News

Community facilities | March 13, 2020

Labor’s failure to launch in Lowan

The Nationals Member for Lowan Emma Kealy believes a new report spruiking huge government investment in Victorian start-ups has left no doubt as to Labor’s complete disregard for rural communities.

Labor created LaunchVic in 2016, an agency designed to support the growth and development of early-stage start-up and scale-up companies and programs.

Ms Kealy said the agency recently released its Impact Report which, ironically, showed a complete absence of impact in vast areas of the state, most notably in Lowan.

Ms Kealy said the report boasted that since 2016, LaunchVic had supported more than 320 individual start-ups and more than 4800 entrepreneurs, at a cost of $46 million. Yet Lowan, which covers about one sixth of the state, has not seen a cent.

“The report fails to mention a single town or project in our community. We have so many wonderful innovators in our region with projects that need this sort of backing, but their ideas are being ignored by this government,” Ms Kealy said.

“One of the first pages in the report is a map of Victoria, showing where Labor has invested its dollars. But there is nothing but blank space in our electorate. This illustrates what we have known for a long time – Labor does not care about us.

“When Labor says it’s delivering for all Victorians, it’s just spin. The truth is they don’t even see us worthy of a dot on a map.

“The government acknowledges itself in the report that start-ups cannot succeed with government support. I would like to know when Daniel Andrews and his Melbourne-centric mates are going to extend that support to our communities.”