Media Releases

The Victorian Coalition Government has demanded former Water Minister Tim Holding apologise for spying on Plug the Pipe protester Jan Beer.
Water Minister Peter Walsh said Melbourne Water had settled a legal challenge before the Victorian Civil and Administrative Tribunal by today issuing a public apology to Ms Beer.
“Melbourne Water has admitted that it collected a large amount of personal information about Ms Beer during the construction of Labor’s north-south pipeline,” Mr Walsh said.
“Tim Holding was at the helm of this ship and he must apologise to Jan Beer for the treatment she endured.
“The Brumby Labor Government treated protesters such as Ms Beer with contempt. Mr Holding branded them “quasi-terrorists” and former Premier John Brumby called them liars.
“The public apology issued by Melbourne Water today shows the protesters weren’t lying when they said they had concerns about Labor’s heavy-handed tactics.
“The apology acknowledges Ms Beer has a history of lawful opposition to the project and has never been charged with any offence in relation to the project.
“Ms Beer felt she was being constantly monitored as a result of this abhorrent invasion of privacy and documents released under Freedom of Information reveal the lengths to which Labor was prepared to go,” Mr Walsh said.
The Sugarloaf Pipeline Alliance Monthly Report from June 2009 states:
‘31 May and 3 June – Jan Beer on site at Yea River crossing, Yea. Reported that she was on site for 10 minutes taking photographs then left the site. Incident recorded and her activities will continue to be monitored’, and
‘Opposition group activities (Plug the Pipe) have continued to be monitored. Jan Beer (PtP) representative has been active at the GPRS.’
“Tim Holding and the Labor Party bullied and spied on community members who were protesting in a legal and peaceful manner. Jan Beer deserves a full and frank apology from Tim Holding,” Mr Walsh said.

The Victorian Coalition Government will introduce legislation in the Victorian Parliament today to crack down on dangerous and restricted dogs, including American pitbulls.
The move coincides with the opening of a telephone hotline this morning to give Victorians an additional mechanism to report dangerous dogs.
Minister for Agriculture and Food Security Peter Walsh said the Coalition Government had moved swiftly in the aftermath of the tragic death of a young girl two weeks ago.
“This legislation is the first of several measures to get rid of restricted breeds, including pitbulls.
“The safety of the community is our first priority and we will be working closely with other parties in the Parliament to ensure the swift passage of this legislation,” Mr Walsh said.
“People should not be in fear of a dog attack when they are walking down a street or their children are playing in their backyard.
“The legislation to be introduced today ends the amnesty to register restricted breeds on September 29, meaning any dog identified as a pitbull not registered after that time can be seized and destroyed.
“The changes will close legal loopholes to ensure pitbull crosses become a restricted breed and a visual standard for identifying pitbull terriers will be gazetted tomorrow to prevent some of these dogs escaping regulation because of uncertainty over their breed.”
Mr Walsh said the dangerous dog hotline had also opened this morning, giving the community a way of reporting restricted breed dogs which they believed to be unregistered.
“The hotline is a dedicated number and details of calls will be recorded and passed on to councils to ensure they are alerted to reports of dangerous dogs,” Mr Walsh said.
People can report a dog they believe is a restricted breed by phoning the dangerous dog hotline on 1300 101 080 between the hours of 8am and 6pm. The hotline should not be used in an emergency. If people are in immediate danger they should phone 000.
Mr Walsh said the Coalition Government wanted to ensure dangerous dogs were removed from the community and dog owners were fully responsible for the actions of their animals.

Nearly four kilometres of historic water pipes along William Street are being replaced after more than 150 years of service.

Water Minister Peter Walsh today visited the site to mark the initial stage of the $20 million project which will replace water pipes that date back to 1857 and are some of the first water mains laid beneath the city.

“The William Street project represents an important investment in Melbourne’s water supply system, and is one of the largest urban water main renewal projects ever undertaken in the CBD,” Mr Walsh said.

