News

| September 01, 2015

Peter Walsh to visit Lowan electorate

Nationals Member for Lowan Emma Kealy will host a visit to the electorate next week by the Hon. Peter Walsh Leader of The Nationals and Deputy Leader of the Coalition.

“I’m grateful for the time Peter is giving to allow our local businesses the opportunity to discuss and highlight important issues facing regional Victoria,” Ms Kealy said.

Emma Kealy and Peter Walsh will visit the Hamilton and Horsham areas over two days to speak with local business groups and to meet with local export companies to discuss the impact of the proposed sale of the Port of Melbourne.

“We believe the proposed sale of the Port of Melbourne, in its current form, will damage the competitiveness of our export industries – particularly agriculture and food processors, some of the biggest users of the Port of Melbourne,” Ms Kealy said.

“Labor’s proposal exposes Victorians to a compensation payout if a second container port is developed in the next 70 years. Creating a monopoly for the next 70 years by restricting the development of a second container port creates a real risk that Victoria will lose trade and jobs to Sydney and Brisbane, or even overseas.

“It will also lead to higher costs for exporters, which would be passed straight back to farmers. We have already seen port fees tipped to rise by around 800 per cent in one hit.

“The Coalition is not against the sale of the port in principle, but any sale must be in the interests of all Victorians. That includes rural and regional Victorians,” she said. The visit by Peter Walsh to the Lowan electorate coincides with local exporting company Johnson Asahi’s 20 year celebrations which will include a delegation of Japanese dairy farmers to Horsham as part of the occasion.

Peter Walsh said that he is looking forward to meeting with community members, Councils, business owners and export companies to give them a chance to highlight some of the great assets and services in the region.