Sharman Stone MP

Sharman Stone:                We want to make sure that funding is going to be accessible. It’s not going to be like climbing through the eye of the needle to try get it. One thing for sure Joseph,  is that we have no financial, emotional or physical resources left in most parts of our community right now, people who have just been hit with the floods after the drought. And we just have to get help there.

Joseph:                                Speaking of which we have a flood levy to pay for, so can we afford to extend EC assistance?

Sharman Stone:                Well they are only talking about this flood levee raising, what is it, about a couple of billion dollars? It rolls off the tongue doesn’t it? A couple of billion dollars. Lets instead of making that a levy, stop the buy back from the so called ‘willing sellers’ of water from the Murray Darling Basin Environmental Flow Program. Let’s put that back on the shelf, because who needs that right now. You have got about $5 billion sitting there for that. So there is some money that could be spent covering people from the floods. You also have a lot of other programs, the National Broadband Network to name one, which has $43 billion sitting there to be spent on it, heaven knows to what end at the end of the day. So there is a lot of spare cash floating around Joseph, we don’t need this levee nonsense which divides communities. Also it demeans and degrades the whole spirit of voluntary contribution.

Joseph:                                There has already been a lot of criticism of the Government for cutting back on the programs that they have cut back, cash for clunkers or other programs. There has been a lot of criticism for that so perhaps it’s a thing not have to cut things back.

Sharman Stone:                Well I don’t think anyone objects to cash for clunkers being cut back, because that was a very stupid program. As was unfortunately the pink batts. I mean imagine how many lives would have been saved, houses not burnt down; if we had of had a proper program of insulation not the billions spent on pink batts.

Joseph:                                But there appears to be money taken from Alternative Energy support for instance.

Sharman Stone:                Yes. The issue is which programs have they decided to crawl back on and I would argue that the program to do with decentralisation and helping rural cities was not one to touch. But that was at the top of their list to cut off . Lets be clever about that and say to them ‘ Lets stop the water buy back from so called ‘willing sellers’.

                We have already got the Murray Darling Basin Plan under severe criticism, re evaluation and re analysis. So it only makes sense therefore to stop the program which is part of that plan, the water buy back. That would give you billions of dollars and then of course you can go to the finishing off the building education revolution, give that money straight into pockets of the school councils to manage and you would probably save those billions as well.

 

Joseph:                                Just finally on the flood levy, how much of this flood levy are you expecting is going to be spent in the local area, Rochester, Echuca and surrounding areas?

Sharman Stone:                Pyramid Hill, Boort, Dingee, Mitiamo, you can go on and on. Look Joseph that worries me sick too. Remember when our Prime Minister announced this levy, she had a very long speech, carefully prepared. She did not mention Victoria once and at that very moment as she gave that speech we had farmers and households up to their necks in water.

So I am not sure how much of this levy Victoria or the southern states are going to see but we will have to make very sure that it is a fairly distributed amount of money, wherever it comes from. There is no doubt that our communities in Northern Victoria, our foodbowl of Australia, will take so much longer to recover. Some of our small businesses, and some of big businesses and farms will never recover, unless we have proper investment to  back our farmers to re-feed, re-stock and re-fence, and  our small businesses to re-carpet, fix their sodden air conditioning systems and so on. Our local councils with their bridges washed out and enormous road works program they will have to get stuck into again. Our little shires like Loddon, like Strathbogie they don’t have the big rates base like bigger shires and if they don’t get help then heaven help us.

Joseph :                               Ok we will wait and see what happens there and your call to extend EC  assistance. Sharman Stone, Thankyou.

Sharman Stone:                   My pleasure Joseph.