News

Labor must deliver for Ovens Valley in upcoming budget

Thursday 27 April 2017

Nationals Member for Ovens Valley Tim McCurdy is calling on the Andrews Labor Government to provide funding for trains, education, drug rehabilitation and roads in next week’s State Budget.

Mr McCurdy said new trains for the North East rail line were an absolute must for passengers who had endured a second class service and lack of action from the Labor Government for far too long.

“Ongoing issues of cancelled and disrupted services on the line have to be addressed by new rolling stock,” Mr McCurdy said. “It is high time the government took ownership of the problems with the aged carriages and actually did something about it.”

Mr McCurdy said the need for the government to fund the relocation of the Wangaratta District Specialist School was now critical.

“The government is very well aware of the issues facing the school regarding an ever increasing enrolment and total lack of space for expansion,” he said.

“The Coalition Government committed to start the process for a new school and to purchase a suitable site for the Wangaratta District Specialist School in 2014 so it is completely unfair on students, staff and families that the Labor Government has failed to commit to this funding.”

Mr McCurdy said the school was also seeking funding for a new bus stop at the existing school. “The cost of $30,000 for the bus stop is well beyond the school’s budget and I would ask Daniel Andrews to please consider this important project.”

Investment in local drug rehabilitation services was also a priority, Mr McCurdy said.

“Drug addiction continues to have a significant impact on our local communities and without the necessary resources it remains very difficult to address this issue.”

Mr McCurdy said increased investment in local roads funding was required in the Ovens Valley electorate in order for roads to be kept to a safe standard for motorists.

“Since the Labor Government came to office we have continued to see speed limits reduced rather than roads being maintained to a safe standard. It is simply not good enough for motorists to have to put up with this.

“In this budget we need Labor to prove that it cares about rural and regional Victorians by investing in projects outside of Melbourne.”