new school to replace the ‘temporary’ portables installed some 15 years ago.
“The community were provided with more secondhand portables to move into while their new school was being built.
“However, these portables arrived several months after the school was told they were meant to, were in a totally unusable state with major construction and fitting out issues and remain fenced off with the whole school now looking like a disused construction zone with a large area of the playground now inaccessible,” Mr Walsh said.
“To make matters worse, the limited communication that the school has been provided with indicates that work on the new school probably won’t begin until the end of this year.
“The Building the Education Revolution is not happening for the people in my electorate and once again the Brumby government stands condemned for its inability to manage yet another major project,” Mr Walsh said.

Water Minister Tim Holding has refused to provide Parliament with a guarantee that the Brumby Government has acted within privacy laws when spying on north-south pipeline protesters.
Shadow Minister for Country Water Resources and Deputy Leader of The Nationals Peter Walsh asked Mr Holding in Question Time to give an undertaking to the House that the government, its agencies and bodies had not breached the Privacy Act.
“The Minister has refused to assure the Parliament that the government acted within the law,” Mr Walsh said.
“Mr Holding actually defended Labor’s decision to employ private contractors to intimidate and spy on protesters.”
Mr Walsh said Mr Holding had acted hypocritically by refusing to provide Parliament with a guarantee his agencies were acting lawfully.
Last year the Minister told 3AW:
‘… the provisions of the Privacy Act override any Memorandum of Understanding or any other arrangement that people enter into. Legislation is supreme, ah, people have to obey the law. Everybody has to obey the law.’
“Clearly the Minister isn’t confident that Melbourne Water and the Sugarloaf Alliance acted within the law or he would plainly say so,” Mr Walsh said.
“Pipeline and desalination protesters have been bullied, intimidated and monitored extensively by the Brumby Government because they have dared to criticise government policy.
“Documents obtained under Freedom of Information laws show the government has even passed on intelligence collected during its extensive surveillance operations to the Security Intelligence Group, Victoria’s counter-terrorism unit.
“The heavy-handed and thuggish tactics employed by this arrogant and out-of-touch government will now be the subject of a Parliamentary inquiry.
“The Law Reform Committee will investigate whether the rights and privacy of Victorians protesting about the government’s Wonthaggi desalination plant and other similar construction projects such as the north-south pipeline have been breached,” Mr Walsh said.

The blatant vote grabbing tactics of the Brumby Government were condemned in Parliament recently by Member for Swan Hill, Peter Walsh.
“The Brumby Government has cynically targeted city voters by developing the spin of the decline of red gum forests and in the process has caused devastation in businesses and communities dependent upon the timber industry.
“Valued added businesses such as the red gum furniture industry are now at risk of having to close down due to the locking up of the river red gum forests,” Mr Walsh told Parliament.
“This out-of-touch, arrogant Labor Government has sent local jobs overseas as buyers will be forced to purchase imported furniture rather than the high quality, locally made product that they have been able to access in the past.
“This Labor Government, which purports to represent workers, should hang its head in shame at the way it has turned its back on country Victorian jobs just to curry favour with city voters,” Mr Walsh said.
“In its desperation to stay in power the Brumby Government is demonstrating its belief in spin over substance and it is unashamedly pitting one section of the community against another in its bid for electoral votes.
“I condemn this Government for its blatant election grabbing tactics and call on it to revert to its commitment to govern for all Victorians,” Mr Walsh said.

Member for Swan Hill, Peter Walsh, today encouraged residents to polish their applications for the Telstra Business Awards with a week left to enter.
“Some of the most innovative and successful businesses in Victoria can be found right here in our region, and I urge businesses to finetune their applications before they close on Friday, April 16,” Mr Walsh said.
“The Telstra Business Awards are a fantastic opportunity for small and medium local businesses to gain recognition on a national stage for all the hard – and excellent – work they do in and around the community.”
Awards are offered in the following categories:
• businessowner Micro-Business Award (businesses with up to employees);
• MYOB Business Award (businesses with five to 20 employees);
• Panasonic Australia Medium Business Award (businesses with 20 to 200 employees);
• AMP Innovation Award (for businesses that have successfully introduced an innovation); and
• Sensis Social Responsibility Award (for demonstrated leadership and contribution to the environment, people, education or the community

Entrants will also receive a business health check to help them focus and plan their future.
This is the 18th year Telstra has run the awards recognising excellence in small and medium business both nationally and in every state and Mr Walsh said entrants would vie for a total prize pool of $400,000.
Mr Walsh said past winner Clyne Foods was proof that businesses in regional Victoria could be just as innovative and successful as those in metropolitan Melbourne.
“Clyne Foods is a dried fruit processing and packing company that was established in Warracknabeal in 2004 to counter the saturation of imported dried fruits in the Australian market,” Mr Walsh said.
“Just two years later the company’s success in accessing domestic and international markets was recognised with the MYOB Business Award.”
To nominate visit www.telstrabusinessawards.com or for more information phone 1800 262 323.

