BETTER ACCESS NEEDED AT SEYMOUR STATION

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Independent Member for Shepparton District Suzanna Sheed has asked for the reinstatement of the station level walkway, between the car park and bus depot, and the platforms, at the Seymour Train Station.

It follows concerns raised by Shepparton District residents, who commute to Seymour to use the more regular train to Melbourne.

“The access to platforms at the Seymour station poses considerable difficulties for most people, but especially for those who are older, or who have a disability,” Ms Sheed said.

“Leaving the platform area requires you to walk down a long ramp, to a tunnel, where you must then walk up another set of steps or another very long ramp to the car park, or waiting buses.

“The distance is considerable and very onerous.  I have seen many people struggle to make the transfer,” she said.

Ms Sheed acknowledged a buggy service had been put in place to assist.

“The buggy service is available to those “in the know” who will book ahead – the walkway would be available to everyone and provide much greater convenience to the travelling public.

“I call on the Public Transport Minister to return the original walkway, at station level, which would much better serve members of our community,” Ms Sheed said.

 

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CHAMPION OF THE CODE NAMED

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Independent Member for Shepparton District Suzanna Sheed has commended Arthur Hobson for his dedicated voluntary work at the Shepparton Football Netball Club.

Mr Hobson has today been named the electorate’s Champion of the Code – an honour given to those “behind the scenes”.

“The award aims to highlight the work of the volunteers who spend countless hours at local football clubs, helping to promote the sport in the community,” Ms Sheed said.

As an award recipient, Mr Hobson has been invited to attend a Government House reception on AFL Grand Final Eve, hosted by the Governor of Victoria, the Honourable Linda Dessau.  That will end in time for Mr Hobson to get along to the Grand Final Parade.  He will also have full access to the AFL Grand Final Live Site.

Mr Hobson is among several Champions named across Victoria.

“Arthur does all he can to ensure the success of the senior and junior footballers, as well as the newly launched women’s side,” Ms Sheed said.

“It seems if he’s not at work, he’s at the Shepparton Football Club, seeing what else is needed in preparation for the next event, or cleaning up afterwards.

We are so fortunate to have volunteers of Arthur’s calibre in the electorate.  They are the lifeblood of so many organisations in our community and I commend our volunteers for the work they do,” Ms Sheed said.

COMMENTS FROM ARTHUR HOBSON:

What do the Shepparton Bears mean to you?

“They’re a home away from home, I guess, more than anything.

“Great people, and you know, fun to work with, and be around, and we’ve got so many things happening.

“We’ve entered a women’s team in the Open Age Competition this year, and I sort of championed that a little bit, I suppose.  As well as doing everything else around the place, those girls made a preliminary final in their first season.  Last night they got three of the girls in top ten of the best and fairest.  Seeing those sorts of things happening around you is you know, just continues to fuel the passion I suppose.

“I’ve been involved with, from a senior committee point of view, with the juniors since we merged with Notre Dame three years ago and that also is hugely rewarding.  We had just over 300 people in this room for their presentation night a couple of Fridays ago.  To see 300 people crammed into this room, all with maroon tops on and that is just, it was a sight to behold.

So all those sorts of things just add up to, you want to give a bit more.”

COMMENTS FROM GEOFF O’SULLIVAN

PRESIDENT SHEPPARTON BEARS FOOTBALL NETBALL CLUB:

“Arthur is one of the people that every club would love to have, and we’re very fortunate to have him here, with all his volunteer work.

“He does everything basically.

“At the moment, Arthur acts as our treasurer and also works with Chris “Tractor” Farrell, managing and running the bar, and yeah, many things on the junior committee as well as the senior committee, always here when events are happening, in charge of taking bookings and that sort of stuff for our social room activities, so he’s a man that wears many hats.

Hopefully we can relieve some of the work that he’s got to do, next year, with a few other volunteers putting their hands up.”

 

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OPPOSITION MUST BE OPEN TO COMMUNICATE

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Independent Member for Shepparton District Suzanna Sheed has called on the Opposition to be more open with its communication.

Ms Sheed is the sole Independent member of the 58th Victorian Parliament.

It comes after the Shadow Minister for Public Safety, Edward O’Donohue introduced two significant Bills into the Upper House recently – one being the Opposition’s carjacking bill, and the other dubbed “no body, no parole” bill.

“I call on Mr O’Donohue to take the time to brief me on such Bills, before they come into the Lower House, as a matter of courtesy not only to me, but the people of the Shepparton District I represent.

