Damian Drum (Murray, National Party, Assistant Minister to the Deputy Prime Minister) Share this | Hansard source

When I first stood for the seat of Murray I came up with a saying to explain what it meant to represent the area where I grew up. That saying was: 'I'm proud. I'm proud to come from Congupna, proud to have gone to school in Shepparton and proud to have called the Goulburn Valley my home.' Today I'm joined in this parliament by the Committee for Greater Shepparton. I've been joined by Sam Birrell, the CEO, and the chair, Rob Priestly. I've been joined by the mayor of Shepparton, Kim O'Keeffe, and also the CEO, Peter Harriott. I've been joined by professors of universities and TAFEs, Indigenous leaders, agriculture leaders, food processors, business leaders and, of course, the wonderful Lisa McKenzie, with her Lighthouse project. We've been fortunate to have a string of ministers who have made themselves available, including the Prime Minister, to talk to these leaders from Shepparton and to listen to the needs of this great regional city.

The Committee for Greater Shepparton is, of course, advocating for a fairer allocation of train services, having been frozen out of the state Labor Party's train services spend. Shepparton has 3½ services a day; Bendigo has over 20. We have projects with freight benefits, both road and rail. We have sporting precincts to build. We have regional centres for excellence and we have universities and health developments that need to be built. We'll take this city to another level.

All the ministers who have left these meetings know that the investments in Shepparton are going to make sure that they produce amazing benefits for these amazing people of the Goulburn Valley. I need to thank my staff for making sure that today has been such a success.

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