Media

People in the Upper Murray and Alpine regions have been working for months to develop recovery plans. It is well past time this hard work was honoured by making the promised funding available.

The ‘biggest Budget of a generation’ this week provided the government with the opportunity to invest in and build regional Australia to its full potential, but it wasn’t realised

The Budget includes welcome cash flow measures for small businesses and new apprenticeships, lacks cohesive vision for regional communities and detail on integrity commission funding, and misses an opportunity to support the Local Power Plan

The budget shows the government has no real plans when it comes to stamping out corruption in federal public administration

My Local Power Plan means every bushfire-prone town can ensure its own energy supply, every manufacturing business can reduce power bills

The Budget reveals an alarming lack of focus on regional Australia. Before the Budget, I sent an economic recovery plan outlining 47 shovel-ready projects worth $750 million right across Indi.

Experts tell us that creating jobs in our communities for local people, tradespeople and suppliers flows quickly from smaller, shovel-ready projects. These are what the government should be funding.

Four Victorian Government grants for Indi communities are a vote of confidence in locally-owned renewables, exactly the type of projects envisaged in my Local Power Plan