Andrew Broad (Mallee, National Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

The 90-second statements theme seems to be about leadership, and there's a reason for that. In the gallery today are people from the Northern Mallee Leaders and the Loddon Murray Community Leadership Program. You can tell which ones are from Mallee, because they're the good-looking ones! The leadership program is all about bringing people together. It's all about building their capacity. They've been in Canberra for a week. They've had exposure to the Australian War Memorial, exposure to the Australian Labor Party, exposure to the member for Indi as an independent and also exposure to the Greens. One thing I do want to make clear is that, currently, there is no forward funding for the leadership programs that are run in Victoria by the Victorian government, so it is due to expire shortly.

If there's one thing I want to drive home, it is: this is a really good program. The people who are testament to that are in this chamber. The Nationals and the Liberals in Victoria have committed to having this program funded, but Jaala Pulford, in the Australian Labor Party in Victoria, hasn't got any money. I ask the Victorian members of parliament who are here to put pressure on Jaala. It is a good program. Essentially, if we build capacity in people who live in regional areas, that builds growth, that builds prosperity and it builds community in regional areas. So we need to put the pressure on the state Labor government. They need to fund this. It's a great program. Thank you for being in the chamber here today.