Thursday, 18 April 2024

 Melina BATH (Eastern Victoria) (17:31): (835) My adjournment matter is for the Minister for Regional Development, and I am pleased to see she is at the table tonight. In 2012 the then Deputy Premier, the Honourable Peter Ryan, instigated the Regional Growth Fund. It was $1 billion to invest in the regions in business, in infrastructure and in communities. Under the Allan–Andrews governments what was front of house has now become the outhouse, and indeed we can see what is happening in my electorate of Eastern Victoria Region and indeed in the Latrobe Valley. Jobs and growth have stagnated under Victoria’s Labor government. Jobs growth over the past decade has been the equivalent of 0.47 per cent on an annual basis. We can see that 0.5 per cent is far less than the average population growth of 2 to 2.5 per cent. We are getting left behind. What we can see is that their flawed policies are having such a huge impact on our regions.

If we turn the coin over and look at the unemployment rate for the Latrobe Valley, these are the statistics. This is the evidence. It is higher by comparison than in any other regional centre or indeed Melbourne; 5.1 per cent is the unemployment rate in the Latrobe Valley. The Premier’s own seat happens to be 3.3 per cent. And what have we got in this region? Well, we have got a government that has instructed the Latrobe Valley Authority to spend over $300 million in the course of its history for a glossy brochure of what the most recent pathway is supposed to be. It is a glossy brochure, it has got wonderful aspirations in there, but there is no direction, time line or leading light into how we are going to create wealth.

In respect of all the closures that are occurring under this government, we have got the closure of mills and we have got the closure of our native timber industry. The facts remain. We also see, as a sign of the times, the fact that Australian Carbon Innovation – which was actually set up under two Labor governments, under state Labor and federal Labor – was to talk about and invest in, from the university stage to commercialisation, carbon innovation in lignin and lignite and we have seen this wonderful enterprise shutting down under this Labor government. I call on the minister to advocate for renewed funding back into Regional Development Victoria to make regional development the focus and not be the outhouse under this government.