Regional towns ‘paying the price’ for Victorian government’s decisions

Nationals’ Member for Mildura Jade Benham says the Labor government in Victoria “can’t manage” the money or the health system.
Ms Benham told Sky News host Andrew Bolt that people in regional towns are “paying the price” for the government’s decisions.
“People are angry; they have had enough.”

[@rachaelcourtnell7275]

The insulting irony, labor can't balance it's budgets but expects hospitals to do so.

[@georgekordis4268]

Useless government along with Useless voters?...

[@turnyourbacktoit]

Do not start me on hospitals... I folded my business & started a job with the stated recently. There is not enough funding to buy a lightbulb in regional nsw.

[@kevinwong3722]

DAN has stuffed Victoria. Good on YA DAN

[@lesleyweber4585]

She’s no better than Dan just hopeless but that’s what Victorians voted for,reap what you soe .You vote labour this is what you get.

[@stevelozevski8151]

​@@lesleyweber4585I didn't vote Labor and still got them. Actually 63% of Victorians didn't vote for Labor and still got them

[@jaskirchner]

​@@lesleyweber4585 you have to remember in this country it's not first past the post that gets into power. If it was no Labour government wouldn't have got in to power. Learn how the political system works in Australia. I would suggest you cut your administration cost before you cut your money making department. The urban rail loop should not even been on the books.

[@81carrerasc]

@@jaskirchner Labor have borrowed massively from Chinese lenders to build projects to be filled with CMFEU workers ........ to harvest votes. Just like Biden has let in tens of millions of illegal immigrants to vote harvest. Socialism 101.

[@peterschaefer2946]

no victorians stuffed it buy voting for dan

[@hanrol1]

yeh looks like windmills are more important than peoples health services

[@181stTIE]

Victoria is not broke, it is bankrupt... financially and morally.

[@Rexhunterj]

SO much so I left years ago, to get away from my psycho family down there and to escape the shitty culture and societal issues, looks like those things are everywhere though, starting in cities and spreading out like a rot. Glad I left the city too.

[@wayneparkes1350]

People kept voting for Labor. This is what you get.

[@miraivas6203]

We have uniparty. All big 4 have other priorities than health and education.

[@Elephantsss]

@@miraivas6203 what big 4 ?

[@miraivas6203]

@@Elephantsss Labor, Liberals, Greens, Nationals

[@BlackStump172]

@@miraivas6203You are wrong about the Nationals , who do not have the numbers in the Coalition

[@miraivas6203]

@@BlackStump172 Historically they all belong to the "big 4." Whether 4, 3 or 2 - their differences are superficial.

[@alanw8552]

Victoria is a mess. Since when are trains more important than medical care.

[@andrewinnes3386]

Since the unions have been allowed to run the state.

[@georgekordis4268]

​@andrewinnes3386 union in conjunction with labor one pocket feeds the other...

[@iankearns774]

Since Dan Andrews never got a train set when he was a kid.

[@daniellebcooper7160]

...when the building unions says they are.

[@tonybloomfield5635]

This is not just a Mildura/Mallee problem. I live in a Victorian town with a much smaller, yet equally important hospital where the Allan Government has just slashed our local hospital budget by about 30%. Not only does this impact disastrously on health services but also on employment and the general economic health of our town. This is happening right across the state and they intend to create regional health *_management_* groups and remove effective semi-autonomous management of local hospitals across the states' regions. This is clearly code for closures of hospitals and concentration of already poor and lacking services to areas far from where they are needed. This is just the tip of the iceberg as far as the long-term plans for the destruction of regional Victoria by this cash strapped wasteful government. Victoria is paying somewhere in the ballpark of $26M each and every day in interest alone. But hey, we have traffic controllers making $200K+. My fellow Victorians just keep voting them back in. Go Figure!

