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

The Nationals’ Member for Gippsland East, Tim Bull, is encouraging local communities to apply for the latest round of the Victorian Government’s Tiny Towns Fund.

This fund offers grants ranging from $5,000 to $50,000 to support projects that enhance tourism, liveability, and community pride in towns with populations of 5,000 or fewer residents.

Applicants are required to contribute up to 20 per cent of the proposed project budget, which can be a combination of financial and in-kind support.

Mr Bull emphasised that this is an invaluable opportunity for small communities within the electorate to access vital funding for key local projects.

“These grants have already made a positive impact on various community-driven initiatives, and I’m eager to see more proposals from the Gippsland East electorate this year,” Mr Bull said.

“Previous recipients of the Tiny Towns Fund include the Mallacoota Arts Council, East Gippsland Landcare Network, Paynesville Neighbourhood Centre, Briagolong Quarry Reserve Committee, Nowa Nowa Community Development Group, and the Tubbut Hall and Development Association.

“This is a wonderful opportunity for our towns to secure funding that can make a real difference in their communities,” he added.

Applications opened on Monday, 26 August, and close on 25 October 2024.

For more information visit rdv.vic.gov.au/tinytownsfund.

Monday, 9 September 2024

News that the Allan Labor Government intends to cut 208 staff from its Bushfire and Forest Services Group, including 118 from Forest Fire Management (FFM), is very concerning for East Gippsland communities.

Gippsland East Nationals MP, Tim Bull, said the revelation was dreadful news on two fronts.

“The first is the human element. In towns like Orbost, Omeo, Heyfield, Bairnsdale and Yarram that have FFM workers, it creates a great deal of uncertainty.

“These are communities that have been impacted by the ridiculous decision to close our native timber industry, and now the government plans to cut more jobs which will further impact these local economies.

“The second point is the lack of fuel reduction burning has allowed fuel loads to hit very dangerous levels again and it has left us very vulnerable, which indicates they learned nothing from the 2019/20 fires.

“But on top of that, the government’s response is to make cuts to those who are there to protect us.

“Bottom line on this is, when you allow fuel loads to build up to the levels they are again, it can only end one way in summer, there is no other possible outcome and Labor has now made it worse by weakening the frontline.

“This in the same week local Labor Upper House MP, Harriet Shing, announced funding for a ‘Rainbow Libraries Toolkit’ to encourage public library staff to use preferred pronouns for those visiting libraries. I would question where her priorities lie and their ability to read the room in the region she represents,” said Mr Bull.

“When Parliament resumes next week, I will be seeking to get some undertaking that these jobs, or at least the vast majority of them, come from within the largely do-nothing bureaucrats who sit at office desks in Melbourne and are not taken from front line positions in our communities.”

Mr Bull said this was a classic case of a government not being able to manage their finances and then makes decisions which impact rural and regional communities to try and save.

“Their own Budget figures show they are headed to a $186 billion debt by 2027 and interest repayments of $26 million a day – that is more than a million dollars an hour.

“Yet, we will go to Parliament next week and hear Labor members drinking their own bathwater saying what a great job they are doing. They are so detached from reality it is laughable.

“How you can have a debt of this magnitude that forces essential services cuts and say you are doing a good job is an oxymoron, but that’s what we are dealing with,” he said.

Thursday, 5 September 2024

Housing Minister and local Upper House MP, Harriet Shing, has been challenged to come clean on public housing numbers in the eastern Gippsland region.

Gippsland East Nationals’ MP, Tim Bull, said Ms Shing recently boasted about the number of ‘new’ homes the Labor Government has delivered in the area.

“This is slightly mischievous as the government makes out these are additional homes, and they are not,” said Mr Bull.

“In fact, we have less public housing residences in eastern Victoria now than when the Labor Government came to office, as they are selling off and demolishing old stock quicker than they are building.

“The government’s own figures state that in East Gippsland and Wellington Shires in 2015 we had 1612 residences and in 2023 (the most recent figures available) we have 1610 – two less homes despite the population growth and greater need.

“If you want to look further afield to Latrobe, it has 19 less homes than it had in 2015, so as a wider region we are 21 down – it is not the rose petal story Ms Shing would have us believe it is.

“This is her own electorate and what she has in fact done is oversee a reduction of public housing in her own patch in a period of a housing crisis.

“What she needs to do is start talking what the net gains and losses are - and explain why we have had a net loss.

“The so called ‘Big Build’ is not delivering here and, in fact, we are going backwards, as we regularly see old public housing stock being sold through local agents,” he said.

Mr Bull said if you looked at the number of bedrooms in public housing stock, there had been an even greater reduction. Many of the homes being sold off or demolished have had two and three bedrooms and the rebuilds have largely one or two bedrooms, so from a roof over your head perspective, it is worse.

“In addition, at the same time Labor has slugged mum and dad investors with the second residence tax and that is forcing many to leave and invest elsewhere, including the interstate markets. These homes are not being bought by those on the public housing wait list, so all it is doing is adding a rental crisis to the public housing crisis.

“Labor could not really make a bigger mess of housing if they tried.

“We have a number of agencies who, rather than hold more workshops, need to get on the front foot, calling out the government on its hypocrisy and demand no old stock be removed, so every new home built, is a net gain,” he said.

Premier Jacinta Allan's failure to honour her commitment to meet directly with members of the East Gippsland timber industry shows the government’s complete disdain for the sector.

In answering a question in October 2023, Premier Allan made a promise in State Parliament that she clearly had no intention of keeping – she agreed to meet with timber workers.

“I further pressed the Premier to nominate a date when she (and not a delegate), would meet with shafted harvest and haulage contractors,” Mr Bull said.

“Ten months later, and eight months after the industry was callously closed by the Allan Labor Government, the Premier made no effort to fulfill this promise.

“These are people who have forcibly lost their jobs and even now negotiations are not finalised in relation to packages.

“At the very least they deserved the time to discuss their compensation with those responsible for putting them out of work, impacting country communities, families and livelihoods.

“The Premier has broken her commitment to timber industry workers, and it was clearly a promise she never intended to keep,” said Mr Bull.

Monday, 2 September 2024