Gippsland East Nationals MP, Tim Bull, is relieved that common sense has prevailed with the continuation of the wild dog control program.
He paid tribute to the thousands who signed the petitions, advocated and reported attacks, attended public meetings and shared their stories.
“This news will come as a big relief to livestock farmers across the region and while there are changes to the program, including the cancellation of the wild dog bounty, the retention of the unprotection order is critical and a win for the farming community.
“This order allows for the control of wild dogs in a three-kilometre buffer zone of Crown Land around private property,” Mr Bull said.
“Opponents who sought to put an end to this clearly have no knowledge of either the impact or best methods to stop dogs from killing stock. They simply argued for better fencing and the fact that no controls should take place on Crown Land.
“What they fail to grasp is, fencing is one tool but cannot be relied on alone. The government only allows clearing of one metre adjacent to fence lines, meaning they are constantly brought down by falling trees. In the last lot of storms, we saw hundreds of branches compromise fences. Wombats and sambar deer also cause significant damage.
“These same people who want to only rely on exclusion fencing would be screaming blue murder if the Department allowed clearing of a tree length around their private property – you cannot have it both ways.
“Apart from being able to stop dogs getting on to private land, it is also impossible to control them when they do. Farmers cannot set traps in open paddocks where livestock are running, so their only chance of control is to be there in the right paddock at 3am when the dogs attack – it is simply not feasible.
“The controls have to be on the tracks and trails the dogs use in the bush adjacent to private land. Every farmer and dogger will tell you that. You will never get them all, but the controls keep our farmers viable.
“The opponents also get hung up on whether they are dingoes or wild dogs. The majority of farmers will tell you they don’t care – they are dogs that kill their stock, there’s lots of them and some need to be controlled, while they are happy for the bigger population to thrive in the wider bush. The argument they are under threat is just ridiculous.
“I am pleased the Minister has listened to common sense and left this program unchanged. We need to continue supporting our primary producers.”
Mr Bull said he and landholders had raised several flaws in the departments data when presented at recent public meetings.
“This is a win for now, but we can’t become complacent. Farmers must continue to report stock deaths and dog sightings. It is clear many thought this was a waste of time, but when this program is reconsidered in 2028, we will need this.
“I urge primary producers to keep supplying this data to the Department of Agriculture.”

Monday, 30 September 2024

Gippsland East Nationals’ MP, Tim Bull, has slammed the Labor State Government for leaving East Gippslanders and country Victorians more vulnerable with a fire season around the corner.

 “They have let us down on three fronts (1) reducing the CFA Budget by $4 million, (2) cutting Forest Fire Management (DEECA) jobs in Swifts Creek and Orbost and (3) a complete lack of any reasonable level of fuel reduction burning,” he said.

“The State Budget earlier this year showed the government increased the Fire Services Levy (FSL) by $186 million, from $847 million to $1.033 billion – but then cut the CFA Budget by $4 million.

“On average, this increased the FSL for farmers from $450 to $600, for businesses $665 to $738 and households from $156 to $191 – a massive 23 per cent increase overall, but some individual increases were much more.

“From this hit to our hip pocket, you might think the CFA would be a significant beneficiary as it is for fire services, but no, the CFA suffers a $4 million reduction as this government tries to pay off its massive debt on metropolitan cost overruns,” said Mr Bull.

“Then we have news that there are Forest Fire Management (FFM) jobs being cut across the region.

“These are towns that have been hit hard by the timber industry closure and are communities the government has said it will support, but staff have been told by management of the job reductions.

“Of additional concern is that some of the remaining positions will be made ‘regional’ so that will likely take other workers out of their home towns and others will be left to apply for lower paying jobs.”

Mr Bull said if cutting the CFA Budget and getting rid of departmental fire program workers wasn’t enough, the government has left us very vulnerable again by the woefully small amount of fuel reduction burning it has completed.

“The Bushfires Royal Commission recommended around 5 per cent or around 385,000ha per annum be burned in Victoria to keep the community safe, but have done less than 100,000ha over recent years.

“We have many local examples of the benefits of fuel reduction burns, supported by the findings of the Royal Commission, and it’s very simple, when you don’t control the fuel loads it can only ever end one way, there is no other outcome.