“As some of the first water mains laid underneath the city, the pipes have reached the end of their design life and it is essential they are replaced.

“This project is part of City West Water’s $100 million five-year program of ongoing upgrades across inner and western Melbourne that will ensure our water supply network operates efficiently,” Mr Walsh said.

Mr Walsh said the main suffered a major burst in 2009 near the Magistrate’s Court Complex, and the replacement project would dramatically reduce the risk of any similar incident.

“The old water mains are made of riveted wrought iron and will be replaced with a modern steel pipe less prone to corrosion and ruptures caused by ground movement,” Mr Walsh said.

“Given the age and historical significance of the old water mains, a small section of the wrought iron pipe will be kept for display purposes in the future.”

The works will see water mains replaced in stages along the entire length of William Street from Flinders Street to Howard Street near the Queen Victoria Market.

During the works, the northbound lanes of William Street will be closed to traffic in sections, with the first section closed between Bourke and Lonsdale streets.

City West Water managing director Anne Barker said the project was a culmination of years of detailed planning and design.

Member for Swan Hill, Peter Walsh, is encouraging local organisations to apply for the October funding round of the Victorian Coalition Government’s Country Victoria Events Program.
The program provides up to $10,000 per event to assist with tourism marketing and event delivery and development.
“The funding aims to support regional organisations to deliver sports, music, visual arts, food and wine and multicultural festival events across Victoria,” Mr Walsh said.
“It targets events with a local community significance that may not be well-known outside the local region.”
The program supports smaller community events so that local tourism and community groups can promote their region and develop an identity through events.
“This funding provides a significant opportunity to grow our region’s events calendar and I encourage local organisations to put forward an application.
“Supported events demonstrate potential for increased economic benefits and encourage visitors to our region,” Mr Walsh said.
The Country Victoria Events Program (CVEP) focuses on events that are able to attract, or are likely to attract, both intra and interstate visitors.
Examples of recently funded events from across the State include Geelong’s Toast to the Coast, Heathcote Wine and Food Festival, Shepparton’s KidsFest and the Festival of Performing Arts in Lorne.
Closing date for applications is October 1.
For further information on the program contact Tourism Victoria’s Events Unit on 9653 9747, visit www.tourism.vic.gov.au/marketing/marketing/events-marketing or email brendan.downey@tourism.vic.gov.au

Local Member and Minister for Agriculture and Food Security, Peter Walsh, roundly condemned the Gillard Government’s proposed carbon tax during the last sitting of Parliament.
“This is an insidious tax which will have a profound effect on every Victorian,” Mr Walsh said.
“The Prime Minister has claimed that food production will be exempt from the tax, however, food producers are not exempt from the increased costs they will incur in producing that food and fibre.
“We have already been told of the increased energy costs associated with the tax and our food and fibre producers will certainly be faced with those costs.
“However, there will also be the increased transport costs associated with the agricultural industry,” he said.
“The costs of bringing in fertiliser, feed and supplies will also increase.
“This means that either the cost of food and fibre production will be passed on to consumers, or, as is most likely, our farmers will have to bear the extra costs themselves.
“It is estimated that the carbon tax will result in a drop in profit for a dairy farm of between 5% and 25%’” Mr Walsh said.
“This profit reduction will be reflected across all sectors of the industry and will thus be another blow to our food and fibre producers who are currently struggling to recover from the effects of the drought, the pressures of the high Australian dollar on our exports and the potentially devastating economic threat of pests such mice, fruit fly and rabbits.
Mr Walsh called on the members of the Opposition Labor Party to stand up for Victoria’s food and fibre producers and put pressure on the Gillard-Greens Government to drop their proposed carbon tax.

Member for Swan Hill, Peter Walsh, said grants of up to $15,000 are available for projects focused on creating education and employment opportunities under the Foundation for Rural and Regional Renewal/ANZ Seeds for Renewal program.

“The grants are available to communities with populations less than 15,000 and I encourage not-for-profit community based organisations to consider applying for funding under this program,” Mr Walsh said.

