Jess Wilson, the woman who wants to be the next Premier of Victoria was in Yarrawonga this week and says change is in the air.
Victoria’s Opposition Leader, Jess Wilson was last in Yarrawonga as a kid, until last week when she spent an hour or more in Belmore St meeting locals, business owners and called in to the Yarrawonga Chronicle.
Hold tight - we’re checking permissions before loading more content
And just like everywhere else she’s visited, Ms Wilson heard stories of the shocking state of the roads and potholes big enough to lose your mind in.
With the Melbourne-based media in tow, last Tuesday was Day 17 and half-way through her Fresh Start Tour across every one of Victoria’s 88 electorates.
The Liberal Party leader is hoping to become the 51st Premier of Victoria at the November 28 election, and she’s convinced there’s an appetite for change.
She was in friendly territory in Yarrawonga, with Ovens Valley being a safe Nationals seat, held by Tim McCurdy who has represented the area since 2010.
Two weeks ago, Mr McCurdy brought Nationals leader and Shadow Minister for Roads and Road Safety, Danny O’Brien to Yarrawonga where he witnessed the state of local roads and the poor planning behind the Frank Drive and Murray Valley Highway intersection at Bunnings, Aldi and Coles.
The message about roads is getting through.
This week, Ms Wilson and Mr O’Brien announced that an elected Liberal and Nationals Government would invest $5 billion over the next four years to repair and rebuild Victoria’s roads, eliminate one million potholes and re-establish a proper, planned system of preventative road maintenance.
They said Better Roads Victoria would be established as a standalone division within the Department of Transport and Planning, rebuilding the technical and engineering expertise lost when the current government abandoned VicRoads and axed Regional Roads Victoria.
Getting a fair share
Roads and potholes weren’t the only item on the agenda and Ms Wilson was keen to spruik her party’s Fair Share Guarantee, a coalition commitment to spend 25 per cent of the state’s new infrastructure spend in the regions, in line with population distribution.
Currently that figure sits at 12 per cent.
Australia’s shift toward regional living has reached a record peak according to the latest Regional Movers Index (RMI) released last month.
Data for the March quarter showed that capital city residents moving to the regions outnumbered those moving in the opposite direction by 29.7 per cent.
“Yarrawonga is just going through the roof,” Mr McCurdy said.
“I call it the fastest growing town in Victoria; I don’t know whether it is, but if it isn’t, it’s not far off.”
Opposition leader, Jess Wilson meets with locals in Belmore St on Tuesday.
Return planning to the grass roots
Ms Wilson said planning approvals like the Frank Drive intersection with the Murray Valley Highway, the only entry and exit to Bunnings, Aldi and Coles, were emblematic of a lack of foresight in planning decisions.
“It’s like it’s made for the exact thing here and now, and not with the bigger picture in mind,” she said.
“You see it here, and you see it in the growth areas of Melbourne, where new housing estates pop up, and there's no structure around them.
“We’re seeing it right across the board … and we’re seeing the powers of local councils being taken away.”
A coalition government would return powers to local councils, particularly around planning decisions, allowing residents the right to a say.
“We believe that decisions are best made closer to the community,” she said.
“The closer you get to the community, the more consultation you can have, and the better outcomes you get.
“It's really, really important to us, and that's been a position we've held for some time.”
Liberal Party leader, Jess Wilson in Yarrawonga with Nationals MP Tim McCurdy who has represented this area in the state Parliament since 2010.
Health’s big three
While in town, Ms Wilson met with Yarrawonga Health board chair, David Rokesky who spoke with her about the difficulties with funding.
“The government is very much tightening the purse strings and for small rural health services there wasn’t much in the budget,” Mr Rokesky said.
“We don’t have a cath (catheterisation) lab so anyone who has a heart attack has to go to Bendigo … we can stabilise and transport patients here, but there’s no actual cath lab closer than Bendigo.
“Also, oncology; you need specialist oncologists and we understand that, but there is low level oncology we could be delivering here.
“And we’re trying to expand our dialysis chairs.”
Yarrawonga Health has recently repurposed the old operating theatre for oncology, dialysis and low-level day infusions.
“With certain cancers, we see people travelling daily or weekly to Albury for oncology ... a lot of them are elderly and it’s a real challenge,” Mr Rokesky said.
“We’re trying to ensure we get an Urgent Care Centre here.
“(Ms Wilson) absolutely understood what I was talking about with those three areas, and she was certainly empathetic.
“It was a good opportunity to speak to a leader of one of the parties who was visiting the town; it’s always hard to speak to the people in charge.
“The dynamics of Yarrawonga are changing; it’s a big change coming through for the whole area.”
Change in the air
As the November election inches closer, polls show Labor, Liberal and One Nation all with less than one third of the vote.
Ms Wilson wouldn’t be drawn on the question of preferences.
Some voters say she will need One Nation to form government, and others say a deal with Pauline Hanson’s party is a deal breaker for them.
“Preference decisions will be made much closer to the election when we actually have an idea of candidates, policies and leaders,” she said.
“We don’t have any of those at the moment.
“I'm running to be Victoria's next Premier, because I think that we have the plan; we have the solutions to fix this state.
“People are desperate for change; I hear it everywhere I go and I couldn't have heard it more strongly on the streets here.”
