The Cann River Community Centre and Neighborhood House is at the heart of the Cann River community enabling people from all walks of life, abilities, backgrounds and ages to come together to meet, share and participate and learn in a supportive environment.

That was the message Gippsland East Nationals MP, Tim Bull received when he met with the Cann River Community Centre’s President, Vice President and Coordinator last week to see first-hand the entrepreneurship and innovation that is reshaping the organisation and its positive flow on effects into the wider community.

“There is definite buzz of activity about the Cann River Community Centre and that is a reflection of the commitment of Coordinator Susie Bady and the executive who have seized every opportunity to improve and expand the quality and reach of the services they provide.

“Cann River’s growing population is evidence that it is successfully transitioning from a timber town into a diverse services economy.

“This growth and the future development of Cann River is ably supported by the advocacy and lobbying efforts of the Community Centre and Neighbourhood House, but like the other twelve Neighbourhood Houses in my electorate, their resources are stretched.

“Cann River, for example, needs an increase in its funding from 20 hour to 30 hours per week because without that the volunteers and staff won’t be able to continue to meet their growing community’s needs

“This week I will be tabling in Parliament the Victorian Neighbourhood Houses post card campaign that calls on the Minister for Families, Children and Youth Affairs to deliver on the ALP’s 2014 election commitment to invest in and expand the network of Neighbourhood Houses

“I would urge everyone to call in to their local Neighbourhood House and sign a postcard in support of this campaign.” said Mr Bull.

Caption: Gippsland East Nationals MP, Tim Bull, promotes the Victorian Neighbourhood Houses post card campaign for increased funding with Sarah Smith, Susie Bady and Debbie Stone at the Cann River Community Centre.

Monday, December 11, 2017 

The Andrews Labor Government has continued to wage its war on volunteer firefighters by cutting funding for Firewise, an important country brigade communication tool.

 

Gippsland East Nationals MP, Tim Bull, said this was a publication used by Volunteer Fire Brigades Victoria, the CFA Chief, Emergency Management Victoria Commissioner Craig Lapsley and local volunteers to communicate messages on issues that affect volunteers.
 
“Firewise includes information on service delivery, volunteer awards and coming fire services events and I fear that if the publication is reduced to an online presence, it will miss hundreds of volunteers across our region who rely on the hard copy,” Mr Bull said.
 
“It’s not just the Opposition saying this, I’ve heard directly from CFA volunteers, while the VFBV has also expressed its disappointment.
 
“Its chief executive officer, Andrew Ford, said in the latest edition that funding was cut ‘with no explanation of the logic, no consultation with volunteers and no regard for what it means for volunteers’.”
 
Mr Bull said that if elected, the Liberal-Nationals would ensure funding is reinstated to ensure all firefighters, including volunteers, continue to have a voice on their fire services.
 
“The cut comes only a short time after the announcement of the Liberal-Nationals’ plan for a Royal Commission into Victoria’s fire services and only days after Firewise reported on the need for this to occur,” he said.
 
“We have committed to restoring confidence of communities and volunteers in the CFA, however unfortunately all this government wants to do is silence them.”

 

 

Friday, December 8, 2017

East Gippsland residents considered to have made positive change to the Victoria’s coastal and marine areas should be nominated for the 2018 Victorian Coastal Awards, says Member for Gippsland East, Tim Bull.

 

Mr Bull said the awards recognised the people and organisations helping to protect local coastal and marine areas, of which East Gippsland is abundant.

 

“We live in an amazing part of the world rich in natural beauty with pristine coastlines, the world renowned Gippsland Lakes and a number of beautiful inlets and rivers, all often cared for by ‘friends of’ groups, individual volunteers, committees of management and a number of other organisations,” he said.

 

“These people volunteer so much time in protecting our region’s natural beauty and for this work, they deserve to be recognised and these awards are the ideal way to say ‘thanks’.”

 

In their 17th year, the awards aim to highlight the importance of the community and partnerships in safeguarding Victoria’s coastal and marine areas.

 

Nominations are sought in the following categories:

 

• Improving the physical environment;
• Biodiversity Conservation;
• Education;
• Community Engagement;
• Planning and management;
• Research and monitoring;
• Outstanding individual achievement.

 

Mr Bull said nominations would close on Friday, February 23, 2017, with the awards being presented at a gala ceremony next April.

 

Further information and nomination forms are available at www.vcc.vic.gov.au.

 

 

Friday, December 8, 2017

Last week a number of Bairnsdale businesses were gobsmacked to receive notices from AusNet Services of a planned interruption to their electricity supply for Sunday, December 17, the second last Sunday trading day before Christmas.

 

Following representations by Gippsland East Nationals MP, Tim Bull, the planned outage has been deferred to February next year and the affected businesses are breathing a sigh of relief that they won’t be closed on an important shopping day.

 

“While I certainly can't direct AusNet Services as to when they carry out their works, it was and is my responsibility to bring to the attention of their management the economic disruption and hardship that would be created if this outage went ahead," Mr Bull said.

 

“Having key retail outlets closed when we are promoting a shop locally campaign this Christmas sends a very negative message to shoppers.

 

“It gives the appearance that we are not really genuine about looking after local people and don’t value their custom, when that is absolutely not the case.

 

“Every dollar that is spent in East Gippsland contributes to the employment of local people and means that businesses can invest and grow the local economy.

 

“I am pleased and thank AusNet Services which has agreed to reschedule the outage to a time early next year when it won’t cause as much inconvenience to shoppers and detriment to business owners and I thank them for reconsidering," Mr Bull said.

 

Mark Hopley, Manager of the The Potted Pear said he was shocked by the news of the planned outage and is greatly relieved that it now isn’t going ahead.

 

“Our Christmas trade is building up momentum in conjunction with the shop locally campaign and it would have been devastating if it had to be put on hold on that Sunday,” Mr Hopley said.

 

Friday, December 8, 2017

Labor’s new ‘bold plan’ – a website – will do nothing to fix country roads in East Gippsland, according to Gippsland East Nationals MP, Tim Bull.

 

“Rather than reinstate the roads funding it has cut, Daniel Andrews spent money on creating a website to identify the broken road surfaces and potholes his funding cuts have created,” Mr Bull said.

 

“On coming to government, Mr Andrews slashed the road asset management budget and completely removed the $160 million Country Roads and Bridges Program, started by the former Liberal-National Coalition and that delivered $4m directly to both East Gippsland and Wellington Shires.

 

“People don’t want or need a webpage to tell them how many potholes they have to avoid on country roads – they just want the roads fixed.

 

“I am regularly contacted by constituents who are concerned about the condition of our road network and they know this website will do nothing to improve it.”

 

Mr Bull said the new webpage comes at a time when many people hold serious concerns about the installation of wire rope barriers on the Princes Highway between Stratford and Bairnsdale and on Paynesville Road.

 

“First we had wire rope barriers jammed down our throats with next to no consultation, and now we have a website showing how many potholes our roads contain. If you didn’t know any better you would think this policy idea without any money behind it, was from an episode from The Hollowmen.

 

“East Gippslanders are not that easily conned and it’s time the Government actually got on with the job of properly repairing our roads.”

 

Caption: Gippsland East Nationals MP, Tim Bull, says a new website launched by the Andrews Labor Government will not fix country roads, and that more needs to be done to repair the local network.

 

Thursday, December 7, 2017