“This small grants program is aimed at building thriving communities in regional Australia, and is sponsored by the ANZ Bank and administered by the Foundation for Rural and Regional Renewal.”

Mr Walsh said preference will be given to applications which help advance education and employment opportunities for disadvantaged and under-represented groups in regional communities, including indigenous Australians, people with disabilities, refugees, cultural and linguistically diverse groups, women and isolated communities.

More than $2.5 million has been allocated to 570 projects in rural and regional communities through the Seeds for Renewal program since 2003.

 

FRRR has allocated over $25 million to communities across Australia since it was established in 2000 and has leveraged many millions more supporting projects that stimulate the renewal of whole communities.

Applications close on September 23 and guidelines and application forms are available from the FRRR website, www.frrr.org.au/programs or freecall 1800 170 020.

The Victorian Coalition Government has today announced new initiatives to increase the voluntary take up of electronic tagging of sheep.
Addressing the Livestock Saleyards Association of Victoria in Horsham today, Minister for Agriculture and Food Security Peter Walsh said a new deal had been signed to provide Victoria’s sheep and lamb producers with low-cost electronic tags.
“The Victorian Coalition Government has signed a contract with Shearwell Australia to give producers access to a simple one-piece tag that will retail in Victoria for just 90 cents,” Mr Walsh said.
“We have also committed $500,000 in funding, matched by the Sheep and Goats Compensation Fund, to test the scanning of electronic sheep tags on a large scale.
“Saleyards will be able to apply for funding to develop plans for the installation of an electronic system.
“Feasibility studies will help saleyards determine how electronic tagging can be used in their operations, focusing on the most efficient way of routinely scanning large numbers of sheep.
“Funding will also be available to meat processors and Bestwool/ Bestlamb groups to further develop the commercial application of electronic sheep identification.”
Mr Walsh said the new developments would be a tool to assist in the productivity of Victorian sheep producers and ensure they were prepared to adapt should a national livestock identification system (NLIS) for sheep be implemented.
“Electronic tagging has a number of advantages, particularly for disease control and market access purposes,” Mr Walsh said.
“With attractively priced electronic NLIS tags for sheep now available and saleyards working on how to efficiently scan the tags on sheep, Victoria will be well placed to move forward with the electronic tagging of sheep should the need arise.”
For more information on the use of electronic sheep tags, please call the Department of Primary Industries’ NLIS helpline on 1800 678 779 during office hours.

A new suburb being built south of Melton is set to create a benchmark for Victoria by officially becoming Australia’s first water neutral suburb.
Water Minister Peter Walsh today visited Toolern which is expected to house 50,000 residents by 2030.
“These kinds of developments are the way of the future, which is why the Victorian Coalition Government has set aside $50 million to help fund projects which integrate the use of stormwater, recycled water and rainfall,” Mr Walsh said
“Toolern will capture and reuse stormwater and recycled water to greatly reduce the suburb’s demand for potable water.
“It will be the first suburb in Victoria where a potable water substitution target is being included in its precinct structure plan.
“Homes in the new development will be supplied with Class A recycled water from the Surbiton Park Recycled Water Plant to flush toilets, water gardens and wash cars.
“Stormwater will be captured and held in wetlands for treatment and filtration before it is returned to the environment to benefit the health of rivers and streams or to homes for nonpotable use.
“The self-sustaining nature of this development is particularly important here, in what is one of the lower rainfall areas of the state,” Mr Walsh said.
Up to 3,500 megalitres of stormwater will be harvested in Toolern each year, with around 2,700 megalitres of recycled water supplied by Western Water to flush toilets and water gardens and outdoor spaces.
Western Water’s managing director John Wilkinson said the amount of water harvested at Toolern for reuse would be roughly equal to the amount of drinking water used by residents.
“Toolern will truly be a suburb of the future when it comes to water management, setting the standard for urban planning in Victoria in a time of climate change,” Mr Wilkinson said.
“The integrated water management plan for Toolern focuses on local solutions for providing water security. This sort of innovation will be crucial to making communities sustainable as the region’s population grows.”

