THE Mallee electorate has received $370 million in Federal Government funding since Andrew Broad was elected as its Member of Parliament, however Swan Hill collected the smallest share per person of all the region’s council areas.
The Member for Mallee said this week that during his first term in office — which commenced in 2013 — funding for the whole electorate had increased on most previous terms.
Of the $370 million of government funding enjoyed by the electorate, which includes both the Wimmera and Mallee, the Swan Hill Rural Shire local government area received more than $22 million.
Based on the most up-to-date Australian Bureau of Statistics (ABS) population figures, this figure translated to roughly $1074 per resident — the smallest per capita investment across all the electorate’s local government areas.
In stark contrast, Mildura Rural City received just a little over $156 million at $2965 per person, meaning the Federal Government had spent around $2.75 on every Mildura resident for every $1 it spent on a single Swan Hill local.
West Wimmera Shire received the most amount of funding per capita across the electorate, with its $15 million — or $3359 for every one of its 4089 residents.
Mr Broad said the allocation of funding ebbs and flows, but some councils and community groups were either more active in applying for funding programs or better at demonstrating business cases for their applications.
For more on this story, grab a copy of Friday’s Guardian (February 19).
