September 2018
Sunday, 09 September 2018 15:58
Further drought support should come this week
Both the Minister and Shadow Minister for Agriculture will be back in East Gippsland this week on drought-related visits, Gippsland East Nationals MP, Tim Bull, said today.
“Minister Jaala Pulford will be here on Wednesday as a follow-up to the on farm visits and community forum we attended together a fortnight ago and then Shadow Minister Peter Walsh will be here on Thursday and Friday,” Mr Bull said.
“I am anticipating the Minister will be making some announcements around the matters that were raised at our on-farm visits and forum and these included:
- More resources in the Department for a quicker turn-around on applications to control wildlife, which is currently impacting our farmers;
- More rural financial counsellor assistance, as the one we have is snowed under with current workload and needs support; and
Working with State Government agencies to provide some off-farm employment opportunities for those who require it.
“I am expecting the Minister will have some good news after our strong advocacy,” Mr Bull said.
“On Thursday and Friday I will have Peter Walsh visiting a number of communities from Heyfield to Orbost before attending the store cattle sale in Bairnsdale on Friday morning.”
Mr Bull said the small amount of rain received this week was welcome, but no-where near what is required.
“While the Federal Government is providing direct financial assistance, what I have been advocating for in Parliament for several weeks is more State Government resources into the areas where they can directly assist our farmers on the land,” he said.
Sunday, September 9, 2018
Published in
Media
Friday, 07 September 2018 15:51
Please fix ‘un-drivable’ Pearl Point Road
The “un-drivable” Pearl Point Road, near Bemm River, needs repairing urgently, according to Gippsland East Nationals MP Tim Bull, who urged the Environment Minister to take action in State Parliament.
“Pearl Point is a very picturesque and beautiful location, but the problem at the moment is that the corrugations in that road are so deep it is basically un-drivable for a regular family car, and indeed even four-wheel drive owners are not using that road,” Mr Bull told the chamber.
“I ask the Minister to not only get a grader out there and grade it prior to the summer period, but also put in place a regular works schedule so that it is kept up to standard. It is a popular tourist location and it ought to be looked after,” he said.
Mr Bull has received representations from the Bemm River Progress and Improvement Association, which provides a rubbish collection service and delivers water to those who camp at Pearl Point.
“Over the years this community has advocated very strongly when the road is in poor condition to have it graded, but it seems to be an ongoing battle for them,” Mr Bull said.
“There is also a whale watching platform there, which has proven extremely popular. The problem is you cannot get there at the moment because the road is inaccessible.
“The other element of Pearl Point Road of course is it is a very important fire access track.
“We are heading into summer and it has been extremely dry in East Gippsland with the drought conditions that our farmers are facing.
“But we are on the verge of a fire season that is extremely concerning and has the potential to be catastrophic if the circumstances and conditions come about that we all fear.
“Our fire services need access to Pearl Point and along that stretch of coastline via this road, so from a tourist perspective and also a fire safety perspective, we encourage the Minister to get a grader out there in the next week or two, and make sure we have a plan in place so this road is maintained on a regular basis,” he said.
The Minister is required to respond within 30 days, but Mr Bull is hopeful it will be addressed before then.
Caption: Gippsland East Nationals MP, Tim Bull, asks the Environment Minister to urgently fix Pearl Point Road in State Parliament this week.
Friday, September 7, 2018
Published in
Media
Wednesday, 05 September 2018 15:47
Bairnsdale trains can’t stop at Clayton
Gippsland Nationals MPs have called on the Andrews Labor Government to rule out any plans to terminate Gippsland trains at Clayton or Pakenham under its proposed new suburban rail loop.
The Labor Party outlined a pre-election promise last week that would establish a suburban rail loop ring around Melbourne and trumpeted that it would include “regional super-hubs”, including one at Clayton for Gippsland trains.
In State Parliament today, The Nationals Member for Gippsland South, Danny O’Brien, called on the Andrews Labor Government to guarantee that this won’t mean future Gippsland trains will terminate at Clayton, or even worse, Pakenham. His views were echoed by The Nationals Member for Gippsland East, Tim Bull.
