Environment Minister, Steve Dimopoulos, has been asked to rule out any reduction in feral pig control programs in East Gippsland.

Gippsland East Nationals MP, Tim Bull, asked the Minister in Parliament for confirmation on this matter after it was announced hundreds of jobs were being cut from government departments Department of Energy Environment and Climate Action (DEECA) and Parks Victoria and a leaked document indicated the feral animal control program would be impacted.

“In addition to this, we have also been advised that those who were undertaking these controls will not have their contracts renewed and instead the effort will be consumed by wild dog controllers. There are two major problems with this,” said Mr Bull.

“The first is feral pigs are an increasing problem and control efforts are presently not keeping pace with booming numbers, so more effort is needed, not less.

“The second problem is our wild dog controllers have enough on their plate without additional work.

“Our doggers are also struggling to keep pace with the explosion in numbers that are impacting farmers. They just cannot afford to allocate any time from their current jobs to taking this on.”

Mr Bull highlighted the hypocrisy of this government cutting jobs in DEECA and Parks, while at the same time pushing to create more National Parks.

“They cannot look after the network they currently have, let alone with staff cuts, but to then push to put more State Forest into National Park is ridiculous.

“The underlying problem we have is this government cannot manage money and country Victorians pay the price.

“We are heading to a State debt of $180 billion with repayments on interest of $26 million a day – that is more than $1 million per hour.

“When you mismanage things to that level, you have to cut funding to important programs and that is what we are seeing here.

“The government racks up debt, pushes ahead with metro projects like the suburban rail loop we cannot afford and we suffer the consequences,” he said.

Monday, 25 November 2024

Following reports last week the Bairnsdale Country Fire Authority (CFA) office may be temporarily closed and have phones diverted to other regions for some periods over the next few weeks, Gippsland East Nationals MP, Tim Bull, said he was pleased the matter was resolved and the office would now be open and calls taken locally.

“I did not think it was good enough that on the cusp of summer, a person could turn up and potentially find the doors closed, or have phones diverted to another region in the first instance. I met with local staff and was pleased to hear the matter has been rectified,” he said.

“The advice I received at the time from multiple sources and which was widely reported, suggested the cause was around the secondment agreement between Fire Rescue Victoria (FRV) and the CFA. However, while this is problematic in other areas of the state, it is not the case in Bairnsdale. In fact here we have a full complement of FRV staff supporting local brigades, so in that regard we are well served, and in fact better off than most areas.

“The problems at Bairnsdale were around other staffing issues, but as I said last week, the reasons were irrelevant, it was simply about having the place open. It was not a reflection on local staff, who do a great job, it was around how those further up the hierarchy could allow this to occur - but I am pleased it is fixed.”

Mr Bull said he remained aggrieved that local DEECA office in Bairnsdale was closed every Friday and after 3pm on other days. At this time of the year it is nothing short of disgraceful,” he said.

“I also remain concerned about the summer ahead and the lack of fuel reduction burning that has been done. As I have said many times before, it can only end one way.”

Monday, 25 November 2024

District Country Fire Authority (CFA) captains have been advised the local CFA office in Bairnsdale will be temporarily closed to the public for periods over the next few weeks, and phone calls may be diverted to other regions.

Gippsland East Nationals’ MP, Tim Bull, said this was a disgraceful outcome on the cusp of a fire season forecast to be worse than average.

“Just weeks ago in Parliament, we were told by the State’s fire chiefs that the landscape was drier than normal in many areas and with a forecast of a higher incidence of storms, fire risk was above average this summer and communities needed to be vigilant.

“Now, just a fortnight later, the CFA captains receive an email saying the office will be closed at times and calls may be diverted. On any scale this is simply not good enough.

“East Gippsland is officially recognised as being in the top three most fire prone areas in the world and the local CFA office front door will be closed as summer commences. It sounds like an episode of Utopia.”

Mr Bull said he was advised the issue stems back to a secondment agreement between Fire Rescue Victoria (FRV) and the CFA, and under that 2020 agreement, the CFA must secure all its paid firefighters from FRV. However, some positions were never filled and whenever someone goes on leave, or is unable to work, the situation worsens as holes are created and not filled.

“The reason is irrelevant, it is simply bureaucratic rubbish that does not consider the community. Locals should be able to walk into their local CFA office and talk to a person face to face at this time of the year, not be greeted with locked doors because someone is away.

“A CFA spokesman was reported in the media saying this ‘would not impact CFA’s operational response and ability to protect their communities’. Rubbish! When the door is locked and calls are diverted, it most certainly does impact your response to the public.

“I called on the Minister, in Parliament, to step in and sort the mess out.