I think we can all do better than keeping the Independent member for Shepparton in the dark about proposed important legislation,” Ms Sheed said.

“While the government provides regular briefings on all bills to the crossbenchers in both houses of Parliament there have been a number of occasions when other upper house members have introduced bills but failed to provide any forewarning for briefing on those bills before they come to the Legislative Assembly. I am happy to work with all parties to achieve the best outcomes for my electorate.”

 

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TIME IS RIGHT FOR RAIL INVESTMENT

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Independent Member for Shepparton District Suzanna Sheed is calling for immediate investment in Shepparton’s rail network needs, following the announcement yesterday of the sale of the Port of Melbourne.

The lease is valued at more than $9.7bill, with the Andrews Labor Government stating more than $970mill will be invested in regional and rural infrastructure projects, as a result.

 “Now is the opportune time for a major investment in Shepparton’s rail needs.

“We need our line upgraded, and bring Shepparton to the same standard as our regional counterparts.

We will then have the capacity for eight daily return services to Melbourne,” Ms Sheed said.

“Shepparton has been treated as the poor relation for far too long, and each year we fall further behind Bendigo, Ballarat and Geelong,” she said.

At the 2011 Census, Seymour had a population of 6,360.

At the same time, the City of Greater Shepparton alone had 60,449, and Ms Sheed said there are many people beyond the council border who travel to Shepparton to use the train service.

“Hume needs a regional centre for its rail service.  That centre should be Shepparton.

With these extra funds from the Port of Melbourne sale, it’s time to make this a reality,” Ms Sheed said.

 

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EARLY INTERVENTION, MORE POLICE NEEDED TO CURB CRIME

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Independent Member for Shepparton District Suzanna Sheed has supported the Crimes Legislation Amendment (Carjacking and Home Invasion) Bill 2016 in Parliament. The legislation creates offences for carjacking and home invasion and increases penalties in a range of circumstances.

Speaking in support of the Bill she used the debate to highlight the desperate need to invest in early childhood programs.

“For some years the Greater Shepparton municipality, which is within my electorate, has been second only to the Latrobe municipality in its rate of crime per capita in regional Victoria,” Ms Sheed said.

“In the 12 months to March this year Greater Shepparton recorded 7868 offences. The rate is sadly climbing everywhere across the state except in the shires of Whitehorse and South Gippsland, according to the latest results released by the Crime Statistics Agency.

“Increased youth crime is certainly an issue within our communities.

“An October 2015 Jesuit Social Services report, An escalating problem: Responding to the increased remand of children in Victoria, states that in 2014–15 there was a 57 per cent increase in the number of children admitted to remand — from 112 to 176 — following the introduction of bail reforms.

“We have to ask ourselves as a society whether remand, youth detention and ultimately gaol is the answer we want for young people who are offending.

“We must have a vision for the future for those children who are very young now but who are very much at risk of being the next generation of offenders,” Ms Sheed said.

“Surely these incidents show that if we addressed family dysfunction and childhood trauma at an early age, we would be redirecting so many young people away from lives of criminal behaviour and detention.”

Ms Sheed highlighted the work of Shepparton’s Neighbourhood Safer Schools program.

“This initiative is connecting children to paediatric and other services through their schools and finding success through a form of trauma play therapy. At least 60 per cent of the children who have been assessed to date have shown significant developmental and behavioural problems associated with early childhood trauma. This trauma may be associated with family violence, refugee experiences or foetal alcohol syndrome,” she said.

However, Ms Sheed said there is also a need for more police on the ground in the Shepparton District electorate.

“A stronger police presence on our streets is required, but we also need to know we can call on police at our stations when required. The two-up rule has had a major impact on our regional stations and police services generally. There are stations left unattended for long hours.

We have a right to feel safe in our communities, whether it is walking through a shopping district, driving down the street or being in our own homes,” she said.

 

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BIRTHS, DEATHS, MARRIAGES BILL CHANGES SUPPORTED

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Independent Member for Shepparton District Suzanna Sheed has supported the Births, Deaths and Marriages Registration Amendments Bill before Parliament this week, describing it as a “difficult” Bill, raising a complex issue.

The Bill amends the Births, Deaths and Marriages Registration Act of 1996 to enable transgender, gender diverse and intersex adults and children to alter the record of sex in their Victorian birth certificate, without having to undergo sex affirmation surgery.

They also will no longer have to be unmarried at the time.

Ms Sheed said it follows the lead of many amendments, which reflect social and cultural changes, including that of the Family Law Act.