Mr Bull said Labor needed to be unequivocal that Bairnsdale line trains will continue all the way to Southern Cross.
“It alarms me that Daniel Andrews is talking up these ‘super-hubs’. Labor needs to rule out immediately any plan to terminate Gippsland trains at the junction of the proposed new suburban loop,” he said.
Mr Bull said The Nationals had also committed $633 million to build new long-haul VLocity trains to service the Bairnsdale line.
“The poor state of the old rolling stock is a regular complaint that I get. We will replace the old diesels with new, modern, fast and comfortable trains.”
Mr O’Brien said the Liberals and Nationals would refer the idea for an outer suburban loop from Frankston to Werribee to Infrastructure Victoria to see if it stacks up.
“Let’s see what the independent infrastructure adviser thinks. The Nationals are focussed on fixing the Gippsland line and have committed $8 million to a business case to look at options for a dedicated track for Gippsland trains through the suburbs to fix the major cause of delays for our trains.
“Gippslanders are angry that Labor is pushing this $50 billion plus project without spending a cent to address congestion through the suburbs that makes the Gippsland line the worst performing in the state for punctuality,” Mr O’Brien said.
“But they will be incensed if Labor also plans to terminate Gippsland trains at Clayton as part of these plans. A number of people have already raised this concern with me.”
“The Government has form on this issue, with a report in 2016 recommending Gippslanders get off at Pakenham and be forced onto Metro services. The idea was dropped after a backlash from Gippslanders. The transport bureaucracy also raised the idea some years earlier but it was immediately quashed by The Nationals in government.”
Wednesday, September 5, 2018
Published in
Media
Wednesday, 05 September 2018 13:21
How this government ignores us
This State Government’s continued ignorance of rural and regional Victoria was highlighted in Parliament last sitting week.
I participated in the debate and wish to use this column to highlight some of the points I made with excerpts from my speeches, as follows:
As I sit here today, representing one of the biggest electorates in the state and we are weeks off the end of a four year term – we have not seen the Premier or Deputy Premier.
Neither – unless they flew in under the radar - has been to Bairnsdale, Lakes Entrance, Orbost, Maffra, Stratford, Omeo or Heyfield at any time in the past four years.
The fact neither was at Heyfield during that town’s period of uncertainty over the future of the mill and its employees is nothing short of a disgrace.
However, I want to start off with a local issue, the Bairnsdale Secondary College. The Minister has used weasel words to the school community.
Following the election, both myself and the school council invited the Minister down – in good will – to visit the school and discuss the serious issues.
These included the constant inundation every time it rains heavily, when the library and classrooms are flooded and mould sets in – making them unusable. After hundreds of thousands of dollars in repairs, it then rains again and the same occurs.
I understand the Department has a report indicating it is the design of the building and maintenance is not going to solve the problem long term. The school committee and the parents on behalf of their kids simply wanted a chance to show the Minister the situation.
Now what was the response? When asked on local radio in 2015 he said he would visit ‘when his diary permitted'. In response to another later approach he said he would visit when ‘his schedule permits' and then in May 2016, it was in the 'near future'.
Well here we are more than two years after that last promise - and more than three years after saying he would come when his diary permitted - and no visit.
We have announced we will provide the $15 million to complete the school.
While on schools, this government appears hell bent on pursuing the Safe Schools program in all our schools, the contents of which reveal it is a radical social agenda.
Parents are rightfully complaining its resources include messaging that gender is fluid and that male and female toilet use are a matter of individual choice.
It is a political gender program and we will scrap it and replace it with a real proper anti-bullying program that teaches respect for all – a clear and simple message for our kids.
I move on to roads funding. On coming to government, Labor cut the Country Roads and Bridges program that benefitted our council rural roads and its own budget papers revealed it also cut the roads asset and maintenance budget. Our roads suffered.
When it finally replaced the country roads fund with a cheaper imitation, one of the first projects was in the Premier’s electorate of Mulgrave! The only thing ‘country’ close to that was the Mulgrave Country Club. The excuse - it’s an important route for rural drivers.
