Media Releases

Victoria’s agricultural industries are set to be the hardest hit by the Brumby Government’s latest tax grab, Shadow Minister for Agriculture and Deputy Leader of The Nationals Peter Walsh said today.
Mr Walsh said from mid-2011 exporters would be hit with a $180 surcharge for every truck that entered the Port of Melbourne’s Swanson Dock.
“This unfair and discriminatory new tax is on top of wharfage and channel deepening charges and will raise an extra $1 billion a year for consolidated revenue,” Mr Walsh said.
“The majority of this revenue will come straight from the pockets of the state’s farmers.
“Victoria’s food and fibre producers are only just emerging from a decade of drought, and already the Brumby Government is milking them for all they are worth.
“Last financial year, 1.8 million containers were exported from Melbourne, with agricultural products, including cereal grains, dairy products, fruit and vegetables and stockfeed among the top ten containerised commodity exports.
“As the largest container exporter from the Port of Melbourne, Murray Goulburn will be forced to fork out more than $2 million, on top of other port fees, to pay this tax each year.”
Mr Walsh said most producers and freight operators would accept the charge if it was being used to improve freight routes and restore the ailing rail freight network.
“The government has already signalled its intention to funnel the money raised from this tax into consolidated revenue where it can be used to shore up John Brumby’s slush fund,” Mr Walsh said.
“Labor’s logic is simply ludicrous and this tax will seriously weaken Victoria’s competitiveness as an exporter.
“Food and fibre producers are the backbone of this state’s economy. Last year they exported $6.7 billion worth of product.
“Instead of strengthening the state’s economic base by assisting food and fibre producers, John Brumby wants to use them as cash cows, making them contribute another $1 billion a year to consolidated revenue,” Mr Walsh said.

Member for Swan Hill, Peter Walsh, is encouraging the youth of the region to take the initiative and apply for grants to fund events that celebrate and recognise their contribution to the community.
“These grants, as part of National Youth Week 2011, aim to promote positive images of young people and acts as an important platform to showcase their talents and get involved in activities,” Mr Walsh said.
“Grants such as those being provided through National Youth Week are an important tool to help young people showcase their abilities and develop a sense of self-worth.”
The grants are open to groups of young people to organise events for other young people. To be eligible young people must work in partnership with a local council, community organisation or school.
Applications are open for two grants:
• $2000 for young people working with an organisation to deliver a local community based project; and
• $2000 for young people working with an organisation to deliver an event that raises awareness of depression or anxiety (supported by Youthbeyondblue).
“Our young people are our investment in the future and it is important that they are given every opportunity to make positive contributions to their community and to express their ideas and have their voices heard,” Mr Walsh said.
Applications close on Friday 15 October 2010 for events to be held during National Youth Week from 1 April to 10 April, 2011.
Application forms can be submitted online at www.grants.dpcd.vic.gov.au. For more information call the Grants Information Line on 1300 366 356. Queries in relation to applications can be directed to the Project Officer for National Youth Week on (03) 9208 3209 or email youthweek@dpcd.vic.gov.au.

Member for Swan Hill, Peter Walsh, will be officially opening the Warracknabeal A & P Society’s Annual Show on Thursday October 7th.
“It will give me extra pleasure to open the Show this year as I am sure it will be an even greater success than in recent years after the Brumby Government’s backflip on Council declared Public Holidays,” Mr Walsh said.
“Last year we saw the debacle of where the totally out-of-touch Labor Government decreed that a metropolitan formula for taking the Melbourne Cup Holiday was required for all local government areas.
“Now, after an enormous ground swell of public opinion forced Premier Brumby to overturn his short sighted and ill-informed decision we see different communities holding their Shows on locally declared holidays.
“With what is looking like an excellent year for our farmers and a public holiday for our schools and businesses I am looking forward to a bumper crowd at the Show on Thursday next week.
“I am sure that the Murtoa, Minyip and Rupanyup Shows are also going to benefit enormously from their communities having a holiday on their Show days over the next week,” Mr Walsh said.

Member for Swan Hill, Peter Walsh, has guaranteed the future of the highly respected local VICSWIM Summer Kidz learn-to-swim holiday program.
“The Liberal Nationals Coalition will invest $1.6 million to overhaul and revitalise this program that has effectively been all but dumped by the Brumby Government,” Mr Walsh said.
“This program has taught tens of thousands of Victorian children to swim since it started in the mid 1970s but because of Labor’s neglect the organisers have been forced to chase the corporate dollar for sponsorship.
“As a result, costs have increased and participation is now at an all time low.
“With the failure of Labor to show any interest in the program, the only way it will continue this summer will be with an injection of funds from a newly elected Coalition government,” Mr Walsh said.
“With the Royal Life Saving reporting that the numbers of drowning deaths are the highest they've been at any time in the last 7 years, with 314 drowning deaths in Australian waterways in the 12 months to June 30th this year, it is essential that the future of this high quality Learn to Swim program is assured,” he said.
“We have ten venues in the Swan Hill electorate that have traditionally provided the program ranging from Murtoa and Rupanyup in the south to Nyah and Swan Hill in the north and many venues in between.
“It will be a tragedy if the dedicated swimming teachers in these communities are unable to teach our young children the necessary water safety skills they need to allow them to enjoy the coming summer months,” Mr Walsh said.
“The Coalition will do what Labor has failed to do and that is to guarantee the future of the program and subsidise the costs for families,” he said.

