My heart breaks for the Loddon Herald readership at the neglect they have experienced from both the Albanese and Allan Labor Governments.  With a federal election due before May, as the Federal Member for Mallee I hope we can restore desperately needed investment in the region by returning a Liberal – Nationals Coalition Government.

 At my Mobile Offices in the region at Wedderburn, Boort, Inglewood, Pyramid Hill and Bridgewater community members have raised a vast range of important topics, from their personal struggles with Commonwealth bureaucracy to the broader political agenda.  I am visiting again soon, so if you’d like to know when I’m coming to your town, sms 0447 186 893 and I’ll let you know.

A strong and common concern raised all over Mallee is the cost of living and cost of doing business. Energy prices are a major driver of the price increases, and it is worth remembering that Prime Minister Anthony Albanese and his Energy Minister Chris Bowen promised Australians some 97 times that by 2025, household energy bills would be reduced by $275. Now, in 2025, that pledge has officially been broken.  One off relief over four quarters doesn’t cut the mustard.  

 Worse still, Labor said their transition to a renewables-only energy grid would cost $112 billion.  The Coalition revealed modelling showing that Labor’s plan will cost $642 billion, and we are all feeling it in our power bills.  Mallee farmers are also feeling the pain with the railroading of farms and communities to force through the deeply unpopular VNI West transmission line.

 The Albanese Labor Government’s economic mismanagement gets worse – they spent less than $100 million in Mallee over the last, long, hard three years, compared with over $2 billion in my first three years as Member for Mallee in a Coalition government.

 Standing strong among that $2 billion for Mallee was the $2.5 million I secured under the Community Development Grants Programme to help redevelop Donaldson Park’s Community Hub in Wedderburn, an election commitment I made in 2019. I was so pleased to see the $7 million Hub open in June, providing a major function centre and clubrooms for the community and the football, netball, hockey and harness racing clubs that call Donaldson Park home.

 Councils are so pessimistic about their prospects under Federal Labor grant programs that they are reconsidering the effort – at ratepayer cost – of making doomed grant applications.

 Meanwhile, Coalition initiatives keep delivering in the region, such as the Local Roads and Community Infrastructure (LRCI) program, which gives councils like Loddon Shire a pool of money to spend each year on their priorities.  This last three years, LRCI helped upgrade the floodlighting at Serpentine and Mitiamo recreation reserves.

 LRCI is modelled on the John Howard era Roads to Recovery (R2R) program, which identified that council road infrastructure was reaching the end of its economic life and the replacement cost was then – and remains – beyond the capacity of local government.  

Former Loddon Mayor Holt said in July

“Our renewal gap, where we cannot invest enough funding to keep our assets at their agreed standard, is one of the reasons why funding programs such as the Federal Government’s Roads to Recovery and Local Roads and Community Infrastructure Programs are so important to small rural councils like Loddon.”

 Roads to Recovery is helping restore Newbridge Road near Seafield Road, Newbridge, Ottrey Street and Ottrey’s Bridge Road in Pyramid Hill and Chamberlains Road, Inglewood near the Calder Highway.

 Like the rest of Mallee, Loddon desperately needs more housing and yet Labor’s recent, one-off federal Housing Support Program did not commit a dollar in Mallee.  I spoke with one heartbroken shire that made multiple applications for multiple towns but got nothing from the Albanese Government.  

 Wedderburn housing estate is one example of where council could develop housing for the local region, and I have spoken with others hoping to develop housing in other Loddon shire towns. 

 A Coalition government will invest $1.5 billion over four years to develop approximately 150,000 regional homes by funding enabling infrastructure such as access roads and connections to water, power and sewerage. 

 The Nationals unashamedly advocate exclusively for regional Australia, and I’ll keep doing so as your Member for Mallee.

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