Independent Member for Shepparton District Suzanna Sheed has asked the Parliament to include a joint sitting in its Government program this week, to swear in Luke O’Sullivan to the Upper House.

“In the period between the last sitting of the House, and today, I have sought my own legal advice, my own Constitutional law advice on this,” Ms Sheed said.

“There are a few things that are unconscionable.  One is the fact that we have been without representation (in northern Victoria) for so long, when that could have so easily happened throughout June.  It starts to look like political game playing when we are put in a position where a preselection does not take place until July 31,” she said.

Damian Drum resigned from the Legislative Council on May 27, 2016.

“Another thing I regard as unconscionable is the fact we have a member of the Upper House (Gavin Jennings) out of the Parliament for so long.”

She said in her examination of the issue it was unheard of, for a minister to be removed from Parliament for such a long period, thereby depriving electors for their rightful representation.

In this case, the South Eastern Region has now been without its elected representative for more than three months.

“One of the important foundations of democracy is “representation”,” Ms Sheed said.

On Tuesday, in the Victorian Parliament, Ms Sheed said she had formed the view based on legal advice and research it’s now appropriate for a joint sitting of the houses of Parliament to take place and that the various issues had to be treated separately.

“It is now appropriate that a joint sitting take place and Mr O’Sullivan be sworn in, in the usual way.

“It is important we adhere to the Constitution and we do the right thing.

On the advice I have received I believe it would be the right thing for this matter to be dealt with throughout the week,” Ms Sheed said.

 

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Sueanne McCumstie 0428 743 880│sueanne.mccumstie@parliament.vic.gov.au

 

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Independent Member for Shepparton District Suzanna Sheed has called on the National Party to get back to its grassroots representation of country people, for which it’s known.

This call came on the back of a heated debate in Parliament overnight, calling for a joint sitting to swear-in the newly-nominated member for Northern Victoria Luke O’Sullivan.

“The capital and goodwill of the parties in this place are being continually eroded by this sort of debate and discussion. We are not getting on with the business of this place, and we are not representing the people of Victoria by engaging in all this argument.” Ms Sheed said.

“It will come as no surprise to me, to see Parliament populated by many more Independents after the next State election,” she said.

“Members have spoken about the fact that the failure to swear in the new National Party member to the other place will result in Northern Victoria Region in the Legislative Council being without representation.

“Well, it should be remembered that Northern Victoria Region has been without representation in the other place since May 27, 2016 and no attempt was made to fill that vacancy in June when it could have happened,” Ms Sheed said.

Ms Sheed said she feared the National Party, has lost touch with the region it represents.

“The single most broad-based issue that affects the people of northern Victoria is the impact of the Murray-Darling Basin plan on our Murray River-dependent northern communities.

So when do we hear debate and discussion about the Murray-Darling Basin plan in this place from those representatives? We never do. The only time I hear in this place about the Murray-Darling Basin and the social and economic impacts of it is when I ask the Minister for Water questions about it,” she said.

Ms Sheed said she won the seat of Shepparton District from the National Party almost two years ago, because the Party was absent when it came to the issues facing the electorate.

“Nobody understood what the issues were.

“The issues in our electorate included health; we needed a new hospital. Other issues were that we needed better rail services and the fact that we have some of the poorest educational outcomes across the whole of the state of Victoria.

Who is talking about that in this place (the Legislative Assembly)? Well, there is a deafening silence on so many of those things,” Ms Sheed said.

“I have sat here for nearly two years, and I find it outrageous that we have a National Party who sits in this place, who should be representing us and who, quite frankly, I would be happy to sit with if they did the job they were meant to be doing. I am not prepared to sit here and be silent any longer.

“You are all people who have been elected by your communities, you are capable of being good representatives and indeed you all have the skills to do it, but instead you sit in opposition with a city-centric party.

We have city-centric parties on both sides of this place, and the time has come for the Nationals to actually stand up and have a think about sitting on the crossbenches and about having the integrity and strength that it takes to actually represent the people and the electorates that you come from. The time has come for that.”

Ms Sheed has defended her decision to vote against the joint sitting overnight, calling for the Special Minister for the State to also be reinstated.

 “When it comes down to this particular debate, if we are depriving representation of a whole group of people in Northern Victoria Region of a representative for a period of time, I would say it is probably about the same length of time that the people of South Eastern Metropolitan Region have been deprived of their representative.

The penalty and the time has been done by Gavin Jennings, as far as I am concerned, and it is time for everyone just to get back on the job and start governing,” Ms Sheed said.

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Independent Member for Shepparton District Suzanna Sheed says the initial findings of the GMID Socio Economic report are likely to show the impact of the Murray Darling Basin Plan has already had a demonstrably negative impact on numerous economic and social indicators across the region.

 “Without a timely change to Federal and State policy, the future of the GMID will be highly compromised” Ms Sheed said.

The Goulburn Murray Irrigation District Leadership Forum met this week with the consultants who were commissioned by the Forum to undertake the study.

“The initial findings sadly confirm what was anticipated at the Water Summit, held in Tatura in October last year.

 

“Under the current Murray Darling Basin Plan, we may struggle to meet our environmental water commitment, possibly forcing further government buyback schemes, which our community cannot afford,” Ms Sheed said.

“It will come as no surprise to people in our region if many of the findings of the MDB A’s own socio-economic study in the northern regions of the Murray Darling Basin are replicated in our area. Local communities have been telling the MDBA for a long time that the impacts are, and will continue to be serious and the studies are now showing this to be the case,” Committee for Greater Shepparton Chair, and member of the Forum David McKenzie said.

The meeting was also attended by Murray Darling Association Executive Officer Emma Bradbury, who applauded the GMID study, as an “informative starting point” to galvanise Murray Darling Basin communities.

The GMID Water Leadership Forum will reconvene on September 28, where the complete draft report is expected to be tabled and adopted.

It will be released at a second Water Summit, to be held in late October.

 

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Sueanne McCumstie 0428 743 880│sueanne.mccumstie@parliament.vic.gov.au

 

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