Member for Swan Hill, Peter Walsh, and the Victorian Minister for Innovation, Services and Small Business, Louise Asher, have today officially announced approval for locally determined public holidays for many of our communities in line with their annual Agricultural Shows.
Kerang and Warracknabeal communities will be able to attend their Shows on the half day holidays on October 4th and 6th respectively as requested by the Gannawarra and Yarriambiack Councils.
Rupanyup (October 5), Murtoa (October 7) and Wycheproof (October 19), residents will all receive a full day holiday to attend their Shows following their Councils requests on their behalf.
These communities are among sixteen towns from across the State whose local race days and agricultural shows are on a firmer footing after the passage through State Parliament in June of the Victorian Coalition Government’s amendments to the Public Holidays Act.
“In 2008, Labor removed regional Councils’ ability to facilitate local arrangements for public holidays,” Ms Asher said.
“Labor’s restrictive, one-size-fits-all approach meant that many local shows and race days, such as these Shows missed out on volunteers, attendances and turnover as regional Councils were forced to recognise only one regional event at the expense of others, or none at all if a Council decided to recognise Melbourne Cup Day.
“During 2010 Labor put in place a set of one-off administrative arrangements for selected regional Councils solely to get them past the November State Election.”
The new laws now provide our local Councils with the opportunity to request either one whole day or two half-day public holidays as a substitute for Melbourne Cup Day. These arrangements can apply to the whole or part of a municipality, and are now written into the Public Holidays Act.
“This implemented election promise came about because of the lobbying of local MPs such as Peter Walsh,” Ms Asher said.
In welcoming the official announcement, local Member, Peter Walsh said that it was great news for the local area.
“As well as a means of showcasing local produce, skills and enterprise and providing networking opportunities for many small, farming and family businesses, the gazetted arrangements also mean business owners can actively participate in agricultural and pastoral shows as organisers, committee members, volunteers and attendees,” Mr Walsh said.
Melbourne Cup Day continues to be the automatic default public holiday, which means that all Victorians can continue to enjoy the same number of public holidays each year, regardless of whether they live in regional Victoria or in metropolitan Melbourne.
Councils wishing to request alternative local Melbourne Cup Day holiday arrangements need to write to the Minister for Innovation, Services and Small Businesses with details of their proposed arrangements at least 90 days before Melbourne Cup Day each year.
Information about all Victorian public holidays and regional public holiday arrangements is available online at business.vic.gov.au/publicholidays or by calling 13 22 15.

The Victorian Government has awarded Clyne Foods Pty Ltd a $150,000 grant to help commercialise a vine fruit dehydration process in Warracknabeal.
The Minister for Innovation, Services and Small Business, Louise Asher, said today that the grant was part of a $3 million package designed to help companies across the State improve their global competitiveness, save money on production costs and create more local employment.
Minister Asher said the grants, through the Competitive Business Fund (CBF), would deliver long term economic benefits and employment growth to Victoria
“The new projects, supported under the CBF, represent almost $20 million of investment and are expected to deliver at least 340 new jobs,” Minister Asher said.
The Member for Swan Hill, Hon Peter Walsh MP, congratulated Clyne Foods on its successful bid.
“This grant will enable Clyne Foods to employ a further five people, save costs, boost productivity and stimulate export potential,” Mr Walsh said.
“Clyne Foods grows, processes and markets, a range of dried vine fruit products for the Australian and overseas markets. It has developed a new dehydration process, and this $600,000 project will boost productivity by 30 percent.”
Minister Asher said the CBF was helping to foster a dynamic manufacturing sector by building capability and prompting demand driven development of new products for both domestic and export markets.
“The fund is an excellent example of how the government is working collaboratively with industry to drive improved efficiencies and competitiveness.
“These grants to 17 companies across Victoria will assist investment in new equipment, infrastructure, technology and product or process innovation. This will lead to sustainable increases in business productivity, employment and export potential,” she said.