Darren Chester (Gippsland, National Party) Share this | Hansard source

I rise to congratulate one of my constituents, Tim Bull, on his preselection for the Nationals as a candidate for the upcoming Victorian state election. Mr Bull is an outstanding choice of candidate, having been born and bred in the East Gippsland area. He was born in Metung, where the Bull family’s Bulls Cruisers is a famous local business, and Tim has lived the rest of his life in the Bairnsdale area, where he has been heavily involved in community and sporting organisations. In fact, he is a talented footballer and cricketer in his own right. He has been a very passionate advocate for regional communities.

Tim successfully led a community campaign to establish the East Gippsland Specialist School in the Bairnsdale area. It has made an enormous difference to young children with special needs and their families in that area. Tim is personally devoted and committed to improving services for children with disabilities in our region. He is already working hard for our community and wants to take the next step to provide strong representation in state parliament.

Tim is actually the principal petitioner on an issue which is very important to me and to the wider Gippsland region and which is gaining a great deal of support in the electorate. It relates to the Princes Highway east of Sale and the need for additional funding to upgrade the safety of that stretch of road. It is one of the worst stretches of highway in Victoria. In fact, there have been 28 fatalities in the past six years. More money is needed for safety upgrades, and the petition, which I will be tabling in the coming weeks, calls on the federal government to include the highway east of Sale in the national road network. I will be strongly supporting Tim’s petition and will continue to lobby the government in the months ahead. I look forward to working with Tim as part of a very strong team in the Gippsland community to represent the interests of our region in the future.

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