Fodder transport funding
Mr T BULL (Gippsland East) (17:18): (1922) My adjournment matter for this evening is directed to the Minister for Agriculture in the other place, and the action that I am seeking is that the government meet the cost of transport of donated fodder ongoing. We have a situation here where we have some agencies up to $70 000 out of pocket waiting for reimbursements for donated fodder. The one I have just quoted is for the Heyfield Lions Club. What is of concern is that we have heard a couple of whispers, obviously that one, that they are not getting paid in an appropriate amount of time, but we have also heard on the grapevine that this funding stream may be capped. As you would know, Speaker, we still have fires burning in our landscape, and there are some communities that still have not been accessed yet that are going to need hay into the future. We have still got fires burning on a number of fronts. I ask the minister to confirm that funding will be paid instantly to those community service groups that are out of pocket and also that this program will continue.