Member for Swan hill, Peter Walsh, is encouraging residents to get behind the National Walk to Work Day on Friday October 1st by walking to work.
“The National Walk to Work Day aims to raise awareness of the importance of regular walking as a way to stay fit and healthy,” Mr Walsh said.
“Walking has many benefits which include weight management, improving overall health, reducing anxiety and stress and helping people stay alert and productive while at work.
The event aims to encourage people to build walking into their daily routines and to walk all or part of the way to work every day.
“Living in rural Victoria, I am aware that many people travel long distances to get to their place of employment so those people who can’t walk all the way to work, leave the car a few blocks from your work and walk the rest of the way.
“Otherwise, get a few of your work colleagues and go for a half hour walk at lunchtime. Given that we live in a beautiful part of Victoria we are lucky to have at our finger tips plenty of picturesque walks close by.”
This year individuals can show their support by Pledging to Put Their Feet First and walk more regularly. Those who register go in a draw to win one of two walking holidays courtesy of wotif.com or a pair of Rockport walking shoes.
Go to www.walk.com.au to register as an individual or organisation.

Member for Swan Hill, Peter Walsh, has thrown his support behind the Liberal Nationals Coalition policy that will see first time hoon offenders have their cars seized for 30 days.
“Current Victorian laws for 48 hour confiscation of Hoon’s vehicles are not strict enough,” Mr Walsh said.
“There are a disproportionate number of fatalities on regional roads, and we need to produce a very strong deterrent for those who engage in hoon behaviour.
“A Coalition Government will introduce immediate 30 day vehicle impoundment for a first time hoon offence, up to three months impoundment for the second offence and forfeiture and crushing of vehicles after stripping them for parts for a third offence.”
“Generally, our young people are great contributors to our community but some think they are invincible and I believe the introduction of tougher laws will provide a deterrent to those who think it’s safe to participate in this irresponsible behaviour,” he said.
“Hoon driving is not just a city problem and we need to take strong action to get the message across that street racing and other irresponsible activities that occur out there on our roads are not only socially unacceptable but also downright dangerous.
“Under our anti-hoon laws, vehicles can be stripped of useful parts and crushed, or used for safety testing and education by the Transport Accident Commission.
“In this scenario, a regular hoon will have to wave their car goodbye.
“We must do all that we can to ensure that we not only protect those who undertake such activities but also the responsible road users who are affected by this behaviour.
“Our residents deserve to have quiet streets and safer roads and I believe the position of the Coalition will act as a much greater deterrent for those who want to act illegally on our roads, and potentially put themselves and others at risk,” Mr Walsh said.

A Victorian Liberal Nationals Coalition Government will use aerial baiting to control wild dogs and protect livestock and native fauna, Shadow Minister for Regional and Rural Development and Leader of The Nationals Peter Ryan said today.
Speaking in Granya in northern Victoria while announcing the Coalition’s comprehensive plan to tackle wild dogs, Mr Ryan said aerial baiting was a crucial control method that had been rejected by the Brumby Government.
“Under John Brumby, wild dogs are taking over Victoria’s high country and cutting a bloody swathe through native animals and livestock,” Mr Ryan said.
“A Coalition Government will carry out an annual aerial baiting program to control packs of marauding wild dogs in Victoria’s high country.
“We will bring an end to the incompetence of the Brumby Government on wild dogs and its refusal to implement aerial baiting.
“The Victorian Coalition is not going to sit on its hands and watch while native wildlife and the livelihoods of landholders are wiped out by these brutal feral animals,” Mr Ryan said.
In addition to introducing an aerial baiting program, the Coalition will:
 reinvigorate wild dog management committees to increase their effectiveness and participation in decision-making on wild dogs;
 maintain the 24 doggers already employed by the state;
 lobby the Gillard Government to create a national threat abatement plan for wild dogs; and
 establish a $4 million fox and wild dog bounty, making all licensed shooters eligible for a $50 bounty for every wild dog killed.
Shadow Minister for Agriculture and Deputy Leader of The Nationals Peter Walsh said landholders had lost faith in the Brumby Government’s ability to control wild dogs.
“Farmers are suffering huge losses, with some so devastated by the attacks that they have given up farming altogether,” Mr Walsh said.
“Many landholders say dog attacks are becoming more frequent and vicious but the Brumby Government has refused to implement aerial baiting.
“Labor conducted two aerial baiting trials and it bungled both of them, yet John Brumby’s incompetent Agriculture Minister has since used the inconclusive results of those trials to justify Labor’s rejection of aerial baiting.
“It is immensely frustrating for landholders when aerial baiting is already used successfully in other parts of the country, including New South Wales, Queensland, Western Australia and the Northern Territory.”
Mr Walsh said field trials conducted in NSW had shown that wild dogs did more damage to native fauna than aerial baiting.
“Aerial baiting can in fact assist native species such as quolls by reducing predation by wild dogs,” Mr Walsh said.
Mr Ryan said under a Coalition Government, the use of aerial baiting would be part of a comprehensive program to control wild dogs, including doggers, ground baiting, a bounty for shooters and appropriate exclusion fencing.
“The Coalition will push for a national approach on dog control by lobbying the Gillard Government to list wild dogs as a key threat to Victoria’s biodiversity,” Mr Ryan said.
“This will enable the creation of a national threat abatement plan under legislation to coordinate control efforts and require each state to undertake adequate control measures.
“We will also overhaul the structure and functions of the state’s wild dog committees to ensure they represent the concerns of landholders and high country communities and can undertake an active role in the decision-making process.
“Rural communities want to see urgent action taken to stop the wild dog menace and only the Victorian Liberal Nationals Coalition will deliver it,” Mr Ryan said.

