On his way: John Pesutto will visit Rochester on Tuesday.
State Member for Murray Plains Peter Walsh has invited Opposition leader John Pesutto to visit Rochester on Tuesday to see firsthand what the town and its residents need.
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Mr Walsh says the visit will include meetings with some of the key groups in town, such as its flood recovery committee, Lake Eppalock Working Group and Rochester Community House.
“I am delighted John has accepted my invitation to come to Rochester — this town and its community are going to need a lot of help for some years, and the opportunity to meet with people directly impacted by the 2022 flood and the protracted recovery is an important one,” Mr Walsh said.
“As that recovery drags on longer and longer, it is crucial to keep Rochester in the public’s, and government’s, eye so we can maintain the pressure to keep the funding coming through.
“By the time he heads back to Melbourne after lunch I expect the Opposition leader will have a much better understanding of the need to help speed up that recovery.
“And specially to get the funding to get people back into their own homes faster and to support the whole community’s mental and physical wellbeing, which has taken a huge battering in the past nine or 10 months.”
Leaders: John Pesutto and Peter Walsh.
Mr Walsh says it is “incredibly disappointing” the people of Rochester are having to work this hard to stay on the Andrews Government radar.
He says it is proving increasingly hard — “and mostly impossible” — for community members to get any sort of response from the premier or his ministers about why things are going so slowly in the recovery.
“If anyone in this brave little town had any doubt about where they sit with Daniel Andrews, his decision last week, along with that of other senior members of his government, to block the Rochester community page from accessing their social media says it all,” Mr Walsh said.
“Not only has this premier and his people shown they don’t overly care about Rochester’s problems, but they have also reached the stage they don’t even want to hear about them.
“To block criticism and constant inquiry is hardly part of the democratic process, it’s more what you hear of happening in dictatorships.
“So, someone who will listen is joining me to move around the town and talk to as many people as possible — and actually hear what they have to say.”
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