Among the top priorities are affordable housing to cope with the rental crisis, road upgrades and support for the tourism industry after COVID-19 decimated the industry.
State Member for Murray Plains Peter Walsh said his budget wishlist included the regional road and rail network, first responders and a “massive overhaul” of social housing assets.
“Next week’s budget must provide the money to fix regional Victoria’s roads — dropping the road speed limit to 80km/h is not a solution,” he said.
“It is also a penalty for the hundreds of thousands of people who will make millions of trips on those roads.
“The budget must include more money for local government so it can play its role in maintaining the network of local roads and, finally, Victoria must match the Federal Government and their commitment to upgrading our highways.”
Mr Walsh said a concerted effort over many years was needed to “come even close to repairing the damage that has been done” when it came to social housing.
“Regional Victoria is beyond being overwhelmed by demand for social housing and there simply isn’t any sign of new projects on the horizon,” he said.
As reported by the Riv on Monday, there is a decade-long waitlist for public housing in the Campaspe region, and vulnerable people are being left homeless or forced into unsafe or inappropriate housing.
“Home prices — rent or buy — are forcing more and more people out of the market and there has to be a better alternative,” Mr Walsh said.
“This doesn’t even take into account the complete lack of emergency housing for domestic violence victims.”
He suggested an immediate solution was to buy “one or two motels in towns across regional Victoria”, to provide instant units for those in need.
Committee for Echuca-Moama chief executive Deanne Armstrong said every regional area was struggling with affordable housing.
“We need to look at planning for short-term responses but also we’d like to see some funding come through for planning for housing and skill shortages in general,” she said.
“If we can get that funding, hopefully we can take that back to government and say this is what we need as a community to be able to get through the current challenges we’re facing.”
Ms Armstrong said C4EM would also like to see support for the tourism industry following the devastation of COVID-19.
“A lot of bookings have been transferred over to next year, so I think the tourism industry and particularly the accommodation sector will need lots of support around that,” she said.
Education and training was also something Ms Armstrong highlighted to address skill shortages and a need to train the future workforce.
“We’d also like to see support for businesses, specifically small businesses and advanced manufacturing,” she said.
State Member for Northern Victoria Mark Gepp said the Victorian Government had invested in a range of projects in regional Victoria including more than $1 billion to deliver new and upgraded social and affordable housing, $156 million to extend the Regional Jobs and Infrastructure Fund and $4 billion on the Regional Rail Revival.
“The Andrews Labor Government is making record investments in regional Victoria, with last year’s budget investing more than $8 billion to help regional communities recover — and come back stronger,” he said.
“Since the 2015-16 budget, the Labor Government has invested $18.2 billion to help support regional Victoria.“We will continue to work with stakeholders including the VFF, our regional partnerships and regional communities to ensure future investments continue to support country Victorians.
“We will have more to say about our investments in regional and rural Victoria when the budget is handed down next week.”
More local news
Works on Northern Hwy near Strathallan to be completed this week
Community morning tea highlights mental health support in Campaspe region
Senator McKenzie: Federal Budget will deliver for regional areas
4°C