Wednesday, 4 March 2020

Warburton tourism

Ms McLEISH (Eildon) (09:39): The committee and volunteers of the Warburton Up and Running fun run are to be congratulated for putting on another great event on Sunday, 23 February. It is always good to see both local runners and others coming some distance to compete in the events. I was delighted to enter a team in the teams event, and although Barry was the only winner from my team, we all had a bit of fun. It is not easy to put on an event like this year on year. I commend the efforts put into organising, promoting, securing sponsorship and making it all happen on the day. Again, Bendigo Bank was one of the main sponsors; 2020 is a special year for the bank as it was on 25 February 2000 that they opened their first community bank branch in Warburton. Eight years later they opened a second branch in Yarra Junction and really established themselves as a key bank in the Upper Yarra.

Like so many other areas in regional Victoria, Warburton was indirectly impacted by the bushfires. Numbers at the Warburton tourist information centre indicated January 2020 numbers were 1500 less than January of the previous three years. This has had a real impact on local economies. There are some very exciting projects in the Yarra Valley at the moment, all of which are relying on support from the state government. The Warburton mountain bike destination, the next stage of the Yarra Valley trail and the historic Yarra Valley Railway can help shape tourism and secure local economies into the future. It is vitally important that the $4 billion budget cuts flagged by the Andrews government do not impact any of these projects. I plead with the government to secure funding for these projects rather than take an axe to them.