Anne Webster (Mallee, National Party) Share this | Hansard source

The coalition government is supporting drought affected communities in my electorate of Mallee. I am delighted to be working with 12 local governments, including the Buloke Shire, to invest in recovery from drought—not that all those areas have drought. We know that it's not only farmers that do it tough in drought; communities also feel the strain as work dries up and spending in local stores and cafes slows down. On the weekend, I visited Birchip, a town dependent on dryland farming that surrounds the area. The region has suffered immensely through drought over recent years. However, the community bonds together to get through tough times, and one of the ways they do that is through sport. I was in the town to open the upgrades to the Birchip Recreation Reserve and leisure centre. The Birchip-Watchem Bulls had a day out on the redeveloped oval, beating the Charlton Blues by seven goals. And it was a close contest on the brand-new purple netball court, with Charlton getting over the line by four goals. I'm pleased that the Commonwealth government contributed $405,000 in funding to the Birchip sporting community. It's making a wonderful difference to the lives of thousands who travel from all over the district to compete. It's projects like these that support drought affected communities to recover, and our government is backing towns like Birchip to prosper in the future.

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