The new Board of Gippsland Ports announced today - which oversees the Ports of Mallacoota, Marlo, Gippsland Lakes and the Lake Tyers waterway – does not have a member east of Trafalgar.

Gippsland East Nationals MP, Tim Bull, said the appointments were typical of this city centric Labor Government.

“It really beggars belief that with the marine and professional experience we have within our region, the Minister could not appoint one local person and instead we have a board where not  a single member lives anywhere near any one of the ports or waterways they have responsibility for.

“Whilst I do not know any of the new Board, I am sure they have the appropriate skills and I look forward to meeting them, but it is simply not right that we have no-one local.

“We have local applicants who are more than suitable and who possess great local knowledge. The Gippsland Ports Board should be predominantly Gippslanders with strong East Gippsland representation.

“Instead we have no East Gippsland representation and a Board made up of people who live in Trafalgar, Warragul, the Mornington Peninsula and two from metropolitan Melbourne.”

Caption: Gippsland East Nationals MP, Tim Bull, said the Gippsland Ports Board should contain local representation.

The “announcement” last night of new roadside stopping areas on the Princes Highway by Minister Pulford appears to be the re-announcement of a commitment secured in early June by Gippsland East Nationals MP, Tim Bull.

“Having driven the highway with Regional Roads Victoria staff on June 7, I was given commitments for:

• No side barriers to be installed on approximately 25 kilometres of road eastbound (where they were planned to go) allowing cars and trucks to get off the road when they pull over;

• More truck and car pull over areas to be installed where there are side road barriers;

• Increased visibility at driveways and intersections by removing some barriers already installed adjacent to these areas; and

• The old ripple strips that cause vibrations to be fixed,” said Mr Bull.

“This was outlined in a media release issued from my office back on June 7.

“Unfortunately the ripple strips and hazardous intersections still remain, but as far as the pull over areas are concerned, these were demanded by the public and agreed to by the Department some ten weeks ago following my meeting,” said Mr Bull.

“We even identified a couple of locations where roadside barriers could possibly go as we drove along.

“The Andrews Labor government is quite good at re-announcing things to give the impression it is listening and this appears to be another case of that occurring.”

Caption: Gippsland East Nationals MP Tim Bull in discussions with Regional Roads Victoria representatives on June 7 when additional roadside stopping areas were agreed and announced as well as other remedial works.

The Inquiry into the Impact of Animal Rights Activism on Victorian Agriculture was in Bairnsdale today for its first hearing, with the committee being told those who break the law should be held to account.

Gippsland East Nationals MP, Tim Bull, who requested and was granted a hearing in East Gippsland, said he was pleased presenters made a number of pertinent points to the committee of Victorian Upper House MP’s.

“Perhaps the most relevant point raised was that these invasions are illegal and come with significant biosecurity risk, so to have a $1 fine handed down to perpetrators, was a penalty not in line with community expectations or consistent with the crime.

“Also of note was the repeated comment that farm invasions in fact produce poor animal welfare outcomes as they stress the animals greatly; and the example was given of a number of chickens that were suffocated by activists in a so called rescue attempt.

“It is my personal hope that from this Inquiry, we have some minimum sentences put in place for these illegal and risky actions,” said Mr Bull.

The committee has to report back to Parliament in February 2020 and while this was the first public hearing, Mr Bull said he looks forward to following the progress of this Inquiry over the coming months.

“We need changes that provide more protections for our farmers and make law breakers responsible for their actions,” he said.

Caption: Member for Gippsland East Tim Bull pictured with Nazih Elasmar, Chairman of the Legislative Council’s Economy and Infrastructure Committee at today’s hearing in Bairnsdale into the impact of animal rights activism on Victorian agriculture.

On Tuesday, agricultural professionals and industry groups will be presenting at a public hearing in Bairnsdale for the parliamentary inquiry into the impact of animal rights activism on Victorian agriculture.