“This is in a period where CFA operational volunteer numbers have plummeted under Labor. In the past few years, the CFA has lost 2192 operational volunteers, leaving it unable to gain the strike teams it requires for campaign fires.

“And this while the Government has allowed bush fuel loads to again reach an all-time high due to a lack of fuel reduction burning.

“The Labor Government has overseen a massive reduction in operational volunteers, major fuel load increases and now cannot even keep the doors open or have the phone answered at the office in one of the most fire prone areas in the world.

“When we struggle to control fires to the level we should be able to, this Government will have to take some responsibility for its complete mismanagement.”

Wednesday, 20 November 2024

Recent revelations that Parks Victoria is cutting up to 51 services from feral pest control to the young ranger’s program, and is scripting answers for staff to answer complaints, should be concerning to all country Victorians, says Gippsland East Nationals MP, Tim Bull.

“Like the cuts to road funding and our hospitals being told to reduce its spending, it all boils down to the Allan Labor Government’s inability to control its out-of-control debt, and we all then pay the price,” he said.

A leaked document obtained by the Weekly Times (Parks Victoria’s confidential Operations Service Catalogue) shows it is almost halving the 111 services it carries out across 4.12 million hectares of public land, cutting rabbit and fox control, rubbish collection and even educational programs.

Mr Bull said this document clearly shows a cut to the number of ‘must do’ services down to 60, with the remaining 51 classified as ‘could do if resources permit’, ‘only do if tied funded’ or ‘stop/pause’.

“Removing dumped rubbish, including asbestos, was listed as ‘could do if resources permit’, while managing invasive feral animals – foxes, rabbits, deer, horses and bees and invasive plants – were listed as ‘only do if tied funded’.

“This is what happens when your debt is heading towards $186 billion and $26 million a day in interest alone.

“It is incredulous that this government currently has plans to introduce more National Parks when it cannot control the parks it manages, while cutting important services such as rubbish collection and feral animal control.

“We also have cases in East Gippsland where post fire and flood, we have community assets like jetties and bridges not rebuilt, the Cape Conran cabins have not been replaced and walking tracks and trails are still closed.

“I feel for the local Parks workers who are frustrated by the bureaucracy within the Department. Job losses should be coming out of the metropolitan based bureaucracy, not front-line workers in our country towns. It is just another kick in the guts for these communities,” he said.

“The leaked document also tells staff what to say to complainants. It recommends they say ‘We are currently focused on other priority park management services, so are unable to support this request. If this situation changes, we will let the community know.’

“The guide also tells staff to amend messages by adding their local region, such as: “We manage a number of parks across the (add X region), including (add name park or site). Given the diversity and scale of the land we manage, Parks Victoria must prioritise how we manage and maintain park features and programs. We’ve adjusted our service levels to concentrate on critical park management priorities (add park/site name if applicable)”

“Not only is the spin disgraceful, it is embarrassing. It is no wonder staff have leaked it,” said Mr Bull.

“Even worse, is when the Minister Steve Dimopoulos was asked why Parks Victoria was unable to deliver half its 100-odd operational objectives and was scripting staff responses to complaints, he simply handballed it to Parks Victoria to respond.

“You are the Minister Steve, you should be able to answer these enquiries.”

Mr Bull said given the Minister has gone into hiding, he called on Parks Victoria CEO, Matt Jackson, and Chair, John Pandazopoulos, to visit the country areas to tell communities which jobs and services will be lost, when our assets will be rebuilt and when our tracks will be re-opened.

Monday, 11 November 2024

The State Labor Government’s so-called transition of native forest harvesting to plantation hardwood timber has again been shown to be a disingenuous fabrication.

East Gippsland Nationals’ MP, Tim Bull, said Labor spruiked in a media release, it had planted one million seedlings in Gippsland, providing no detailed information regarding the species of seedlings used.

“I then lodged questions which were recently responded to and confirmed all one million plantings were pine (softwood), not one was hardwood,” Mr Bull said.

“The Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) has clearly stated building with wood is the biggest climate change mitigation measure we can take and goes on to say we should be using a balance of plantation and sustainably harvested native forest.

“Not only has Labor removed native timber harvesting in contradiction to this, it is not looking to replace the resource.

“It again begs the question Labor has never been able to answer - where is our hardwood supply going to come from both in the short term and long term?

“The height of hypocrisy is, that this government ended the native hardwood industry, yet is ironically putting out media releases spruiking that it is building Victorian infrastructure with hardwood sourced from the Top End of Australia.

“The Allan Labor Government has committed to building a series of new piers around Port Phillip, using Darwin Stringybark.

“Labor never planned a transition to hardwood plantation, it was simply more weasel words from the government and yet another case of their dishonesty coming back to haunt them,” said Mr Bull.

Monday, 4 November 2024