Kick in the guts

“A kick in the guts” for West Gippsland and regional Victoria was the reaction of Member for Narracan Gary Blackwood to last week’s State budget.

There were no funds for projects in West Gippsland to generate jobs and growth, silence on the future of the West Gippsland Hospital, no major spending on roads in the area and ongoing frustrations for Gippslanders commuting by train, he claimed.

Higher taxes and charges were also highlighted by Mr Blackwood, citing a “huge increase” to the Fire Services Levy and a tripling of the coal royalty that would add further to electricity costs.

“But spending has been cut in almost every area of service delivery from emergency management capability to youth affairs and agriculture”.

The budget shows the government is governing for Melbourne Mr Blackwood said; “Gippsland is left to fend for itself”.

Deputy Opposition Leader and Leader of The Nationals Peter Walsh said the government had axed the $1 billion Regional Growth Fund removing the only dedicated grants investment program that helped businesses relocate to regional areas and helped councils improve local assets.

Mr Walsh also said there was no rate relief for drought affected farmers and there were reduced funds for agriculture and agricultural research and development.

He said only four per cent of the state’s spending on road and rail would be in regional Victoria to allow the government to prop up billions of dollars of cost blow-outs on metropolitan projects.