Media Releases

Local councils will receive a big boost under a new $100 million fund announced by the Coalition, Nationals Member for Swan Hill, Peter Walsh, said this week.
The Local Government Infrastructure Account, funded through the planned $1 billion Regional Growth Fund, will be in addition to current government expenditure and will be aimed at supporting local council initiatives such as roads, bridges, community centres and sport and recreation facilities.
“This funding is desperately needed by councils who have been starved of funds and over-burdened with state government responsibilities over the past decade,” Mr Walsh said.
“The Local Government Infrastructure Account will be administered so as to give councils a clear understanding of the funding they are likely to receive in future years and the flexibility to allocate the money to projects that reflect local priorities.
“Allocations will be based primarily on need and population to ensure smaller, financially struggling rural councils receive their fair share of funding.
“Councils will no longer have to spend large amounts of time chasing grants.
“This will free councils up to get on with their core business providing the best possible level of service to ratepayers and residents and will result in less pressure to raise rates - an obvious and direct benefit which will be welcomed by all ratepayers.
“Over the past decade it has become a real struggle for councils and this new account is a great policy initiative which will make a real difference in their planning of future infrastructure investment programs,” Mr Walsh said.
Details of the new scheme were very warmly received when it was announced by Nationals leader and Shadow Minister For Regional and Rural Development, Peter Ryan, at the Municipal Association of Victoria state conference in Melbourne last week.
“It is the sort of common-sense, practical policy that is sore sorely missing in this state right now, and we look forward to implementing it after the November 27 election,” Mr Walsh said.

A Victorian Liberal Nationals Coalition Government will increase the marketing power of local food and fibre producers by supporting the establishment of marketing co-operatives, Shadow Minister for Regional and Rural Development and Leader of The Nationals Peter Ryan announced today.
Mr Ryan, who made the announcement while visiting the Pyrenees Hay Processors Co-operative in Avoca, said the Coalition would provide $5 million in seed funding in its first term to assist groups of food and fibre producers who wanted to establish marketing co-operatives.
“Under a Coalition Government producers will be able to apply to the Department of Primary Industries for grants of up to $50,000 to pay for the legal costs associated with establishing a co-operative,” Mr Ryan said.
“The establishment of these food and fibre marketing co-operatives will be a major step in developing local collectives to drive producers’ marketing power. This policy will put locals first by giving producers more collective power to compete and giving local communities a greater opportunity to buy local.
“Farmers will have opportunities to develop new markets for their produce while consumers will have more choice.”
Mr Ryan said food and fibre producers would be given support from specialist teams within the Department of Primary Industries to help producers improve their skills and opportunities.
“A Coalition Government will also seek to cut through any red tape impeding the operations of marketing co-operatives,” Mr Ryan said.
“These measures will provide Victoria’s food and fibre producers with the confidence and expertise they need to pursue marketing opportunities in both the domestic and international markets.
“Our plan will also provide significant gains for the consumer by restoring greater choice to the market.
“Many Victorians want to purchase locally-grown produce but with an increasing number of imports and the power of the major chain stores, it is not always possible.”
The Nationals Candidate for Ripon Wendy McIvor said under John Brumby, farmers had to pursue marketing opportunities in isolation and they had little bargaining power when dealing with international trading companies.
“Instead of offering farmers the support they need to sell their produce beyond the farm gate, the Brumby Government has strangled them with regulations and red tape,” Ms McIvor said.
“The Coalition believes the survival and growth of our food and fibre industry is dependent upon the development of marketing opportunities and we will assist producers expand these opportunities wherever possible.”

A Victorian Liberal Nationals Coalition Government will inject an additional $2 million into increasing the size of a new off-stream storage near Bright.
Shadow Minister for Rural and Regional Development and Leader of The Nationals Peter Ryan made the announcement in the north-east town today with The Nationals Member for Benalla Bill Sykes.
Mr Ryan said the extra funding would increase the size of the proposed storage from 360 megalitres to 520 megalitres.
“Bright’s water supply has just one holding tank and relies on regular pumping from the Ovens River,” Mr Ryan said.
“This off-stream storage will decrease the town's dependence on water from the Ovens River during summer and autumn when flows in the river are low.
“The Coalition is committed to working with existing allocations on the Ovens River, however the increased storage will improve security of supply.
“We will ensure greater reliability of environmental flows and supplies for towns and other consumptive users upstream of Myrtleford.”
Mr Ryan said a Coalition Government would review the information on which the site choice was based to ensure the location best suited community needs.
“In 2007 the Brumby Government told the community that the construction of this storage was a priority and promised it would be completed by 2010.
“Here we are in 2010 and funding for the storage is still uncertain. It is now unlikely that the project will be completed before 2013.”
Dr Sykes said the Coalition’s commitment would secure Bright’s reputation as one of Victoria’s premier tourist destinations.
“Bright’s population swells to about 30,000 during the town’s famous autumn festival and the summer school holidays,” Dr Sykes said.
“This announcement is a great win for the community. It will help resolve water quality issues which are threatening Bright’s reputation as a first-class tourism destination and will ensure that the town has the ability to cater for an expected increase in tourism numbers.”

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.

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.

