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Community facilities Roads | August 01, 2017

Labor must deliver regional funding

The Nationals Member for Lowan, Emma Kealy MP is hopeful Labor Ministers will announce significant funding across Western Victoria during a visit to the electorate this week for the second Regional Partnership Assembly.

“We need a real investment of funds to ensure our country communities thrive”, Ms Kealy said.

“Let’s hope Labor Ministers come with their cheque books, unlike last year when nine Labor Ministers attended the first Regional Partnership Assembly in Horsham and didn’t announce a single dollar of funding.

“Local people have invested their personal time to share ideas on how we can make Lowan a better place. It’s critical we receive our fair share of funding to make our ideas a reality, otherwise this process is just another Labor talk fest.

“With Labor Ministers in Horsham this week, it is a perfect opportunity for them to witness the dangerous condition of our roads and immediately reverse their severe cuts to the country roads budget.

“Labors ongoing failure to invest in our roads as well as our schools and other government projects means there are now fewer jobs in the region,” she said.

Under Daniel Andrews’ city centric policies, the total number of people employed across North West Victoria has reduced by over 1,600 people since December 2014.

“On top of reduced employment, regional Victoria’s proportion of our states population has been decreasing every year for the past decade. We desperately need government action to halt this trend,” Ms Kealy said.

“The Liberal and Nationals Coalition have taken the vital step to develop a policy to manage Victoria’s exploding population.

“The Nationals are proud to stand up for Regional Victoria and I assure the people of the Lowan electorate that I will continue to fight for our fair share of funding so our communities have the jobs, investment and services we need to thrive,” she said.