State Member for Murray Plains Peter Walsh will settle for a sitting of the Victorian parliamentary inquiry into the 2022 flood disaster being held in Rochester if a proposed sitting of parliament in regional Victoria does not go ahead.
Mr Walsh said the Andrews Government’s decision to vote down a motion that would have brought both houses of parliament back to regional Victoria for the first time in more than a decade was a disgrace.
There is still a motion before the upper house to have a sitting of the Legislative Council in regional Victoria.
Mr Walsh said despite what he described as the latest example of the contempt in which Premier Daniel Andrews held regional Victoria, he would rather see the flood inquiry come to Rochester so devastated locals could confront the decision-makers face-to-face.
He said he wanted both, but the flood inquiry was still so raw in everyone’s mind and the politicians needed to see the full extent of the damage, which went way beyond the physical flooding.
“The toll on this community is far-reaching — it started with the floods, but it has stretched into the emotional, physical and financial ramifications, and they are all severe,” Mr Walsh said.
“You can never understand that, or help fix it, from behind a desk in Spring St; you have to get out there and see it first-hand.
“After battling devastating floods, border closures and lockdowns, regional Victorians deserve a government that respects them, not one that refuses to hear directly from them.”
Mr Andrews hasn’t held a regional sitting for both the Legislative Assembly and Legislative Council since coming into government in 2014.
The Legislative Council has previously held sittings in Ballarat, Benalla, Colac, Lakes Entrance, Bendigo and Bright.
Mr Walsh said by hearing directly from regional communities, MPs, particularly those representing metropolitan areas, gained a wider understanding to develop key policies and programs.
The Victorian Nationals’ leader said holding regular sittings away from Spring St provided an important opportunity for regional communities to bring the issues affecting their area to light, and for residents to learn more about the democratic process by seeing their parliament in action.
“That’s why we need both the parliament and the flood inquiry out here in the regional areas — we are Victorians too,” he said.