Member for Swan Hill, Peter Walsh, joined with Coalition Leader Ted Baillieu and Deputy Leader Peter Ryan at the Collingwood Children’s Farm this week to launch the Coalition’s policy of showcasing regional Victoria in Melbourne.
“Every year ‘Country Week’ will see city folk in Melbourne being introduced to the benefits of country living and will focus particularly on regional Victoria’s business, lifestyle and cultural riches,” Mr Walsh said.
“This $2 million commitment is aimed at re-acquainting Melbourne’s population with country Victoria and all the riches that the many regions have to offer.
“Labor has gone out of its way to ignore the great lifestyle and the business and cultural potential that those who live in country Victoria know that we have,
“This annual Expo will highlight the advantages and opportunities that exist beyond Melbourne’s boundaries,” he said.
Whilst at the policy launch at the Collingwood Children’s Farm, Mr Walsh demonstrated his deftness at hand milking a cow to the amazement of the children present.
“The skills that we learnt as kids as we were growing up stay with you for life as does your appreciation of living in the country,” Mr Walsh said.
“This annual Expo will show Melbournians what a great part of the world regional Victoria is,” he said.

Member for Swan Hill, Peter Walsh, today threw his support behind the Liberal Nationals announcement that if it wins the November election it will provide additional MICA paramedics and a single responder unit to Swan Hill as well as nine new MICA Single Responder Units in other parts of regional Victoria.
The Single Responder Units (SRUs) will deliver MICA care through a 24-hour roster, and will provide life-saving specialist-trained paramedics, significantly boosting ambulatory care in regional Victoria.
“Victorians living in regional areas will now have highly-trained paramedics available in their communities to provide much needed care during an emergency,” Mr Walsh said.
This announcement will provide ten SRU MICA paramedics across regional centres at a total capital cost, including specialised fit-out and equipment, of approximately $1 million.
Mr Walsh said this commitment follows Monday’s announcement of the biggest increase of ambulance staff in Victoria’s history. The Liberal Nationals’ plan provides for 310 new ambulance paramedics, 210 of which will be based in country Victoria, and an additional 30 patient transport officers allocated to country Victoria.
“John Brumby and his government have not planned for growth, and have failed to make the provisions required for stronger ambulance services that Victorians can rely on,” Mr Walsh said.
“Regional Victoria has pleaded with John Brumby to take action and fix the crisis in our ambulance service, yet he has ignored this.
“The Liberal Nationals’ commitment providing these extra these life-saving SRU’s will see highly-trained MICA paramedics operating in major regional centres throughout the state.
“Labor has had 11 years to fix the crisis in our ambulance service and for all those years, Victorians have heard nothing but excuses from this incompetent government.
“It’s time to take action and the Liberal Nationals will take it, because we are committed to rebuilding Victoria’s ambulance service,” Mr Walsh said.

Member for Swan Hill, Peter Walsh, has accused the Labor Government of either being extremely loose with the truth or totally ignorant of what is said in Parliament.
“The Liberal Nationals recently announced Regional Growth Fund of $1 billion is in addition to existing funding and this was clearly stated this in Parliament,” Mr Walsh said.
“Hansard, the parliamentary record of all that is said in Parliament, quotes Nationals Leader Peter Ryan saying three times that the Fund is additional money.
“However, to suit her own needs, Regional and Rural Development Minister Jacinta Allan has sent letters out to rural newspapers that are blatantly incorrect claiming the funding was not extra money.
“This typical Labor spin of only hearing what they want to hear shows just how out of touch the Brumby Government is with the Victorian electorate.
“We now have Labor’s so-called Blueprint for Regional Victoria which, aside from clearly not listening to the advice of regional and rural communities, includes funding that forms a normal part of core government expenditure,” Mr Walsh said.
“As an attempt to rebadge core government spending as new initiatives this Blueprint and Labor’s extremely loose use of what has been said in Parliament depicts a desperate and out of touch Government who will say and do anything to get re-elected.
“The Liberal Nationals have produced a very clear and detailed plan to support regional and rural Victoria.
“Labor’s mishmash of funding priorities contains no long-term plan for regional Victoria and, as such, overlooks major areas of disadvantage including healthcare services, early learning facilities and higher education opportunities for regional students.
“This cynical and manipulative attempt to mislead voters by Premier Brumby indicates his contempt for Victorians and is just another embarrassment for this Labor Government,” Mr Walsh said.

The $1 billion Regional Growth Fund announced at the recent Nationals State Conference in Wangaratta will ensure the future of regional Victoria according to Member for Swan Hill, Peter Walsh.
The Fund which was detailed by Nationals leader Peter Ryan, will deliver funding for building and upgrading local services and infrastructure as well as investing in skills and industries to promote jobs.
“By growing regional cities and rural communities we can take pressure off Melbourne and create new prosperity and opportunity in regional Victoria,” Mr Walsh said.
“Regional Victoria contributes more than $20 billion through food production and $3.4 billion in tourism every year to Victoria’s economy.
“This vital contribution to the State’s economy is recognised by the Liberal Nationals and the Regional Growth Fund will ensure a strong foundation for continued growth and development in the future,” he said.
There were a number of other issues raised and debated at the Nationals 94th Annual State Conference which set the direction for the future of the Party up to and beyond the November election.
“As always there was spirited debate on a range of important resolutions and it was pleasing to see the conference pass a number of motions which affect country Victorians,” Mr Walsh said
“One motion to gain the nod of the Conference delegates was to call on the Brumby Government to freeze the rollout of smart meters until there has been a full and independent cost benefit analysis.
“The youth allowance was again hotly debated and the conference not only condemned the Rudd Labor Government for its bungled handling of the changes to student income support but called on it to effectively and efficiently address the barriers faced by regional youth.
“However, the $1 billion Regional Growth Fund is the key plank of the Liberal Nationals’ plan to ensure the future of regional Victoria as the driver of our state’s growth and prosperity,” Mr Walsh said.
“This investment to fund upgrades in infrastructure, community facilities, core education, health services and industry will rectify a major Brumby Government failing evident over the past decade,” he said.