Media Releases

May 1, 2012

The Liberal/Nationals State Government has confirmed its rock-solid commitment to Central Victoria in today’s State Budget, Damian Drum said today.

Mr Drum, who is also Parliamentary Secretary for Regional Development, said the Budget invested more than $30 million in major projects in Bendigo and Castlemaine.

“It is a testament to the Coalition Government’s regional resolve that we have been able to deliver on these vital projects – even though Victoria is facing enormous financial challenges from outside forces,” he said.

“Despite having billions of dollars ripped out of our economy by the Federal Government’s GST changes, the world economic slowdown and the inherited bungling from the previous Labor Government, our local communities are still being backed totally.”

Among the projects in today’s Budget are:

• $10 million to Castlemaine Hospital
• $7 million to Castlemaine Secondary College
• $5 million to redevelop Golden Square Primary School
• $7 million (approx.) to develop a new Multi-Disciplinary Centre in Bendigo to improve care for sexual assault victims and their families.

“I would like to pay tribute today to Steven Oliver, the Nationals candidate for Bendigo West at the last State election. Steven pushed very hard for the Castlemaine Hospital and Secondary College, and the Budget commitments are due – in no small part – to him.

“This is on top of funding commitments from Steven which have already been delivered, such as the 24-hour ambulance service, and the upgrade of the QEO football and netball facilities.”

The Coalition Government remained focussed on delivering on its election promises.

“It must be recognised that today’s announcements come on top of last year’s Budget which:
• delivered on the funding of the $630 million Bendigo Hospital,
• the Bendigo airport redevelopment funding,
• which paved the way to deliver more police to our region,
• and which set up the $1 billion Regional growth Fund,” Mr Drum said.

“That is an outstanding track record of regional support.”

The Castlemaine Hospital funding would allow it to press on with much needed improvements identified in the hospital’s own master plan.

“The hospital serves a catchment area of about 60,000 people, and has been working towards projects such as a second operating theatre, a new hydrotherapy centre, and better access to existing medical units,” Mr Drum said.

Castlemaine Secondary College would use the $7 million to consolidate its junior and secondary campuses at Blakely Road.

“Again, this helps the community achieve its own ambitions. The college plan sets out the plans for consolidation.”

Mr Drum said the Golden Square Primary School had been pushing hard to complete the merger first agreed two by the Laurel Street and Maple Street schools in 2009, but which had remained unfunded by the previous Labor Government.

“I was particularly delighted to see the funding for Bendigo’s Multi-Disciplinary Centre against sexual assault in this year’s State Budget.

“It allows various state agencies and regional organisations to unite to provide a better co-ordinated care for sexual assault victims and their families.

“Bendigo shares in a broad push by the Liberal/Nationals Government to come up with better approaches to deal with the deep-seated problems of sexual assault,” he said.

Other Budget items which would be of enormous importance to our region included a major new investment in V/Line carriages for regional Victoria.

Nationals MP for Northern Victoria Region, Damian Drum, has moved to ease concerns about funding for Victorian Certificate of Applied Leaving (VCAL).

In State Parliament this afternoon, Mr Drum asked the Minister for Higher Education and Skills, Peter Hall, to outline what changes were being made in the vocational-based VCAL system.

In reply, Mr Hall said there had been a lot of media discussion about the impact of a $12 million cut in funding of coordinators in the VCAL stream.

But he said the bigger picture was that the Coalition Government was firmly committed to maintaining and expanding VCAL.

“In fact, there has been a 9.5 per cent increase in program funding for VCAL.”

Mr Hall said the funding for coordinators had been put in place when VCAL started in 2003 to help get the new system up and running. It was now “well embedded” with about 18,000 Victorian students doing VCAL, with more expected in future years.

It had started out as a “special payment”, but had remained for eight years.

He said the Coalition Government had committed to not only maintain funding for VCAL, but to fund its expected growth.

To do that, he said, some trimming of other aspects had to take place, and the funding for coordinators was deemed to be an area where savings could be made without lessening students’ access to VCAL.

“It is my expectation that this change will mean no disadvantage for VCAL students.”

Mr Drum said the success of VCAL was plain to see in Bendigo.

“Bendigo Senior Secondary College has more than 250 VCAL students this year – up from about 100 when it started in 2003 – and it has clearly set many young people on a successful path. I’m proud of the fact that we are committed to continued growth,” he said.

The Victorian Government has awarded Billman’s Foundry a $25,000 grant to support the company’s $100,000 upgrade of its power supply in Castlemaine.

