Thursday, 20 February 2020

Ripon electorate funding

Ms STALEY (Ripon) (09:43): On 12 February the Treasurer, on Neil Mitchell’s program, said:

I’m looking at every line item of expenditure and I’m looking to take something like $4 billion out of government expenditure going forward.

The government is refusing to rule out cuts in Ripon. We have already seen hospital waiting times blow out at the Ballarat Health Services. Pathology services at Stawell have been downgraded. The lab has been closed. What is next? The Maryborough hospital redevelopment was not funded in the last budget and must now be considered at risk. Our roads are crumbling. Will we see further cuts to VicRoads, and will the duplication to Stawell of the Western Highway ever finish? Amphitheatre, Creswick and Wedderburn are three of many areas that are crying out for proper policing, yet now we are facing more cuts.

The national and state parks in Ripon are underfunded and unloved by this government, even though they are proposing more of them. Wheel cactus has now spread out from Mount Buckrabanyule to neighbouring public land, but there is no money and no interest in helping locals fix this. In education, a new Miners Rest primary school has not been funded. When will this fast-growing community ever see a new school? The Treasurer needs to come clean with these cuts.