Local jobs, projects and services in regional Victoria are under a cloud after $283 million was cut from the regional development spend in the past 12 months. Questioned at Public Accounts and Estimates Committee (PAEC) last night about the massive budget black hole, Labor’s Regional Development Minister Mary-Anne Thomas struggled to answer basic questions on…
DetailsDear Editor, After 111 days of leave the Premier is finally back in the job. He says he’s ‘fighting fit’ which is good news given the long list of problems he’ll have to tackle to get our people and our state’s economy back on track. Top of the list is the need to release a…
DetailsMember for Murray Plains, Peter Walsh, wants the Transport Minister, Ben Carroll, to directly intervene in the leasing of VicTrack land to councils and community groups. Speaking in Parliament this afternoon, Mr Walsh said the current policies about the use of VicTrack land across regional Victoria are “ad hoc at best, and a shambles at…
DetailsThe Nationals leader and Member for Murray Plains, Peter Walsh, says the Andrews Labor Government had failed to provide a single cent of new funding under the 2021/22 State Budget to monitor and enforce new laws which allow camping on state-licensed river and water frontages. At Public Accounts and Estimates Committee hearings this week, Mr…
DetailsFarm crime continues to rise nearly two years since the Labor Government promised to crackdown on livestock and equipment theft from Victorian farms. New data from the Crime Statistics Agency (CSA) has confirmed a 9 per cent increase in livestock stolen in the past 12 months. And despite the ‘crackdown’ most crimes still go unsolved.…
DetailsStorm-affected farmers hoping for practical, on-the-ground aid have been let down by today’s long overdue response from Labor’s Agriculture Minister Mary-Anne Thomas. It’s nearly two weeks since storms savaged parts of Victoria, with Gippsland and the Latrobe Valley worst hit, leaving a path of destruction, floods and power outages in its wake. The Victorian Agriculture…
DetailsThe Nationals leader and Member for Murray Plains, Peter Walsh, says it is time for the Andrews Labor Government to come clean on why it ruined Anzac Day for the state’s veterans and their families – for the second year running. Mr Walsh said during this week’s parliamentary hearings on the State Budget, the Nationals…
DetailsThe Nationals leader and Member for Murray Plains, Peter Walsh, says the Andrews Labor Government has slashed a whopping $207 million from its rural roadworks budget for the next financial year. A move he believed could signal a return to the Kirner Labor Government days when appalling decisions and fiscal mismanagement spent the state to…
DetailsThe Nationals leader and Member for Murray Plains, Peter Walsh, says he is outraged and; on behalf of the state, embarrassed that pensioners are being sent bouncing cheques by the Andrews Labor Government. Mr Walsh said Labor Governments notoriously cannot balance the books; but said Daniel Andrews is on his way to setting “an unparalleled…
DetailsToday, the Federal Liberal and Nationals Government brokered an agreement for an ag visa as part of the UK free trade agreement (FTA) – a welcome relief for Victorian farmers who can’t find labourers locally. Shadow Minister for Agriculture Peter Walsh said the Commonwealth’s ag visa was a positive step to secure the farm workers…
DetailsRules on roadside firewood collection must be changed to allow Victorians to be part of clean-up efforts from last week’s storms, while ensuring a valuable resource doesn’t go to waste. About 17,500 homes and businesses remain without power today, six days since severe storms tore through much of the state, tragically claiming the lives of…
DetailsThe Nationals leader and Member for Murray Plains, Peter Walsh, says as Victoria’s hospital waitlist crisis continues to worsen, some heartbreaking cases are coming through the front door of his electorate office desperately seeking help. And Mr Walsh said this was not just isolated problems, Nationals members across the state are seeing similar tragedies unfolding.…
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