I am calling on Labor to take the handbrake off the harvest and get on with processing WHM visas and this week in Canberra have been taking up the fight for our farmers.
The services affected include psychology, physiotherapy, occupational therapy, exercise physiology, podiatry, dietetics and social work. These are not luxuries.
Social licence is the local permission from a community for government to proceed with a project because the community wants, or genuinely accepts, the project.
The Nationals stood firm against Labor’s mean-spirited $5,000 cap on allied health services for veterans. Veterans and all Australians rightly expect those who have put their lives on the line for our nation to access the care they need.
The Nationals for Regional Victoria - with the Victorian Liberals - have backed in the federal Nationals’ opposition to VNI West, and are taking similar steps to protect prime ag land.
Labor are buying back irrigation water from our communities in northern Victoria, even though they already have plenty of water for the environment and arguably applying it in a way that is hurting, not helping, the river environment.
Visiting communities across Mallee, concerns centred on aged care service cuts, disaster recovery and local support. Advocacy continues for seniors, stronger regional communities, and ongoing public access to iconic climbing areas.
Labor’s water buybacks have already cost Murray irrigation communities jobs, production and growth. Local councils say more buybacks will deepen losses, while funding promises fail to deliver practical investment and infrastructure.
The Nationals continued to put aged care in the national spotlight, and I note serious similar concerns have been raised through a recent Four Corners program.
