Tuesday, 16 August 2022

Ms TIERNEY (Western Victoria—Minister for Training and Skills, Minister for Higher Education, Minister for Agriculture)

Incorporated pursuant to order of Council of 7 September 2021:

I rise today to report on the fantastic event that is Sheepvention.

The Hamilton Spectator, on Saturday, July 30, said it so well: ‘Sheepvention homecoming’!

Sheepvention is a huge annual rural expo, an institution in Western Victoria, that spans three days.

There was an amazing, bumper crowd that represented communities from as far afield as the Mallee, the Wimmera, the far south-west, even South Australia and more.

The heart of Sheepvention is of course the industries associated with sheep in Western Victoria and the important role that these play in Victoria’s economy.

Everyone was so clearly pleased to be together, celebrating food and fibre and perhaps also the chance to meet up with old friends and acquaintances after two years of postponed events.

It was great being there on day 1 to hear firsthand from stakeholders and constituents about their issues and their hopes for the future.

There’s no doubt that these are challenging times, so it was excellent to see the active, positive and reassuring engagement of Agriculture Victoria and Regional Roads Victoria, listening to people’s concerns and providing them with good advice and information.

A big shout-out, too, to South West TAFE for their strong presence.

On display were students’ skills as diverse as baking, catering and hairdressing, through to breeding and genetics, and very importantly providing up-to-date information on ag and horticulture courses that are available locally.

As ever, the traditional pen-of-five-rams sales were strong and the working dog competition was fiercely fought.

I congratulate president Kathryn Robertson, her immediate team and the many volunteers who worked tirelessly in the lead-up and over the three days to make Sheepvention such a successful event in regional Victoria.