[@81carrerasc]

All the Stalanist Socialists living in inner city Melbourne couldn't give a flying duck about country Victoria. Horsham Hospital was FORCED to amalgamate with Ballarat Hospital under the threat of losing funding. Horsham residents raised many hundreds of thousands of dollars for decades for their hospital and it was stripped from under them. This is going on everywhere in Victoria ALL DOWN TO LABOR ,,,,,,,,, Dan Andrews should be jailed.

[@culturekingsboy6555]

My son made 550k last year as a labourer at the new loop tunnel system up west. It is ridiculous haha

[@Rexhunterj]

Remember when danger is only seconds from happening, a cop is just 20 minutes away... Wait wrong service, guess it applies to EMTs and Medical in general.

[@rissole7229]

Surprise, surprise, surprise........labor has stuffed Queensland in exactly the same way.

[@dlbeck2023]

Yep. I have daughters in remote hospitals who have to fight bean counters to just get staples. Meanwhile same bean counters are paid exorbitant wages.

[@MsSheila54]

At last Australia news. Thank you. I am sick of US news.

[@timcoller177]

Regional Victorian will have no hope now that Jacinta Allan has lost her CFMEU funding

[@Russell-c9s]

THE POOR DOCTORS THE HOSPITALS LABOR COULDN'T BUDGET A SHIT HOUSE.

[@georgekordis4268]

Except when it comes to filling their pockets?

[@alexzannoni1501]

Labor has turned Victoria into a bog standard shithouse

[@306champion]

Well put.

[@MeredithBell-v3f]

CFMEU Vic and south Australia in receivership. How's Labor going to buy votes now 😂😂😂

[@markwaters4582]

They,re not. It's a tax dodge for renaming next year. Just watch.

[@wyattfamily8997]

Borrow, borrow, borrow.

[@andrewbishop869]

they could give up on the first nations stuff and fund this hospital feels like money better spent to support the community out there

[@birgittabirgersdatter8082]

Strangely enough, that would also benefit the indigenous people.

[@raykoschel625]

Labor has to go and never get back in power

[@PsychicIsaacs]

Jacinta Allen "There's no money!" Also Jacinta Allen "I have my Palatial McMansion and Screw You!"

[@wyattfamily8997]

And the highest paid politicians in Australia

[@davidbarclay4788]

how do you go from the most livable place in the world! to this .

[@davidgumley8017]

Vote Labor. Simples!🤪

[@iof1]

Labor, Dan Andrews and his unelected stand in

[@buildmotosykletist1987]

@@iof1 : Bikie boss, John Setka's mate Dan Andrews has destroyed Victoria.

[@Elephantsss]

Vote labor

[@Rexhunterj]

30 years of muppets voting like muppets. Mandatory voting is a mistake.

[@MsSheila54]

When I was growing up on a cattle station in North Queensland, at least we had the RFDS (Royal Flying Doctor Service) for emergencies. I had my appendix removed in our shed. Everything went well. I felt a lot safer as now.

[@georgekordis4268]

Yes in Victoria it's LFES (Labor fd everything services)

[@Jhchah2492]

Rfds something that should never stop and always be funded

[@ianbusby1310]

Life under Labor.

[@marksmart9754]

The whole of Victoria is paying for her decisions. She lives the high life while we suffer. That ivory tower she lives in is so high she doesn’t even see the clouds.

[@alistairgrant9705]

Well said

[@annea6288]

Unbelievable...what about oncology services? Cardiac care? In this day and age when cancer cases and excess deaths are going over the roof??? How can they shut up an ED in a major regionale city???

[@81carrerasc]

All the Stalanist Socialists living in inner city Melbourne couldn't give a flying duck about country Victoria. Horsham Hospital was FORCED to amalgamate with Ballarat Hospital under the threat of losing funding. Horsham residents raised many hundreds of thousands of dollars for decades for their hospital and it was stripped from under them. This is going on everywhere in Victoria ALL DOWN TO LABOR ,,,,,,,,, Dan Andrews should be jailed.

