Government barks up wrong tree In the coming state elections, Mildura has a problem. It is a problem of the increasing irrelevance of the major parties, especially in the country – a phenomenon that is Australia-wide. It has become clear from voting trends across our country that more people are becoming disillusioned with the major political parties. The plethora of independents and minor parties of recent times are an undeniable testament to this trend, no more so than in our own state electorate. With only 4 per cent of the state infrastructure spending going to 25 per cent of the population in country Victoria, and its pro-private/anti-public stance (especially in Melbourne), it is no wonder the LNP Government is in major trouble, with polls predicting the Coalition is set to lose power in November. Where Mildura is concerned, however, the Labor opposition is not only no better; it is becoming increasingly irrelevant, negating any possibility of the seat becoming marginal. While the geographic determinism of agriculture in our electorate tends to favour the party that most purports to represent this industry, we the people should be asking questions. How successful has our representation been? Which other industries deserve better recognition? Why is the public a forgotten part of the representation? Witness the absolute neglect of our rail and road infrastructure and the outright refusal to consider the people’s wishes when it comes to public instrumentalities – especially rail transport, public hospital/health and education. Why has the LNP government left it until five months before an election to announce its Murray Basin Rail Project (which won’t be costed until after the election) when it has had four years to act? We know that in the Mildura Rural City Council region, which is similar to the Mildura state electorate, the main employer groups are not in agriculture, but in the significant retail and hospitality industries. Consequently the NorthWest Rail Alliance wishes to know why all tiers of government continue to ignore the obvious tourism benefits that would flow to these high-employment industries from the return of a Mildura train service. Christian Mitchell, Patricia Osborne and Geoffrey Brown NorthWest Rail Alliance
Posted on: Tue, 05 Aug 2014 21:47:38 +0000
Trending Topics
Recently Viewed Topics
© 2015