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small business Community facilities Agriculture | September 06, 2017

Brainstorm on the future of our region

The Nationals Member for Lowan, Emma Kealy MP will host forums in Hamilton and Horsham on Friday to give locals a say on how regional Victoria can best capitalise on Victoria’s projected population growth.

“With the state’s population set to surpass 10 million by 2051, there is a huge opportunity to reverse the current declining population trend in country Victoria”, Ms Kealy said.

Victoria’s population is growing by 1 person every 5 minutes or 100,000 people, the size of a packed MCG, every year. Of these, approximately 92% are headed towards Melbourne, putting extra strain and congestion on the cities infrastructure every day.

“The question the Liberal and Nationals are asking is how do we take the pressure of Melbourne and grow country Victoria in a sustainable way”, Ms Kealy said.

“There are many success stories of positive population growth and development in regional Victoria, but we need strong leadership and a long term plan so that our wonderful rural communities not only survive, but thrive into the future.

“The challenge for Victoria is not just about the number of people, but where these people are choosing to live and how state government can regionalise this growth for the benefit of our whole state, not just focusing on Melbourne alone.

“The current city-centric Andrews Government has no policy to manage and grow the population of regional Victoria.

“The Liberal and Nationals new Victorian Population Policy Taskforce is looking closely at these issues and giving locals a say on the best way to balance population growth across Victoria.

“The Liberal and Nationals are committed to balancing population growth across the entire state, unlike the current Labor Government which is totally focused on Melbourne while country Victoria gets left behind”, she said.

The forums will be attended by Danny O’Brien MP, Victorian Vice Chair for the Liberal and National Population Policy Taskforce. Representatives from right across the Lowan electorate have been invited to attend.

People can also have their say on the future of Victoria by visiting vicpopulation.com.au.