We have announced we will fully reinstate the Country Roads and Bridges Program.
Now, if I can jump to the present and we sit on the cusp of a serious drought if we don’t get rain soon. Our farmers are starting to really struggle as I’ve outlined previously in this House.
Can we please have someone from government down to talk to these people? Only then can you understand the hardship and provide support. Where is the Premier, the Deputy Premier or the Agriculture Minister?
With this dry period we are also facing a serious fire season. It is time to stop the war on the CFA volunteers and show them the respect they deserve. The resignations and sackings of many quality long serving people is appalling. Every government for decades, Labor and Coalition has supported the CFA without question, but not this one.
Getting on to a few wider state-wide issues. Surely what is the biggest ‘doozie’ of this term was the cancelling of East West Link when we were told it would not cost ‘a single cent’.
It was $1.3 billion - that could build 70 new schools – and here we have no money from this government for the Bairnsdale Secondary College. To put that into perspective, because $1.3 billion rolls off the tongue – it is one thousand, three hundred million dollars.
We then had the red shirts saga, which the Ombudsman labelled an artifice. Now let’s explain what this not often word means – its definition is a crafty trick used to deceive others.
This isn’t the other side of politics saying this, this is the Ombudsman and not only was the use of the $388,000 a rort, Labor spent over $1m trying to stop her investigating in the Supreme Court, Court of Appeal and High Court - all which the government lost.
The government went from saying ‘nothing to see here’ to paying it back and saying sorry. Well a robber can’t give the money back and just say forgive me. It is worth noting the Ombudsman said she investigated every party, and only one party did this.
We also had the sale of the port lease where 10 per cent was to be spent in country Victoria – that was $970m, but this government put it into general revenue and spent it.
The youth justice system is in disarray and we have a crime wave. Crime well up in Victoria when in NSW it is in major decline – why? Attempted murder and manslaughter is up 42 per cent, burglary and break and enter is up 33 per cent and assaults are up 17.2 per cent.
Compared to NSW, Victoria’s murder rate is up 6.9 per cent while in NSW it has decreased by 41.8 per cent; vehicle theft is up 7.6 per cent while in NSW it has fallen by 12.8 per cent and robberies are up 33 per cent, but over the same period in NSW are down 27.5 per cent. Car-jackings were unheard of before this term and home invasions have ballooned.
Now some might say this is no concern to country folk, but let me assure you it is. I have had several parents and grandparents who have sent their kids off to Melbourne for school and work who worry about their loved ones, and for good reason.
I have been asked many times, why are we not recognising this and doing something. People are asking, what the hell is going on in this state.
Then we have cost of living – the massive increase in power prices.
Labor tripled the brown coal royalty rate in the 2016 Budget and with Engie facing an $87 million tax bill, it closed Hazelwood, and many hundreds of jobs lost. This should have been a staged closure.
We were told at the time that this would result in bills rising by no more than 4 per cent or 85 cents per week. This proved to be a lie.
Here are some local examples of hundreds. David Lucke’s Fresh Food Market, a fantastic local family-owned business, copped a power bill rise of 35 per cent increase in its new contract. That is an increase of around $2500 per month, taking the monthly bill to $9500.
Due to a lack of confidence in power security over summer, they were also forced to install a $30,000 generator. So much for the 4 per cent.
Then there’s the Bairnsdale RSL. Its new electricity contract will see it paying an additional $75,000 to $85,000 a year. One major Gippsland vegetable grower had a bill increase of just on $1m. How can this absorbed?
In relation to the RSL, I raised this in question time and the Premier said he would ‘contact the RSL and work with them in good faith’. Well here is what happened. They received call and were offered a dollar for dollar grant. Can you believe the response to help them in good faith was to ask them to spend more money?
Time permits me from going on, but these are just some reasons why this government has lost the faith of country Victorians and should be replaced.
Before finishing I should also mention what a Labor Greens Coalition would mean for our region. Bye-bye to the Orbost, Omeo and Buchan Rodeos, hunting and the Greens even want a four-day working week. God help us should that eventuate.
Wednesday, September 5, 2018
Published in
Comment Columns