The Minister for Innovation, Services and Small Business, Louise Asher, said the grant was part of a $3 million package designed to help companies across the state improve their global competitiveness, save money on production costs and create more local employment.

Minister Asher said the grants, through the Competitive Business Fund (CBF), would deliver long term economic benefits and employment growth to Victoria: “The new projects, supported under the CBF, represent almost $20 million of investment and are expected to deliver at least 340 new jobs.’’

The Member for Northern Victoria, Damian Drum MP, congratulated Billman’s Foundry, which was established more than 20 years ago in a small tin shed, and today employs 16 people becoming one of Australia's largest fountain manufacturers.

“This grant will enable Billman’s Foundry to employ two additional people, save costs and boost productivity,” Mr Drum said.

“The foundry uses age-old methods to create moulds from hard sand, green sand or lost wax ceramic shell, continuing the tradition of producing lasting products in bronze, aluminium and cast iron.”

“This grant will enable Billman’s to upgrade the foundry's power supply by installing a 1,000 amps transformer, allowing the company to increase production from three to four melts per day.”

“In March, the Victorian Government decided to open up eligibility for this Fund to smaller businesses for the first time, which meant that Billman’s Foundry could qualify.”

Minister Asher said the CBF was helping to foster a dynamic manufacturing sector by building capability and prompting demand driven development of new products for both domestic and export markets:

“The fund is an excellent example of how the government is working collaboratively with industry to drive improved efficiencies and competitiveness.

“These grants to 17 companies across Victoria will assist investment in new equipment, infrastructure, technology and product or process innovation and will lead to sustainable increases in business productivity, employment and export potential.”

Tuesday, 26 July 2011

Nationals MP for Northern Victoria Region Damian Drum will today officially announce $100,000 funding towards a training program to help people with a disability develop employment skills.

The program, ‘6 Steps to Employment Model’ will be run by education provider, Continuing Education Bendigo (CEB), in partnership with Radius Disability Services.

Mr Drum, a long-term campaigner for people living with disabilities, will make the announcement on behalf of Higher Education and Skills Minister Peter Hall.

Mr Drum said the funding would go to develop a trade assistants training program to assist young students with a disability move from supported to open employment.

“The State Government is committed to removing barriers to education access and attainment for all Victorians, particularly hard to reach learners, including people with a disability, Mr Drum said.

"This project provides us with another great example of how Victoria's registered training organisations, like CEB, are building partnerships with community organisations such as Radius Disability Services, to help engage and support people with a disability.

Established in 1953, Radius Disability Services provides day programs and supported employment services to people with a disability. Today, it operates six distinct business units and has grown to become central Victoria's longest-established provider of services and opportunities to people with a disability.

“I commend CEB and Radius Disability Services in coming together to work on this exciting new program,” Mr Drum said.

“By drawing on their shared experiences in education and community services, this partnership will help people with a disability gain the skills they need for a brighter future.”

The ‘6 Steps to Employment Model’ program will help students move from supported to open employment through the Certificate 1 in Manufacturing Pathways and Certificate 1 in Work Education.

This project is one of six grant recipients funded through Skills Victoria’s $600,000 Access and Equity program. The grants support innovative projects that help improve access to training opportunities for all Victorians.

http://www.premier.vic.gov.au/media-centre/victorian-government-reforms.html

St Luke’s Anglicare in Bendigo has been given a helping hand in its efforts to assist victims of crime in northern and north-west Victoria.
Nationals MP for Northern Victoria Region, Damian Drum, said the State Government had given St Luke’s an extra $49,250 to help the Victims Assistance Counselling Program.
St Luke’s is in the second year of a three-year contract to run the program, and the extra funding would allow more people to be helped.
“Victims of crime are often very stressed and can have trouble finding their way through the criminal and justice systems and in finding out what services there are to help them out,” Mr Drum said. ‘That’s where the Victims Assistance Counselling Program is making a difference.
“It provides practical assistance which can include accommodation, security, childcare and transport. It also can provide counselling and advice on therapeutic counselling as well as help navigating the system, liaising with courts and police.”
Mr Drum said St Luke’s had a formidable reputation for its service delivery and he was delighted at the funding boost.
Victims Assistance Counselling Program manager, Ms Chris Jackson, said there was a big demand in this region for help for victims of crime, and the extra funding was very welcome.
“It will allow us to boost the number of hours we can dedicate to the program.
“The program operates on a case management model. The people we help are often very distraught and it is always great to be able to help them through a very difficult time,” Ms Jackson said.

