General News
6 November, 2022
What candidates say on infrastructure
THREE QUESTIONS TO RIPON CANDIDATESWhat is the commitment of you and your party for investment in infrastructure and services to enable population and economic growth in Loddon communities?What specific projects have you identified as priorities to...
THREE QUESTIONS TO RIPON CANDIDATES
What is the commitment of you and your party for investment in infrastructure and services to enable population and economic growth in Loddon communities?
What specific projects have you identified as priorities to support and achieve economic and population growth in Loddon communities?
Do you believe these communities, particularly in the Calder Highway corridor, can be included in a central Victorian population growth strategy?
MARTHA HAYLETT (LABOR)
A huge part of securing economic development for our towns rests on mobile connectivity. Which is why the State Labor Government is delivering Connecting Victoria - a $550 million project to boost connectivity at over 700 rural and regional sites. This project will unlock economic growth for our region by improving mobile connection and internet speeds in Inglewood, Wedderburn, Bridgewater, and many more areas across the Loddon Shire.
Labor has a strong plan for population and economic growth in our Loddon communities through school upgrades, health investments, more paramedics and new ambulance stations, street scaping, job creation and more.
Safe and well-maintained roads are essential to our rural communities and I continue to advocate for investment in the infrastructure the Loddon Shire needs to grow. Labor established a dedicated country roads authority, Regional Roads Victoria, with record investment - in the past year 392km of road in the Loddon Mallee have been upgraded.
Access to quality healthcare close to home is also essential to growth in the Loddon Shire. Labor recently announced $240,000 for the Inglewood and District Health Service to plan for the redevelopment of the acute services area - an important piece of work which will improve our region.
I want to work hand-in-hand with every community across the Loddon Shire to make our towns even better and stronger.
I know first-hand that rural Victoria is a great place to live and work, and I’m committed to making sure we secure the investment necessary to drive economic growth and support industries like tourism, agriculture, and manufacturing while growing our population sustainably.
We’ve made great progress - unemployment across rural and regional Victoria is at the record low of 2.9 per cent, the lowest in the nation. Labor has a record of doing what matters but there’s always more to be done.
LOUISE STALEY (LIBERAL)
As a first step, we will ensure that flood recovery funds flow quickly and efficiently to rebuild community assets. We will build a childcare centre at the school in Wedderburn. Child care is the number one barrier for families, particularly women, wanting to work more. The availability of childcare will help individual families and drive economic growth. We will also help Loddon families with school-age children by introducing free healthy school lunches five days a week. This policy is also a local business support measure, as local cafes and bakeries will be first in line to provide the meals.
We will sewer Newbridge via our $40 million Small Towns Water and Sewerage Fund. Property owners will pay $5,000 for sewerage which can be paid off over ten years. This will unlock the growth potential of Newbridge. Labor has underfunded road maintenance for years. Over ten years, we will invest $10 billion in maintenance on VicRoads roads. That’s about a fifty per cent increase on what Labor is spending. We will also bring back the popular Country Roads and Bridges program that will deliver an additional $1.5 million to Loddon Shire every year to assist it in maintaining local roads.
The proximity of towns like Bridgewater on Loddon and Inglewood to Bendigo should make population growth occur naturally, and to some extent, it is. More can be done, including dramatically improving mobile phone coverage. That’s why a Liberal and Nationals Government will invest $150 million in rural connectivity, including more towers and subsidising booster technology. I can report from personal experience that can make a huge difference in reception. Getting that basic infrastructure right, including roads, mobile and internet reception, and sewerage, will create the stage for further strong population growth.