“The inclusion of de facto relationships, and ultimately same-sex relationships falling within the jurisdiction of the Family Court were very significant changes, reflecting changes within the wider society,” Ms Sheed said.

In voting in favour of the Bill, Ms Sheed reflected on media coverage in mid-July, which celebrated Shepparton for its acceptance of transgender teenagers.

“These articles highlighted how supported these teenagers felt in the community.  They said they felt comfortable to be themselves, and LGBT support groups in the region have had a shift from being predominantly gay and lesbian, to having significant number of transgender youth,” Ms Sheed said.

In preparing to speak on the Bill Ms Sheed also spoke with Royal Children’s Hospital gender service team specialist Dr Michelle Telfer.

“She has seen hundreds of young people in her practice, and reiterated how important it is for young people to have their identity acknowledged as being valid and legitimate,” Ms Sheed said.

“When new laws are passed, there are always issues raised about what may arise as a detrimental impact from that law, but we have been moving in a direction of acceptance of diverse gender identities for some time.

“There have been some possible impacts raised in relation to this legislation, particularly arising from the apparent ease with which a nomination of gender can be made, and later changed.

“It can’t be denied that there may be some adverse impacts, and that amending legislation may be required in the future to deal with them.

“In considering this legislation, I reflect on how I would feel to be a mother of young transgender person.

“For so many parents, there must be some pain and grief associated with knowing the difficulties your child will face as a transgender person.

“Acceptance of the circumstances you are faced with as a parent, and the desire, more than anything, for your child to be accepted for who they are, and to not suffer because of who they are, will be a dominating factor,” Ms Sheed said.

 

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RENEWED GV HIGHWAY BYPASS PUSH

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Independent Member for Shepparton District Suzanna Sheed has invited Minister for Roads and Road Safety Luke Donnellan to visit the electorate, in a renewed push for the Goulburn Valley Highway bypass.

“This is a priority project for my electorate,” Ms Sheed said.

“It is listed as a priority by the Greater Shepparton City Council, by lobby groups and by the Committee for Greater Shepparton. It is listed as a priority by the RACV, which has consistently put up the project to both State and Federal Governments as one of its election wishes,” she said.

An assessment of the economic benefits of the bypass was recently commissioned by the Council, and completed by Essential Economics Pty Ltd.

It showed Stage 1 alone would increase the regional economic output by $465mill and create more than 2500 jobs.

“The Goulburn Valley Highway is a national corridor serving major freight links to the Port of Melbourne.

Around 25 per cent of all the trucks registered in Victoria are from the Goulburn Valley, and a quarter of the value of the state’s agricultural produce comes from the region,” Ms Sheed said.

Meanwhile, she said the Doyles Road bypass around the CBD was unsustainable into the future, highlighting it as a “single-lane, rural road”.

“There are significant road safety aspects to take into account,” Ms Sheed said.

“The Australian Road Assessment Program rated most of the current Goulburn Valley Highway at three stars and sections of it as low as two, putting it among the worst roads in the state.

“We need safer roads. We need better infrastructure.

“Shepparton has done everything asked of it to get the funding for the bypass.

“We have been told the entire project is too big, so the community went back to the drawing board and broke it down into more manageable chunks. Still we wait.

“My electorate needs the Government to support the first stage of the bypass, for which it has been lobbying for more than 20 years,” Ms Sheed said.

 

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TRANSPORT ON THE AGENDA

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Independent Member for Shepparton District Suzanna Sheed says metropolitan media missed the mark, in the lead up to the launch of the Rail Futures report.

“The media focussed entirely on what this report means for metropolitan Melbourne, when at the launch, it was made abundantly clear, that this is a report for regional areas,” Ms Sheed said.

“In launching the report, former deputy Prime Minister Tim Fischer spoke about the need to create a rail link to the Melbourne airport.

“However, he said, that need is secondary, to upgrading the services to regional areas.

“Those involved in creating the report highlighted the need to promote living in regional areas, and the ability to do so, through a more efficient public transport network,” Ms Sheed said.

“The report confirms much of what the All Aboard committee has been pushing since its inception – more, faster, and better services.

 “It talks about the need to upgrade the Shepparton-Seymour line to a V/Locity capability, and the need for a passing loop at Murchison.

“It also specifically names Shepparton as the “poor relation”, and how this should no longer be the case, proposing rolling stock and infrastructure improvements as part of Phase 1 of the investment program,” Ms Sheed said.

“It states Shepparton should have eight daily services to Melbourne.