Bendigo’s sporting “jewel” is back
Nationals MP for Northern Victoria Region, and Parliamentary Secretary for Regional Development, Damian Drum, said it was a delight and an honour to help officially launch the revamped Queen Elizabeth Oval project.
“The QEO is, in many ways, the jewel in the crown of regional sport in Bendigo, and an important hub of the City of Greater Bendigo.
“This project has re-polished that jewel and reinstates its importance in the life of the region.
“For the past two years Bendigo has been unable to hold State league events because of the state of the QEO playing surface and had a dysfunctional and mostly unusable scoreboard.
“It has been a huge task involving massive earth-moving efforts and surface redevelopments, as well as new sporting infrastructure, often carried out under very trying conditions.
“It is ironic that the project started after more than a decade of record-breaking drought, and then had to proceed under record-breaking summer rains.
“From tomorrow (Saturday) we will begin to reap the rewards of that work and commitment.”
Mr Drum said the Coalition State Government had contributed $1 million to the make-over and was proud of the outcome.
The funding will also allow a second netball court to be developed. This will be ready in time for the 2012 season.
“The project will allow Bendigo to regain its position as an exciting home to high profile regional and national sporting events.”
The $2.2M redevelopment of Bendigo’s premier sporting oval – the QEO will be officially opened by Greater Bendigo Mayor Rod Fyffe and Damian Drum.

The opening will take place prior to the start of senior match between the QEO’s traditional tenants South Bendigo and Sandhurst.

Works that have taken place as part of the redevelopment project include:-
• Site clearing including removal of 15,000 cubic metres of soil;
• Preliminary earthworks to reshape the oval and provide extra space for spectators;
• Drainage works and installation of an irrigation system;
• Installation of a concrete slab to support three turf cricket pitches;
• Final surface works including the laying of 17,000 square metres of drought tolerant turf;
• Installation of new fencing;
• Construction of player/coaches shelters at the front of the grandstand;
• Construction of new concrete terraced spectator seating for approximately 400 people at the Barnard street end of the ground;
• Upgrade of the ovals lighting system to meet AFL match standards;
• Installation of a new electronic LED scoreboard;
• Resurfacing of the existing netball court; and
• Installation of new perimeter seating to the oval.

City of Greater Bendigo Mayor Cr Rod Fyffe said since 2003 Council has shown a high level of commitment to the QEO with over $7.5m being spent on works including construction of a $4.4 million multipurpose facility to serve both the Aquatic Centre and QEO, a significant upgrade of the grandstand change rooms, installation of match and training lights and connection to the recycled water pipeline.

“The redevelopment of the ground now means that Greater Bendigo has a sporting ground with the capacity to host major sporting events to local, state and national standards.

“The works commenced in late 2010 following ten of the driest years Bendigo has experienced.

“During the works phase of the project we experienced one of the wettest summers for some time and a cooler than average autumn. However despite the weather this project was still delivered basically on time.

“This has been a much needed project which has been funded by a million dollar contribution from the Victorian State Government, a $812,000 contribution from the Federal Government and a $500,000 contribution from the City of Greater Bendigo.

“It’s also been an important joint project between the State and Federal Governments and the City of Greater Bendigo that demonstrates an enormous commitment to local sport and a strong desire to make the QEO one of Victoria’s top cricket and football facilities.

“I believe the new QEO surface and facilities will provide the sporting and general community with long lasting benefits for many years to come and I can‘t think of a better way to open it than with a match between the ground’s traditional tenants Sandhurst and South Bendigo,” said Cr Fyffe.

QEO key user groups include the Sandhurst Football/Netball Club, South Bendigo Football/Netball Club, Bendigo Football/Netball League, Bendigo Bombers, Bendigo Pioneers, Bendigo Cricket club and Bendigo and District Cricket Association.

A Coalition State Government contribution of $5 million was a major step towards getting Bendigo’s long-awaited airport upgrade up and running, State Parliament was told this week.
Answering a question from Nationals MP for Northern Victoria Region, Damian Drum, the Minister responsible for the Aviation Industry, Gordon Rich-Phillips, said he had had detailed discussions with the City of Great Bendigo recently.
He said the message the council had given him was that the $5 million in the Coalition Government’s first State Budget had been the “impetus for ensuring that it goes ahead.”
He told Mr Drum that the project would cost a total of $15 million and he hoped the Federal Government would make a similar contribution.
“The project will require a three-way funding split between the Commonwealth, the State and local government.”
Mr Rich-Phillips said that the project would see the development of a new north-south runway, new taxiways and a new apron area.
“During my meetings with the council, I had an opportunity to discuss the proposed scope of the project, and I look forward to receiving a formal proposal from the City of Greater Bendigo as to the early works that can be undertaken.”
The early works were likely to include the taxiway and apron upgrades.
Mr Drum said the Coalition State Government had established a $20 million regional aviation fund to support airport infrastructure across the state.
He said the $5 million for Bendigo delivered in full on a pre-election commitment by the Liberal/National Coalition