The Swan Hill Electorate will benefit from more police under a Victorian Coalition Government plan to revolutionise policing and public safety by boosting frontline police by 1,600 in the first term of government, Nationals Member for Swan Hill, Peter Walsh, announced today.
Mr Walsh said the $344 million “Making Our Streets Safe Again” plan would end chronic police shortages and restore public safety.
“More police are needed across regional Victoria to fill staff shortages that have arisen due to Brumby government inaction over the past decade,” he said.
“This unprecedented investment in policing will see a dramatic increase in frontline police across Victoria, and it will go a long way in helping our community achieve a reduction in crime.
“The Swan Hill electorate is fortunate to have a dedicated and community minded police force that does a fantastic job under very difficult circumstances, but we do not have the number of frontline officers needed to properly protect communities against crime.
“It is a basic responsibility of government to protect its citizens. John Brumby has failed this test. Law and order has not been a priority of the Brumby Government, but it will be a priority of a Victorian Liberal Nationals Government. Victorians have a right to expect to be protected.
“Victoria has the fewest frontline police per capita and spends less on police resourcing per capita than any other state in Australia.”
Mr Walsh said the Coalition would provide $344 million over four years to fund an additional 1,600 police, plus an additional $65 million capital allocation for operational equipment. The package includes $8 million for expanded training facilities and staff at the Police Academy.
“This announcement is part of an integrated plan to stop and reverse the culture of violence and growing levels of crime in Victoria. A significant increase in frontline police is crucial to all of these initiatives,” he said.
“Victoria Police have some of the best police officers in the nation but Victoria does not have the number of frontline officers needed to properly protect communities against record levels of violent crime.
“The Liberals and Nationals are listening to Victorian communities and will deliver the police required to make sure families can feel safe again on the streets, on public transport and in their own homes.
“This announcement is part of an integrated plan to stop and reverse the culture of violence and growing levels of crime in Victoria. A significant increase in frontline police is crucial to all of these initiatives,” Mr Walsh said.

Today’s announcement of 100% water allocation for Murray River irrigators makes the call for immediate changes to water carryover rules even more necessary according to Member for Swan Hill, Peter Walsh.
“Earlier this week I called on the Minister for Water, Tim Holding, to implement the next season carryover rules immediately to eliminate the disadvantage being suffered by those irrigators who purchased temporary water based on expected low seasonal allocations,” Mr Walsh said.
“This disadvantage is now exacerbated by the latest allocation which, whilst welcome in itself, actually further penalises those irrigators who have implemented prudent planning decisions
“It is imperative that the carryover rules due to be implemented on June 30 must be brought forward now to ease the burden on these irrigators,” Mr Walsh said.

Member for Swan Hill, Peter Walsh, has praised 23 local sporting clubs for ‘getting active’ in attracting much-needed funding.
The clubs were among 492 sport and recreation groups to win VicHealth Active Club Grants this month and Mr Walsh said it was pleasing to see them actively looking for funding, particularly during times of hardship.
“Local sporting and recreation clubs are in many cases the backbones of our regional communities, but they’re more important than ever during hard times such as drought.
“So I’m thrilled to see these local clubs get out and have a go at attracting some funding,” Mr Walsh said.
Funding was awarded to clubs from across the Swan Hill electorate, including the Nyah West Tennis Club ($2150), Warrack Eagles Netball Club ($500), Sea Lake Swimming Pool ($1800) and the St Arnaud Badminton Club ($2373).
Swan Hill RSL Cricket Club ($2500), Rupanyup Bowls Club ($2490), Donald Basketball Association ($2100) and Kerang-Lake Charm Power Boat Club ($2500) were also among local grant recipients.
Mr Walsh said VicHealth’s Active Club Grants this year handed out $930,000 for vital equipment and training.
“This program helps give local sports clubs the opportunity to reach out to people who may otherwise not participate, such as those from low socio-economic or indigenous backgrounds, refugees or people with disabilities,” he said.
“I encourage any clubs who have not accessed this funding in the past to consider applying when it opens again for applications later this year.”

It is time the dilapidated Murtoa Stick Shed was demolished according to Member for Swan Hill, Peter Walsh.
Speaking in Parliament, Mr Walsh detailed the major safety issues surrounding the historic grain storage shed and the failed efforts to preserve the structure.
“GrainCorp, on whose land the building is sited, the overwhelming majority of the community and the local historical society all believe that the stick shed is beyond repair,” Mr Walsh said.
“Large sections of the roof have fallen and the entire roof area is covered in wire mesh in an effort to stop roofing iron from blowing around the neighbouring community.
“Despite funding from the State Government through Heritage Victoria to try and conserve the building, Worksafe Victoria suspended works almost as soon as they had begun last year because of fears for worker’s safety.
“The situation has obviously not improved with the adjacent school even having to resort on occasion to not allowing children out onto the school’s playground areas because of the danger of flying roof iron,” Mr Walsh said.
With GrainCorp seriously considering its options in regard to the future of the Murtoa grain receival facility, Mr Walsh has called on Premier Brumby to intervene and assist GrainCorp in their proposal to establish an historical interpretive centre which recognises the history of grain handling and storage in the district.
“Such a resource would ensure the history of the industry is recognised and maintained while improving the safety of all in the community,” Mr Walsh said.
“It would also allow GrainCorp the opportunity to develop its receival facility at the site and thus the future of grain handling in the district,” he said.