My adjournment matter is for the Minister for Regional Development. It is about cross-border issues and problems and the impact on many of my constituents of the myriad differences in laws, regulations and conventions across state borders, especially for those living close to New South Wales and South Australia.
My Constituency question to the State Government asked which new measures and improvements were being put in place to urgently address the devastating situation in the dairy industry across Northern Victoria.
My colleague Stuart Grimley and I were privileged to join the sea of red on the Sunshine Coast last Friday for the annual Day for Daniel, a national day of action to raise funds and awareness for the Daniel Morcombe Foundation. Denise and Bruce Morcombe attended our #ENOUGHISENOUGH rally in Wangaratta in 2016 and it was wonderful to see them again and support Day for Daniel.
I will resume my speech from 16 October by re-stating the basic purpose of this motion, from the perspective of Derryn Hinch’s Justice Party. Primarily, it is intended to be an information-seeking exercise … one that gives Victorians more detail about the future of the Murray Basin Rail Project. This is through requesting that the lead Minister, Jacinta Allan, attend a public meeting to provide information and answer questions in relation to the project.
The Murray Basin Rail Project was meant to standardise the rail network, efficiently allowing producers to transport greater volumes to port and boost jobs and the regional economy. What's happening?
This motion requests that the Government provide new information about issues of very significant concern to many Victorians. In essence the motion asks for that information in two forms. The first is that members of the government provide us with their latest thinking on how they intend to strengthen the security of the state’s youth justice centres between now and the planned opening in 2021 of the Cherry Creek facility. The second is that they release a full version of the 2018 interim evaluation of their youth crime prevention grants (YCPG) program rather than the very abbreviated one that remains the only publicly available version of that report.
My question is to the Minister for Agriculture, Ms Symes. It follows a Weekly Times article of 23 October about enormous variations in the amounts of drought assistance provided by the Queensland, New South Wales and Victorian governments respectively.
I am inspired by the strength shown each and every day by Denise and Bruce Morcombe. It was a privilege to be a part of "Day for Daniel'. The Daniel Morcombe Foundation does wonderful work, and on a day like today it reinforces our commitment to a public register for child sex offenders and continuing to do everything we can to keep children safe.