“And this is a government that at every opportunity tells us climate change is making things more dangerous, yet their response is less protection for us. They will have to take a lot of responsibility when it happens.”

Monday, 30 September 2024

Country Victorians are paying significantly higher fire services levy this year, but the Country Fire Authority (CFA) Budget has been slashed by $4 million.
Gippsland East Nationals’ MP, Tim Bull, said it was just another case of those living in the bush getting short-changed by a city-centric Labor government.
“Across the board we have a 23 per cent increase ($186 million) in the fire service levy tax (more for some individuals), which is struck to specifically finance our fire services. How do you have such a massive increase, but our local volunteers have their budgets cut?
“The reason is, the funds are being spent on the Labor aligned United Fire Fighters Union at our expense. We are not getting our fair share of this increase,” he said.
“This comes at a time when the forecast is for hotter and drier conditions, the government has not done the amount of fuel reduction burning required, and has cut Forest Fire Management front line jobs in towns like Orbost, Swifts Creek, Nowa Nowa and Heyfield.
“This puts more onus back on the volunteers in need of station and equipment upgrades, that cannot be delivered on a reduced budget.
“Labor is asking more of the CFA but supporting them less,” Mr Bull said.
Volunteer Fire Brigades Victoria (VFBV) has raised concerns that around 700 of their trucks are still single cab, and whilst crew protection is available on these, realistically the chance of survival for crew on the deck in an entrapment is close to zero.
They are seeking for the vehicles to be replaced with more survivable crew cabs.
“All this on the back of the government having not completed anywhere near enough fuel reduction burning and cutting its own Fire Forest Management jobs from towns like Swift’s Creek, Orbost, Heyfield and Nowa Nowa,” said Mr Bull.

Monday, 23 September 2024

The State Labor government has again shown how hypocritical it can be, announcing business mentoring vouchers to create jobs in the same week it is cutting more real jobs in East Gippsland, says local Nationals MP, Tim Bull.

This week, staff at the Department of Energy, Environment and Climate Action (our government firefighters) were told jobs will be cut in Orbost, Swifts Creek, Bairnsdale and Heyfield – over 200 to go in total in the state.

“These are the towns that were impacted by the closure of the timber industry the government said it would support,” he said.

“However, Labor expects us to be grateful as, in the same week, it announced a $530,000 voucher program to give businesses six hours of mentoring / tuition.

“You have got to be kidding!

“To make things worse, I’m reliably told the media release was wrong – it is $30,000 not $530,000 – slight difference there of just half a million!

“This on top of Labor cutting the CFA budget by $4 million despite the Fire Services Levy (which funds the CFA budget) increasing.

“You pay more, and your local CFA gets less.

“It comes as they still have not finalised payments to local timber families they put out of work, payments that were meant to be concluded in 2023.

“It comes as we enter a fifth holiday period with our bushfire impacted tourism infrastructure not rebuilt at Cape Conran and Thurra River. Five years!

“It comes after they have slashed millions in roads funding over recent years to leave our highways and streets in a horrible mess.

“It comes after country hospitals, including ours locally, have been told to cut their budgets.

“It comes after they have reduced public housing homes in eastern Victoria by more than 20 over the past 10 years in the face of a housing crisis,” he said.

“When challenged on this recently, local Upper House MP, Harriet Shing, chose to talk about what The Nationals and Liberals did in government more than a decade ago.

“You’ve been in government for 10 years Harriet, take some responsibility. The numbers came from your own Department’s annual report, so if they are wrong, please correct the record,” Mr Bull said.

“It comes after Labor has massively increased the land taxes of those mum and dad investors who have invested in property.

“And just this week they have brought in a short stay tax that exists in no other state and means we will pay more to holiday locally.

“This is not support for country Victorians,” said Mr Bull.

“The voucher program mentioned at the start of this column is part of the timber industry transition response. We don’t want business therapy sessions, we want the job replacement industries that were promised.

“Here in lies the problem.

“Labor has mismanaged our state’s funds so badly its own figures show we are headed to a state debt of $186 billion, which means interest repayments of $26 million per day (more than $1 million per hour).

“It is barely believable the financial train wreck this government has us in.

