Government performance
Martin CAMERON (Morwell) (09:53): I am appalled and frankly disgusted by the lack of accountability shown by the Andrews government in failing to answer questions asked by those on this side of the chamber on behalf of our constituents. During my short time as a member of Parliament my office has made countless inquiries with ministers seeking answers for the people of the Latrobe Valley and I have asked several questions in this house, and not a single response has been received within the required time frame. And it is not even a close call – it is now the end of May, and I asked questions in January that have still not been answered. The Friends of the Court House, a not-for-profit community group based in Traralgon, applied for a rebate on their water bill more than 14 months ago, and to date they have had no response from the State Revenue Office. We already knew it, but this example is just one of many that show the Andrews government has absolutely no regard for any regional Victorians and is completely unanswerable to anyone outside of metropolitan Melbourne. We are dudded by ministers who refuse to visit the regions, we are dudded by chronic underfunding and we are denied any acknowledgement or response. Trying to get answers out of this government is like butting your head against the proverbial brick wall. This is not pity pointscoring or grandstanding; this is a very real issue with real ramifications, and it should sound alarm bells for anyone with a conscience who claims to care about the people who elected them to positions of privilege. As members of Parliament we cannot properly represent the constituents and we have been blocked at every turn by a government – (Time expired)