July 2018

Dear Community Member,

Thank you for your ongoing interest in the Wimmera Southern Mallee (WSM) Regional Partnership and in our 2018 Regional Assembly which took place in Stawell on 30 May 2018.

We had over 200 people attend the 2018 Regional Assembly and it is important that we keep you up to date with developments and our work.

With that in mind, I am taking this opportunity to write to you as Chair of the WSM Regional Partnership.

The 2018 WSM Regional Assembly was the Partnership’s third major opportunity to consult with the community.

In addition to local residents, businesses and organisation representatives, the Assembly was attended by five Victorian Government Ministers: the Minister for Agriculture and Regional Development Jaala Pulford; Special Minister of State Gavin Jennings; Minister for Local Government, Consumer Affairs, Gaming and Liquor Regulation Marlene Kairouz; Minister for Aboriginal Affairs, Women and Prevention of Family Violence Natalie Hutchins; Minister for Roads, Road Safety and Ports Luke Donnellan and Parliamentary Secretary for Regional Victoria Danielle Green.

The Assembly provided the WSM Regional Partnership an opportunity to present a brief summary of some of its achievements over the past eight months since our last Assembly, and for discussions on the Better Coordination of Regional Planning, Energy, Integrated Service Delivery and Improving Educational Outcomes.

Read more about the Assembly here.

As part of the Assembly, we screened a video about some of the Partnership's priorities and achievements over the past year. You can view the video here.

As a Partnership, our role is now to take the messages and ideas from our 2018 Assembly and action them. We will present on our 2018 Priorities to the Rural and Regional Ministerial Committee later this month.

Last year, we spoke to that Committee about our region’s needs and we are pleased to say that in this year’s Budget in May, the following funding was announced:

• More than $941 million for better regional roads across the state, including:
  • $333 for million regional road restoration
  • $261 million for road upgrades in regional Victoria
  • $229 million for Continuing Towards Zero, providing safety upgrades to our regional road network
  • $100 million for grants to rural councils to undertake local road remediation projects
  • $17.4 million to establish Regional Roads Victoria
• ​$1.3 million towards family violence crisis accommodation across the region
• $20 million for rural council transformation, a grants program to help rural councils across Victoria improve their financial viability
• A share of $11 million for the Victorian Mobile Project Round 4, building on the Government’s existing commitment to remove mobile black spots in regional Victoria
• $0.5 million for priority projects identified in the 10-year strategy for cycling infrastructure across the Grampians region
• $578,000 to deliver a new agriculture skills and training program in a new partnership between Birchip Cropping, Longerenong College, Melbourne and Federation Universities and
• A share of $33.9 million to build, expand and improve early years infrastructure across Victoria.

Though our 2018 Assembly is now behind us, the Partnership is very keen to continue the consultation process and the ongoing engagement with the community.

We will of course also keep you abreast of announcements relevant to our region, via our website, email and on our Partnership Facebook page. 

Again, thank you for giving your time and insight, whether by attending the Assembly, a Deep Dive workshop, a Project Working group or being active on the Engage page.

Your views are valuable and this process means our region has a direct line into Government.

We look forward to keeping the conversation going.

David Jochinke
Chair
Wimmera Southern Mallee Regional Partnership