Sykes State Budget Shopping List for Benalla Electorate

Nationals MP for Benalla, Bill Sykes, is calling on the Brumby Government to commit, in this year’s budget, an equitable share of Victoria’s $100 million per day income to improve services and infrastructure in the Benalla Electorate.

Dr Sykes said, “My shopping list for the Benalla Electorate is neither sexy nor particularly costly but if delivered it would make life much better and more secure for local families and communities.

The shopping list –

Agriculture
• Support continuation of current Exceptional Circumstances (EC) declared areas;
• Extend Local Government rate rebates and water tank rebates;
• Extend On-Farm Productivity Grants and funding of full time drought coordinators to all EC declared council areas;
• Continue funding of outreach workers and mental health, financial management professional support staff;
• Reintroduce permanent wild dog and fox bounties to encourage integrated on-going fox and wild dog control.

Education
• Increase school maintenance budget to catch up maintenance backlog, especially at schools such as Mansfield Secondary College & Myrtleford Secondary College;
• Honour last year’s budget commitment to replace Tawonga Primary School’s portable classrooms with a permanent building;
• Provide capital to upgrade Myrtleford schools;
• Fast track the full integration of kindergartens into the Department of Education and Early Childhood Development;
• Ensure kindergarten teachers are paid the equivalent of similarly qualified primary school teachers and provide and fund administrative support for kindergarten committees.

Energy
Natural Gas - connect more regional towns to natural gas eg Myrtleford, Porepunkah, Bright Mansfield, Bonnie Doon and Alexandra.
Electricity – reinstate subsidies for rural electricity supplies to ensure affordability for country people.

General
• Replace inequitable Fire Service Levy on insurance premiums with a property based levy;
• Support reciprocity of State Seniors Cards.

Health
• Fully fund the cost of recent Nurses Enterprise Bargaining Agreement (EBA);
• Fund the fast tracking of Aged Care facilities at Bright;
• Increase hospital annual operating funding to catch up on below average increases over the past few years, especially for Benalla Hospital;
• Actively recruit health professionals to country Victoria;
• Recruit and fund ambulance officers for Alexandra & District Ambulance Service and establish and staff an ambulance station at Nagambie;
• Fund construction and operation of respite care accommodation, especially in communities such as Mansfield in which the community has initiated moves to construct respite care accommodation.

Police/Emergency Services
Capital Works
• Fund building of facilities to co-locate Police, CFA & SES at Benalla, Euroa & Nagambie;
• Fund the new police station and accommodation at Mt Buller.
Operational
Fund sufficient staff to ensure full staffing of police stations and to address the current discrepancy between police numbers on the books and police numbers on the beat;

Public land management
• Significantly increase pest and weed control on public land especially at the public/private land interface;
• Increase fuel reduction burning; construct more permanent fire containment lines and permanent water storages.

Public Transport
Rail
• Fund upgrade of the 35 year old rolling stock and rail tracks on the Seymour Wodonga line.
• Include duplication of standard gauge.
• Properly maintain and upgrade all rail level crossings and fund timely, coordinated pest and weed control on railway reserves.

Taxis
• Increase the cap on the Multi Purpose Taxi Program (MPTP) subsidy from $30 to $50 per trip and include lack of available public transport in the eligibility criteria for MPTP funding.

Roads
Increase funding in particular for
• Completion of the upgrade of Wangaratta-Whitfield Road;
• Placement of roundabouts in Benalla at the intersections of Witt Street/Old Sydney Road and Samaria Road/Kilfeera Road
• Upgrade of Creighton’s Creek Road, Shire of Strathbogie;
• Adequately fund weed control on all country road reserves.

Tourism
• Fast track and fund the infrastructure upgrade at Mt Buffalo to ensure recommencement of the Mt Buffalo Chalet operations;
• Implement the recommendations of the Parliamentary Inquiry into Regional and Rural tourism.

Water
• Fast track securing of water supplies to Bright, Myrtleford and Mount Beauty;
• Fund business case assessment of enlarging Lake Buffalo & Lake William Hovell
• Abandon the North South Pipeline and fully fund the Food Bowl Modernisation Project;
• Ensure adequate compensation for water purchase from Broken Valley irrigators and commit to fully funding rehabilitation of Mokoan wetlands in the event that Lake Mokoan is partially or completely decommissioned.

Shopping list by town/area
Alexandra/Eildon – ambulance staff.
Benalla – co location of emergency services, roundabouts Witt Street/Old Sydney Road and Samaria Road/Kilfeera road; hospital funding.
Bright – secure water supply; fund fast tracking of aged care facilities.
Mt Buffalo – fund infrastructure for Mt Buffalo Chalet.
Mt Buller – police station/accommodation.
Euroa – co location of emergency services.
Mansfield – respite care; hospital funding; fund full time coordinator at Bonnie Doon Community Centre, maintenance of Secondary College.
Myrtleford – secure water supply; maintenance/upgrade of schools.
King Valley – complete upgrade of Wangaratta-Whitfield Road, increase capacity of Lake William Hovell.
Ovens Valley – increase capacity of Lake Buffalo, support transition of tobacco farmers and others in tobacco industry.
Nagambie – ambulance service.
Tawonga/Mount Beauty - Secure water supply; replace portable buildings at Tawonga Primary School and support transition of tobacco farmers and tobacco industry people/businesses.