“To give some perspective, we have around 2.6 million households in Victoria and if you break down the state debt per household, it is a $71,500 debt.

“Our other local Labor Upper House MP, Tom Mcintosh, said this voucher program is about ‘creating jobs’.

“If you want to talk jobs, the first thing you can do is save our Departmental Forest Fire Management jobs you are cutting - which are real jobs - rather than sell us a voucher program that I doubt will create one.”

Wednesday, 18 September 2024

The Nationals’ Member for Gippsland East, Tim Bull, has asked the Minister for Environment, Steve Dimopoulos, to specify the locations of the job losses within the Department of Energy, Environment and Climate Action (DEECA) in East Gippsland.

The question in Parliament comes on the back of the media publishing Departmental documents stating 220 positions will be removed from DEECA, and staff at locations like Orbost, Swifts Creek, Heyfield and Nowa Nowa were told of the reductions.

“I have had family and community members contact my office from these areas, saying they’ve been told earlier this week there will be a reduction in positions,” said Mr Bull.

“In addition, I have also been advised some of these jobs will become ‘regional’ rather than local, and in other cases, staff have been offered to reapply for jobs with less pay.

“These are communities that have been hit by the timber industry closure and are townships the government said it would support.

“Also of concern is that some of these positions are Forest Fire Management workers, whose job it is to protect our community.

“We have a government that has slashed the CFA budget and has overseen a fuel reduction burning program that falls well short of keeping us safe – and now they cut our government fire positions.

“The benefits of fuel reduction burning are well documented and when you don’t do it, there cannot be any other outcome than a devastating fire. But then cut the CFA Budget and remove jobs from fire protection only worsens the problem,” he said.

“What I have asked the Minister is to specify how many jobs are going from East Gippsland, and from which offices.”

Monday, 16 September 2024

Wild dog control meetings in Omeo and Gelantipy on Wednesday sent a clear message to the Allan Labor Government and Environment Minister, Steve Dimopoulos, that the program must continue unchanged.

Gippsland East Nationals MP, Tim Bull, who attended both meetings said the large turnouts showed the level of concern as the government conducts a review into the continuation of the program.

“Part of the problem is the data presented by the department is clearly flawed and based on flimsy research,” he said.

“They tell us their estimate of dog numbers is 4,900 based on results from 357 fixed cameras located in the bush, of which 32 recorded dogs, and then the figures were extrapolated from that.

“However, on questioning, locals were told the cameras were funded by deer control money and fixed in the general bush and not on the tracks and trails dog’s use. They were located to record other species, but then used to determine dog numbers.

“The result is this feedback being part of a decision to determine the future of a program when the research relied on is not specific to that program. It prompted one local to comment, ‘it is a wonder the cameras recorded any dogs’.

“Departmental representatives commented that if the research was to be dog specific, more funding would be required. All agreed, but the point was made to not conclude on a program based on research that is not specific to the species in question.

“The data suggesting 100% of the dogs in the bush were dingoes was also queried as it appeared this was a result of a looser classification of a dingo,” he said.

Mr Bull said one Buchan farmer commented he had killed six dogs the week prior from one pack and two had stub tails and looked nothing like a dingo, so how could they say all dogs were 100% dingo – it was just not realistic.

Other points to be made at the meeting were:

• Farmers do not want wild dogs / dingoes eradicated, just kept under control to limit stock losses around private farms.
• Farmers did not particularly care what they are called (wild dog or dingo), what matters is they kill their stock and need to be controlled.
• There was an increasing number of dogs of recent times due to a guaranteed food source from the government’s Sambar deer culling program where carcases are left in the bush, so the government is contributing to the problem of increased numbers.
• Boundary fences are not the sole answer as the government will only allow one metre of clearing next to state forest and falling branches and trees (as well as wildlife) cause fences to fail, so the government can’t have it both ways – refuse to allow clearing and then scrap the dog program.
• The removal of the ability to control dogs in the three-kilometre buffer zone will significantly impact farm viability, as it is both impossible and too late to control dogs on private property.
• The continued number of dogs being caught is proof their numbers are not in decline and controls need to be maintained.

Mr Bull said it is now up to Minister Dimopoulos to listen to the feedback and continue the program unchanged.

Monday, 9 September 2024