A $2 million allocation in this month’s State Budget will allow Maryborough and the Central Goldfields Shire to react swiftly to any future growth opportunities, Parliamentary Secretary for Regional Development, Damian Drum, said today.
Mr Drum was in Maryborough to discuss the Shire’s bold new Go Goldfields strategy, which won major funding from the new Regional Growth Fund.
“Go Goldfields is the result of some inspired visioning from the shire and the broader community,” Mr Drum said.
“It sets out a plan under which the region will be able to quickly take up any growth opportunity which comes its way.
“Go Goldfields was developed by Central Goldfields Shire – in partnership with agencies and the community – after a great deal of planning and discussion.
The community focussed on five priorities: early childhood, youth, skills and training, community development and environmental sustainability.”
Mr Drum said that work had identified the strengths and weakness in the region and now Go Goldfields would work to achieve community renewal and addressing some of the social and society challenges.
Among the strategy’s early aims are ideas on creating stronger families, to reconnect young people with the community, improving literacy and a range of family-based well-being projects.
“There would, for example, be a specialist children’s librarian and an expansion of the Bookmates program to improve the language skills of young children,” Mr Drum said.
“There would be expanded speech pathology services through the Maryborough District Health Service.
“And there would be efforts to get better linkages from the various assistance agencies which already exist across the community.
“This would all be geared towards developing stronger foundations, strong building blocks in the Central Goldfields Shire. This, in turn, better equips the community to react positively and quickly to new economic circumstances.”
Mr Drum said it was an example of getting the basic community settings right to be able to build new futures.
The strategy will be driven by an Alliance chaired by Central Goldfields Shire Mayor Cr Chris Meadows-Taylor and will include representatives from across all sectors of the community, including:
• ASETERIA Disability Services
• Bendigo Health
• Central Victoria Health Alliance
• Emergency Accommodation and Support Enterprises
• Goldfields Education and Learning Centre
• Maryborough District Health Service
• Maryborough Education Centre
• Maryborough Police
• Salvation Army
• St Luke’s Anglicare
Mr Drum said the strategy had been discussed with the Liberal/Nationals Coalition before last November’s state election and had won a firm commitment of support.
“The Coalition State Government is now delivering on that commitment.
“I’m proud that the Government is partnering Maryborough with the strategy which, I believe, can help create a much brighter future for Maryborough and the region,” Mr Drum said.

Labor plays shameful games at State’s expense
A shabby Labor Party ploy to prevent the new Coalition State Government from pushing for a fair share of the Federal Goods and Services Tax represents a new low in Labor hypocrisy.
Nationals MP for Northern Victoria, Damian Drum, said today that Labor’s decision to refuse a “pair” enabling Treasurer Kim Wells to travel to Canberra to fight for a more equitable share of GST revenue showed once and for all that the Victorian Labor Party was more interested in playing destructive political games that about helping Victorian families.
“Over the past eight years, the former Treasurer, John Lenders, has been on his feet more than 40 times attacking the National Party and the Liberal party for supposedly not campaigning hard enough to the former Howard Government to change the formula for the distribution of GST funding back to the States and Territories.
“So, with that as a consistent background on this issue, we now have a Labor Party in opposition which is doing everything it possibly can to stop Victoria getting its fair share of the GST,” Mr Drum said.
“We now have an opposition that is actively campaigning against Victoria getting any of the $1.4 billion that the state is short-changed annually.
“Victoria will be the only state where the opposition is taking this action. Treasurers from South Australia, Tasmania and Western Australia have been granted pairs so they can attend the Canberra meeting to argue their case.
“So, for all of its time in Government when Labor Treasurers were encouraged by Nationals and Liberal oppositions to attend these meetings to fight for the finances of our great state, we have a situation where Labor’s entire credibility is destroyed by their actions in the Legislative Assembly.
“Labor in Victoria is proving it will do any amount of damage to Victoria if it thinks it will boost it own stocks. Labor needs to be exposed for what it is doing and for this shameful attack on every Victorian.”