Suzanna’s Weekly Blog

It was great being back in the electorate.  What a full week I had with many events, constituent meetings, visits and more Ministers visiting including the Minister for Environment, Water and Climate Change, the Hon Lisa Neville attended the entire duration of the Water Summit on Wednesday. 

Some highlights of my week:

• Visit to Toolamba Primary School to discuss politics and explain what it is that state government is responsible for.   There were some great questions asked by the Grade 5 and 6’s.
• Attended the movie “This Changes Everything” organised by the local group Slap Tomorrow. The movie is based on the book by the same name and authored by Naomi Klein. Klein describes the climate crisis as a confrontation between capitalism and the planet.  It was a thought provoking movie.

• I was invited to attend the Goulburn Valley Safety Group Breakfast for the presentation of their Annual Safety Awards.  This coincided with WorkSafe Week.  Stewart Kreltszheim spoke about “Working on the Front-Line, Black Saturday Bushfires”.   Stewart is the Operations Manager of CFA District 23 based out of Wangaratta and delivered some significant insights into leadership.
• On Wednesday, over 90 people attended the Water Summit at Unilever in Tatura organised by myself, Committee for Greater Shepparton and the Greater Shepparton City Council.    The Minister for Environment, Climate Change and Water, Lisa Neville and her staff stayed for the entirety of the Summit to listen to the issues raised. There was broad consensus about the next steps.  I would like to thank everyone involved especially the staff at Unilever for hosting the event. 
• After the Summit, I met the Minister for Small Business, The Hon Philip Dalidakis at Tatura Milk for a tour.  There, I spoke with an Asian Delegation about the value of our region and the importance of water, dairy and food production.  I highlighted how important it is that we promote good trade relationships with our Asian neighbours.
• On Thursday, the Family and Community Development Committee that I am a member of held their regional public hearing in Shepparton. This is Stage 2 of the inquiry into abuse in disability services.   We heard from the CEO of Shepparton Access and from local convenors/coordinators of support groups for parents of children with a disability.  We also visited Sobroan St Children’s Respite and a Yooralla house for the disabled in Benalla. 
• On Thursday night, I attended the “Lead Local – Think Global Small Business Event” organised by the Committee for Greater Shepparton. Attendees of the event were made aware of what the Committee is up to and listed to some very impressive speakers.
• On Friday I attended Shepparton ACE College which is a community based independent senior secondary school.   They provide a range of education opportunities for youth and adults in our area.  I met students who were undertaking a Certificate 4 in Liberal Arts and Transition Education.  

My office dealt with a wide range of constituent issues and I met with many of them during the week.  Some of the issues were: residents of Numurkah concerned with location of tyres on a private property near the town and the potential of a fire hazard that it causes, concern with the ceasing of perinatal emotional health services by the Federal Government at GV Health, concern with myki only offering free travel to those over 60 years old in zones that do not include Shepparton and the need for medical cannabis to be available to those with chronic pain.

I hope some of you get to have a long weekend with Melbourne Cup Day!

 

Suzanna