I am very pleased to add the job of Shadow Minister for Local Government to my responsibilities.
I have served in local government and know better than most its strengths and weaknesses.
At its best, local government builds a sense of community and provides basic but important services and does them well. At its worst, local government is a magnet for empire builders who think they’ve been elected to the United Nations.
I believe if local government councillors want to play with federal political issues they should run for Federal Parliament and leave community issues to those that are genuinely passionate about their community.
I look forward to working with Matthew Guy who as Leader of the Opposition has also taken on the important job of Shadow Minister for Population.
We are working on a plan to manage Victoria’s population growth of over 100,000 people every year. It’s a plan that will grow jobs around the state, including an ambitious construction and infrastructure program that will improve the connectivity between cities and towns to help decentralise our population.
Local government has an exciting and important role to play in decentralising Victoria’s population.