Policies

Gippsland is a great place to live and by putting locals first and working together, I believe we can build a better future for our region.

I don’t believe that any political party has a mortgage on good ideas and I’m prepared to listen to anyone who has the best interests of Gippsland at heart.

Gippsland needs someone who will stand up for our interests in Federal Parliament and not be told what to do by party bosses.

In summary, my vision for the future of Gippsland is:

Caring for families
We must strive to continually improve our health, education, communication, child and aged care services to meet the demands of Gippsland communities.

Strong leadership
Law and order is a critical issue. We need to support our police and we need continued strong leadership to provide for the safety of residents and protect our community against violence, illegal drugs and other criminal activities.

Restoring incentive
Governments must act to restore incentive and minimize red tape to help small business people, farmers and community organizations to create more jobs, especially for our young people.

A better natural environment
We must manage all of our natural resources, particularly water, for the future of productive farms and industry. Restoring the health of our waterways, including the Gippsland Lakes, is vital for future generations.

Investing in the future
There is a growing need to increase funding to maintain and improve our basic road, bridge, rail and energy infrastructure to meet the social, economic and environmental needs of Gippsland.

Below is a more detailed discussion of some of the issues that have already been brought to my attention during the campaign.

I will be adding to the list as we announce policies during the campaign.

Water security: There are opportunities to improve the security of supply to our towns and agricultural sector. Projects to increase the recycling and re-use of treated water for non-drinking purposes must be pursued to ensure that there are no further diversions to Melbourne.

It is foolish for any government to blindly rule out construction of dams in the future.

I believe we should be scientifically investigating the opportunity for an additional storage to improve the Macalister Irrigation District and there is great potential for a storage to be built on a tributary of the Mitchell River.

I don’t support a dam on the Mitchell River itself - but I believe there are compelling economic, social and environmental benefits for a new storage to be constructed on a tributary.

Caring for the environment: The State and Federal Governments need to do more to maintain and enhance the natural beauty of Gippsland.

The vast areas of public land in our region are under-resourced and pest plants and animals are a menace which the local agencies can’t overcome without additional support.

There should be a permanent bounty on foxes and wild dogs which are feasting on native wildlife and stock.

Local landholders are leading the way in practical environmental management with Landcare projects and activities to reduce nutrient run-off from their properties but the State and Federal Governments must do more to support this work.

There needs to be a greater commitment to funding research and projects that will improve the environmental health of local waterways, particularly the Gippsland Lakes. We simply cannot allow funding to be stripped from programs that improve the health of our rivers and waterways.

The natural environment provides opportunities for economic growth in tourism in our region if we can encourage governments to invest in better infrastructure on public land such as boat jetties; picnic facilities; walking tracks; and camping areas.

Fix country roads, save country lives: The Nationals have led the way in supporting road works in regional areas with the development of the Roads to Recovery program.

I support further expansion of the program to give local Councils access to more funds to improve the bridge and road network.

I also support major projects such as the duplication of the Princes Highway between Sale and Traralgon; flood-proofing the South Gippsland Highway approach to Sale; and a major upgrade of the Princes Highway east of Bairnsdale.

As country people, we depend on safe road networks for our social lives and business activities. I will fight for extra road funding for our community.

Jobs for Gippslanders: The challenges presented by climate change forecasts are a real threat to jobs in Gippsland.

Key local industries such as coal mining, oil and gas processing and the agricultural sector will all be threatened if Environment Minister Peter Garrett has his way. We can’t trust Labor with our jobs.

I believe that we need to find the right balance between environmental challenges and the rights of Gippslanders to a secure job and a prosperous future for their families.

Increased efforts to develop clean coal technology should be pursued along with a continued focus on research to develop carbon capture technology. We have 500 years of coal available in the Latrobe Valley and it remains one of our greatest competitive advantages.

Every effort must be made to secure jobs in the power industry to ensure a sustainable and prosperous future for the Latrobe Valley and Gippsland.

After the devastating cuts to the timber industry and the ban on mountain cattlemen, Gippslanders can’t trust Labor to protect jobs in rural industries.

Better health, education and aged care services: The Gippsland community is ageing and we are attracting more sea-changers and tree-changers every year.

We need to be planning now to meet the demands on our health and aged care services to provide for future needs.

I am prepared to fight for our fair share of government resources to ensure that Gippsland is not left behind.

There needs to be increased emphasis on education opportunities in regional areas because many of our young people are not achieving their full potential. Our children are dropping out of school at a higher rate than city students and we are not achieving the same level of participation in university courses.

All levels of government need to acknowledge the problem and develop new solutions to overcome the barriers.

We must be instilling pride and passion for the future of our region in our young children and encouraging them to strive hard to achieve their goals.

With the influx of retirees – many of whom have years of professional experience to offer – we should be developing better links to allow young people to be mentored in a supportive environment.