By Natasha Fujimoto
MATCHING the Prime Minister and Victorian Premier’s visits to flood-affected areas in Victoria earlier in the week, Federal Opposition Leader, Peter Dutton was joined by Federal Member for Nicholls Sam Birrell, state Liberal Member for Northern Victoria Wendy Lovell, National Party member and senator for Victoria Bridget McKenzie and Greater Shepparton City Council mayor, Cr Shane Sali at the McIntosh Flood Relief Centre on Thursday, October 20.
Against a backdrop of volunteers packing boxes of essentials for the flood impacted and ADF soldiers standing alongside impressive bushmasters, the squad of Federal, State and Local Government members offered words of support and praise for the Greater Shepparton Community and for its collective efforts in helping those in need.
Commending the volunteers of GV Cares, the SES and the Greater Shepparton City Council as well as several other support services in response to the devastating floods, Mr Dutton said,
“We stand shoulder-to-shoulder with the government, with every agency that is here, to make sure …we can help people turn the corner and get back to their lives, help in the clean-up, and help with the rebuilding.
“…there’s a big rebuild that’s required – the roads, and the infrastructure that will need to be replaced and …hardened against a future flooding event.”
On the ground from the get-go, Mr Birrell said,
“I want to explain to Canberra exactly what we are facing here, what people are going through and the level of support that we need.
“…We’re going to learn a lot from this and …we [will] have conversations about how we can manage infrastructure after that,” Mr Birrell said.