“With upgrades, we should be aiming for 10 daily services.

 “The City is growing, and has the potential for much more growth with a more efficient public transport system.

“La Trobe University is adding more courses to its curriculum as is GoTafe.  With that, we have the potential to attract more students to our region.

“Hopefully the construction of the new Shepparton Art Museum will start soon, with the Federal funding election commitment we had all been waiting on, made by Damian Drum during his campaign.

“The development of the new courthouse is also, well underway and the redevelopment of Goulburn Valley Health is already in the project design phase.

“But we need to have the network to support these fantastic education, tourism and employment opportunities.

“Better public transport creates a two-way street. 

“It not only paves the way for growth in Shepparton, but creates an avenue for Shepparton district residents to better access the city facilities and entertainment.

That access makes regional living much more attractive,” Ms Sheed said.

“I believe this report will help further our All Aboard campaign, and I welcome its release.”

Ms Sheed said the Rail Futures Report will be discussed further at the next All Aboard committee meeting.

 

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NATIONAL DOMESTIC VIOLENCE BILL INTRODUCED

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Independent Member for Shepparton District Suzanna Sheed has thrown her support behind the National Domestic Violence Order Scheme Bill 2016.

The Bill will ensure any Domestic Violence Order (DVO) will be automatically recognised and enforced Australia-wide.

Ms Sheed said this is a very important part of the reform of family violence that has been going on for some time.

 “The Royal Commission into Family Violence has been welcome, and many proposals within the recommendations will lead to a streamlining of the court processes around the obtaining of family violence orders,” she said.

With a background in family law, Ms Sheed said she recognised the importance of such a piece of national Legislation, as the need to manually register an intervention order had been a long-standing issue.

“This will now mean that the order is registered in one place and effectively covers the whole of the country.

“It also means that if you want to vary or extend or change an intervention order in some way you can do it in the place in which you are living.

You will be able to go to your local court in the place where you now live, your intervention order will be registered in that place, and you can seek to have the proceedings dealt with locally where you live,” Ms Sheed said.

The legislation also provides for weapons and firearms to be treated in a similar way across the country.

Ms Sheed recently visited Primary Care Connect in Shepparton.

 “With links such as the Goulburn Valley Family Violence Prevention Network, the staff at Primary Care Connect is building a much-needed support network for victims in the area and I’m so impressed with the work they are doing,” Ms Sheed said.

“Meanwhile, the Government is opening a series of affordable housing in the Shepparton District electorate.

“This is another welcome development, recognising a need identified in the Royal Commission, while also impacting on the huge waiting lists in our community,” Ms Sheed said.

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EXTRA SHEPPARTON TRAIN SERVICE PROGRESS

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Independent Member for Shepparton District Suzanna Sheed has met with Public Transport Victoria representatives this week, to discuss the extra Shepparton – Melbourne service, promised in the 2016/2017 Victorian Budget following the release of the Regional Network Development Plan.

It follows a recent meeting of the All Aboard group in Shepparton, where it was decided to ask PTV to assist with consultation to find out people’s timetable preferences for the new service.

“PTV has said it will hold a consultation session at the Shepparton train station in coming weeks.

I would urge residents to keep an eye out for the date, and make sure you have your say on what time you would like the extra weekday and weekend service,” Ms Sheed said.

It comes as Ms Sheed further highlights the electorate’s public transport woes, as a Bill amendment is introduced in Parliament this week, to provide better access to Melbourne’s Olympic Parks complex.

“The complex has some incredible facilities.

“It includes Rod Laver Arena, AAMI Park, Hisense Arena and Margaret Court Arena, and if you look at the events it’s hosting – concerts, sporting events, children’s events, events for the families.

“Regional people love to access what Melbourne has to offer, and certainly those in my electorate would love better access.

“Our wider catchment is equal to that of Bendigo, so why are we being left behind when it comes to rail investment?” Ms Sheed said.

“Our All Aboard campaign is asking for investment in infrastructure at Murchison to allow trains to pass.

“We need stabling and security work at the Shepparton Station to allow for the dewatering of trains.

“We need a Protective Services Office at Seymour to ensure the safety of our commuters.

“And Shepparton remains the only major regional centre that lacks the infrastructure to allow for V/Locity trains, which travel at 160km/h,” she said.

“I am confident that when the government invests in these changes, the Shepparton district community will use the train more.

Our city will benefit through increased business, tourism and community well-being, because better public transport facilities will create a two-way opportunity for city and country people to share the best of what they each have,” Ms Sheed said.

 

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