A new Agriculture and Food Security portfolio will make food security a core focus of a Liberal Nationals Coalition Government, Shadow Minister for Agriculture and Deputy Leader of The Nationals Peter Walsh said today.
Mr Walsh said the new Food Security portfolio would ensure food producers received the support, recognition and investment that they deserved.
“Under a Coalition Government food security will be given the highest importance at a ministerial level and at the Cabinet table, alongside portfolios such as health and education,” Mr Walsh said.
“The Coalition is committed to providing a greater investment of resources, backed by policies, to support our food producing communities.
“We have already announced that we will create a Regional Advisory Group that will not only provide advice on regional development but will also ensure government legislation and regulations take the needs of all Victorian food producing communities into account.
“We will also place a greater emphasis on educating consumers and young people in schools about where food comes from.”
Mr Walsh said over the past 11 years Labor had undermined food producers by adopting policies that compromised food security, and by failing to meet its own targets on food and fibre production.
“The Brumby Government has shown contempt for food producers,” Mr Walsh said.
“John Brumby is sending irrigation water to Melbourne, he has axed funding and staff for vital research and development and is strangling food producers in red tape.
“Food and fibre exports have slumped to $6.7 billion since Labor was re-elected in 2006, a long way from the $12 billion it promised by 2010.
“During that time the government has produced at least three food strategies, and is working on another one in an attempt to cover up its failure to meet its election commitments.
“Victorian food producers deserve more than meaningless platitudes and strategies.
“A Coalition Government will provide Victoria’s food producers with policy that supports them and a Minister who understands them,” Mr Walsh said.

Shadow Minister for Agriculture and Deputy Leader of The Nationals Peter Walsh has called on the Brumby Government to take immediate action to extend the hours of its locust hotline.
Mr Walsh said a Mildura resident who had discovered up to 100 hoppers on his property on Saturday morning had today reported that the hotline was not manned on weekends.
“Unfortunately locusts don’t just work during business hours,” Mr Walsh said.
“If the Brumby Government is spending more than $40 million on its locust war, surely it can staff its locust hotline for farming hours, not Spring Street business hours.”
Mr Walsh said the Brumby Government must extend the operating hours of the hotline so farmers could reach someone first thing in the morning, and later in evening, seven days a week.
“To be effective, the hotline needs to be open at least between the hours of 6am and 10pm,” Mr Walsh said.
“It is an absolute waste of taxpayer dollars to heavily advertise a hotline that isn’t answering calls from Victoria’s farmers.
“Landholders who received a letter from John Brumby instructing them to maintain a constant vigil for locusts have every right to be cynical, because come 5pm it is the government who is walking off the job.
Mr Walsh said with hatchings expected any day, John Brumby had again demonstrated he was completely out of touch with the realities of farming life.
“Farmers typically work long days, leaving the house early in the morning and returning late in the evening. They are not always in range of a mobile phone tower on their properties,” Mr Walsh said.
“For all the spin about a war on locusts, a hotline which operates business hours only serves to reinforce that John Brumby has lost touch with the realities of living in rural Victoria,” Mr Walsh said.

In Parliament today, Member for Swan Hill, Peter Walsh, lambasted the ill-informed and inadequate waste management policy adopted by Parks Victoria for the region’s red gum forests.
“Last year we had the debacle where the Minister for Environment, Gavin Jennings, refused to cover the costs of the volunteer Murrabit Advancement Association who were left with the expense of emptying bins filled with rubbish dumped by visitors to the red gum forests along the Murray River.
“This year we have Parks Victoria establishing temporary a transfer station on local Government property in neighbouring Koondrook,” Mr Walsh said.
“The ignorance of Parks Victoria in locating this transfer station in totally the opposite direction to where 95% of people camping in the forest will be travelling indicates their total lack of understanding of the forest and the people who use it.
“In the words of Gunnawarra Shire, ‘pathetic’ is the only word that can be used to describe Parks Victoria’s waste management policy.
“All proposed transfer stations must be placed on Parks Victoria owned and managed land and they need to be located in areas where campers and park users will actually find and be able to use them,” Mr Walsh said.
“I call on the Minister for Environment to instruct Parks Victoria to develop an appropriate and adequate waste management policy and not dump the responsibility on local government authorities,” he said.