The Legislative Council’s Economy and Infrastructure Committee is investigating the effectiveness of legislation and other measures to prevent and deter activities by unauthorised persons on agricultural and associated industries. This includes an examination of the type and prevalence of unauthorised activity on Victorian farms and related industries.

Gippsland East Nationals MP Tim Bull says the public hearing in Bairnsdale is the first for the inquiry, which has received more than 300 submissions, including a number from East Gippsland.

“Our farmers don’t have the luxury of being able to simply drop everything to travel to a hearing held in Melbourne,” said Mr Bull

“That’s why I lobbied the Committee to hold a hearing in Bairnsdale and encouraged East Gippsland residents to make submissions.

“The pitiful fine handed down to the activists who invaded the Gippy Goat Café, causing its closure, has become a lightning rod for farmers who no longer feel safe at work and in their homes.

“Farmers and farm businesses need appropriate protections from these activists and I encourage all interested members of the public to attend the hearing,” said Mr Bull.

The Bairnsdale hearing will be held at the Bairnsdale RSL commencing at 9:30 am.

East Gippsland householders have been made to engage in a scrum like contest to obtain approval for a rebate under the Andrews Labor Government’s Solar Panel Rebate Scheme.

At 9am on August 1, the Solar Victoria website was opened to rebate applications and in just 90 minutes all 3,333 rebates had been snapped up.

Gippsland East National MP Tim Bull has received a string of complaints from householders and solar installers about the scheme.

“What is now apparent is that to have any chance of being approved for a rebate you need to take the morning off work, make sure you have a good computer with a fast internet connection, be IT savvy and able to work at a fast pace,” said Mr Bull.

“You also need to be able to navigate multiple processes like uploading identification and supporting documents.

“It is a disgrace that householders in East Gippsland are being disadvantaged if they are not familiar with these processes.

“This scheme has degenerated into an ugly contest that will play out all over again at 9:00am on 1 September 2019 when the next release of rebates will be available and the winners will likely be those with superior computer skills.”

“My office has been contacted by a number of people who have expressed dismay and anger with the process.

“I am told it is not an easy website to navigate, it’s not user friendly and requires the use of a facial recognition app – so too bad if you don’t have a smart phone.

“My office has also been contacted by several local solar installers whose businesses have been thrown into disarray by the Government’s flawed roll out of its rebates, said Mr Bull.

“The sooner this discriminatory application process is replaced, the better.”

The reason road shoulders adjacent to roadside barriers between Stratford-Sale and Bairnsdale-Lakes Entrance are at four metres, but only three metres between Stratford-Bairnsdale is due to “environmentally sensitive vegetation” that exists on the middle stretch of Highway.

Nationals Gippsland East MP, Tim Bull asked the Minister why the shoulders were narrower on that middle stretch of road, despite much of this section (over 25 kilometres) being open grass adjacent to farmland.

In response, the Minister stated:

Every effort has been made to provide a wide shoulder on the Princes Highway East between Stratford and Bairnsdale. However, unlike the section between Sale and Stratford, the section between Stratford and Bairnsdale that does not contain trees, contains extensive communities of environmentally sensitive vegetation. 

A detailed environmental assessment …. was completed. This assessment concluded that the impact to environmentally sensitive vegetation was significant if the barrier was installed at four metres.

“I asked this question as it has been raised with me by numerous local residents, including trucking and bus companies, who struggle to get their vehicles off the road carriageway if they break down, due to it being not wide enough,” said Mr Bull.

“I can understand this applying in the heavily treed areas, but I will now seek more detail on just what this ‘environmentally sensitive’ vegetation is that exists between Stratford and Bairnsdale, that is not present on the other side of Stratford or the other side of Bairnsdale, where the road shoulder is four metres.”

Caption: Member for Gippsland East Tim Bull inspects the road shoulder on the Princes Highway between Stratford and Bairnsdale which the Roads Minister says is only three metres wide because of the presence of environmentally sensitive vegetation.