Mr J. BULL (Sunbury) (10:08:16) — I am pleased to have this opportunity, following my members statement, to rise and speak on the interim report of the inquiry into the sustainability and operational challenges of Victoria’s rural and regional councils. This report, which was tabled by me as the committee chair on 12 December 2017, is a report that I think certainly sets the foundation for the final report, which will be tabled by the end of March.

I would like to briefly take this opportunity to thank those members of Parliament who have participated in the committee process. I certainly thank the deputy chair, Mr Simon Ramsay in the other place, the member for Thomastown, the member for Mordialloc, the member for Polwarth, and Mr Luke O’Sullivan and Mr Daniel Young in the other place. It is important of course to thank those in the secretariat who play an important role in this committee work. I would like to acknowledge and put on the record thanks to Dr Chris Gribben, Annemarie Burt, Sarah Catherall and Kieran Crowe for their support right through the process in terms of getting this committee report tabled last year.

The report is an interim report, and therefore there is a whole lot more to come. But through this process of looking at the sustainability and operational challenges of our rural and regional councils a number of things were quite clear. The report identifies numerous processes via which those municipalities are operating, and there are certainly a number of differences between rural and regional councils and their city counterparts.

We looked at the state of Victoria’s regional councils as a starting point and the challenges that those councils face. But there are also those responsibilities that vary, and certainly as you move out into country areas — I know, Deputy Speaker, that you would be quite familiar with a number of these issues — which involve areas of large scale and a number of long roads, you see things like roadside weed and pest management. These are things that many of the metropolitan councils do not have to consider, but a number of these rural and regional councils are looking at and paying for a number of these programs. It is certainly worth noting that there are a number of impacts owing to recent changes, the way that councils are responding to these changes and of course the rating and review system.

We received 67 individual and organisational submissions, and the survey looked at what we consider to be 48 regional councils. Public hearings were undertaken in Melbourne, Traralgon, Wycheproof, Kerang, Shepparton, Bendigo and Colac, and the report provides an overview of some of the questions that were asked during those hearings. As I mentioned, we looked at 48 municipalities, and they were varied. I mentioned the variation or differentiation. Some had fewer than 3000 residents in the whole municipality, and the larger ones had over 230 000 residents. The municipalities varied in size from 13 square kilometres to over 22 000 square kilometres. That goes back to the geography and the size of those councils.

I want to take this opportunity to thank all those who submitted to the committee and attended public hearings. I believe some of the Parliament’s best work is captured through the committee process — something that does not receive enough media attention. While I was out in some of these wonderful rural and regional communities I experienced just how resilient, generous and warm country Victorians are. All those who presented to the committee were overwhelmingly constructive and wanted to see their communities grow and thrive. It is certainly heartening for a member of a peri-urban community such as Sunbury to go out to these communities and see some of the fantastic work that is being done. There is no doubt that there are challenges being faced, and the full report will identify a number of opportunities and recommendations that we can consider as a Parliament to improve the lives of some of the best people in the state.