General News
17 April, 2023
Minister hears community concerns
Federal Member for Mallee Dr Anne Webster stopped in at the Warrack Hot Bread bakery on Scott Street to see and listen to the concerns of the local community. Dr Webster heard from a number of local residents, who all thanked her for standing by...
Federal Member for Mallee Dr Anne Webster stopped in at the Warrack Hot Bread bakery on Scott Street to see and listen to the concerns of the local community.
Dr Webster heard from a number of local residents, who all thanked her for standing by them and being their voice in the Senate.
There was a common theme amongst those who spoke to Dr Webster: the closure of the town's Bendigo Bank Community Branch, the lack of aged care services, and the state of the roads.
Dr Webster said she really felt for the locals who were watching the decline in their services with no end in sight.
"It is so easy for those up in Canberra to make decisions based on what they see on paper," she said.
"But they have absolutely no idea what it is really like, out here, on the ground, with the people being affected by their decisions."
Dr Webster has encouraged those involved in the senate inquiry into the closure of rural banks to branch out to the Mallee communities, but said they have so far declined her invitation as they are confident in the information they have gathered in Gippsland and New South Wales.
A resident who came to speak to Dr Webster said he is currently struggling to find care for his ageing father and asked her for help finding a place for him in local aged care facilities, or at least finding some respite care for him and his wife.
Dr Webster said she had been made aware of 16 empty beds in a local facility which could not be used because of staff shortages, and that the nearest facility she could think of which could provide respite care was in Stawell - over 100 kilometres away.