THE Victorian Farmers Federation says it intends to put the State Government and Opposition on notice, highlighting key marginal seats where it intends to push its election policies ahead of the November election.
VFF president Emma Germano told the VFF National Conference on Tuesday that long-term funding for roads and rail, along with more investment to solve housing and telecommunications shortfalls, were high on the organisation’s election priorities as it sought answers from candidates in key electorates across Victoria.
While several seats were located in western and eastern Victoria, Ms Germano identified Mildura and Shepparton, held by independents Ali Cupper and Suzanna Sheed, as areas also to come under focus by the farming advocacy group.
“They’re very strategic and key to forming government and we’re going to be on the ground using every bit of leverage that we can to highlight the challenges faced by these communities,” Ms Germano said.
She said the VFF was seeking a $2 billion long-term funding allocation over the next four years for rural and regional roads and was renewing its advocacy for the Murray Basin Rail Project.
“We have to shift away from the current approach that essentially, when a road gets so dodgy or dangerous, we just say that the speed limit comes down,” Ms Germano said.
“We need dedicated state funding for local roads too. It’s just not fair to expect the rural and regional councils have to put the whole bill for roads that are used by everybody across the state.”
The VFF election platform designated housing supply as a key issue in attracting more workers to the regions and Ms Germano called on all candidates and parties to act, along with a continued investment in telecommunications.
Ms Germano said there needed to be a local government funding system that was “fair” for regional users, who she said had to pay more than their urban counterparts.
“Victoria’s rating system has created the situation whereby rural ratepayers pay more in rates as a percentage of the value of their property than ratepayers in Melbourne,” Ms Germano said.
“We’ll seek changes to the Victorian Fair Go rate capping system to make sure it delivers an actual fair go for farmers.
“The government’s rate-capping policy has failed to protect farmers from huge rate increases over the last three years.
“The rate cap should not just be applied to all rates collected across the shire, but the rates collected from each category of land.”
Ms Germano said farmers were “well placed” to identify issues such as dealing with climate change and sustaining thriving communities and the VFF would “draw attention” to challenges regional communities faced on a “daily basis”.
