Wednesday, 5 February 2025

 Peter WALSH (Murray Plains) (19:20): (989) My matter is for the Minister for Housing and Building in the other place, and it is on behalf of the small Mallee town of Quambatook, population 229. 228 of those people are now in deep mourning because one of their own, a 70-year-old woman described as the heart and soul of that community, was brutally and pointlessly murdered in January. The action I seek from the minister is to have the four flats the government own on the corner of Guthrie Street and Quambatook-Boort Road bulldozed so it will remove forever a stain on the town’s collective memory. Quambatook does not want the government’s problems and mismanagement of the state’s crime and drug problem dumped in its backyard, out of sight, out of mind for the bureaucrats who run the Department of Families, Fairness and Housing. There are no families or fairness with what happened in Quambatook in January. The town does not want people sent there because the government has some available real estate where it can shove people who are in the too-hard basket to live.

Barely two weeks ago, Merril Kelly was a much-admired volunteer who came to Quambatook as a young single schoolteacher, found love and built a life there. This Friday I will be joining the people of Quambatook and district at her funeral – a funeral which should not have been held for years, and never for this reason. Well known for her passion and commitment, Merril served on the boards of numerous organisations, working tirelessly to advocate for her community. She was a founding member of the Quambatook Community Resource Centre, a long-term executive member of the Quambatook Community Development Association and a board member of Northern District Community Health for 27 years, including time as chair.

In a social media post the Northern District Community Health chair Meghan Stewart said Merril provided leadership, wisdom, lived rural experience and vision for her community. Merril’s husband has not only lost his wife, he has lost his primary carer and may now be forced to move into care away from his home town. Her children have lost their mother. Quambatook has lost a friend and a leader. An open community letter after her death summed it up:

She became a cornerstone of our community, always seeing the best in people, giving more than anyone could ask.

Minister, all Quambatook asks is: bring in the bulldozers and help it find some closure.