[@Rexhunterj]

You are the carbon they wanted to reduce. Australia produces 1% of the worlds carbon, yet we have carbon tax. What carbon are they really reducing?

[@jimmyriddle5246]

Because they DON'T GIVE A F*CK ABOUT YOU

[@annea6288]

@@jimmyriddle5246 obviously

[@stevep9041]

But, but we have some very expensive tunnels to build!

[@georgekordis4268]

Yes so expensive and incompetent property taxes are going through the roof?

[@Elephantsss]

With the toxic waste from the tunnels dumped in the Western suburbs Bulla and Bacchus Marsh

[@davepowelldrumz]

toll tunnels.

[@darrenashley126]

I live in a small town in SW Vic, Colac, Camperdown, Cobden, and Terang to name a few do not have Doctors on duty in hospitals. What happened to duty of care? I'm an ex-nurse.

[@brucewoods9377]

That’s an over spending and reckless LABOR Govt. for you

[@mikldude9376]

That is just disgraceful, sadly it's not just regional towns , even in the city , hospitals that are under stress , over worked and under resourced are being asked to cut costs, tha Ambo's over worked and under resourced. Even out in northern territory , I read in a truck news site the other day , a trucky had a medical situation out in the woop woop , his partner in very early hours of the morning rang emergency services , guess what , no one came ! The driver had to suck it up and drive to the city. Too bad if he was having a bad stroke or something. This is not the Australia I grew up in .

[@jeffsmart7674]

Albo needs to sort this out immediately

[@larstorders9695]

Albo said, in September 2023, Mr Andrews has made “such a positive difference to the lives of Victorians”. “You can measure his contribution through nine years, three election victories, the last one with an increased majority,” he said. "But what you can really measure it on is the fact that he is a builder, he has built enormous infrastructure benefits for Victoria. "He has rebuilt a health system, a passion of his from his time as health minister and indeed during the pandemic as well.” Albanese has cheered on the destruction of Victoria, so I can't see him sorting anything out.

[@georgekordis4268]

​@larstorders9695 all this could've been done responsibly without the need to bring the state to its knees but labor is great at spending other people's money and couldn't manage its way out of a brown paper bag unless filled with cash?

[@wyattfamily8997]

Hahahahahaha, yeah right, hahahahahaha.

[@jimmyriddle5246]

You're kidding, right ?

[@jeromy2653]

Albo could not sort a tin of assorted biscuits!

[@karendarrenmclaren]

Meanwhile corporations that extract resources pay almost no taxes... Weird coincidence 🤔

[@RichardCummins-ni4em]

Simplistic f3ckwit.

[@kevinmoor6408]

And Victorians keep voting for jugears and his acolyte.

[@stevelozevski8151]

Which Victorians?

[@georgekordis4268]

​@stevelozevski8151 the inner city Nimrods?

[@Rexhunterj]

@@georgekordis4268 Its the city slickers, always them. in Brisbane they are green-brained and in Melbourne they are red-brained. Seeing the result of evolution culminate in "My red team is better than your blue team" is really disheartening. Aussies take NRL/AFL far too literally.

[@8101nevermind]

Yet Vic gov can afford a new Minister for Mens behaviour.

[@larstorders9695]

Come on, anyone working and paying taxes in Victoria just needs to knuckle down and work harder to support the bloated government and welfare sector. I'm sure if the Parliamentary Secretary for Men's Behaviour Change, The Minister for Women, The Gender Equality Commissioner and of course the Minister for Treaty and First Peoples get their heads together and go on some junket to Asia somewhere and sit down and smoke the pipe of peace with their Union comrades, they should be able to double Victoria's debt within the next eighteen months or so.

[@BigGen222]

😁

[@Jhchah2492]

😁 👌

[@rob6543]

Don’t forget to thank Daniel Andrews also or have you all forgotten

[@Jhchah2492]

Allen's no better just the female version of Dan

[@rob6543]

@@Jhchah2492hear hear

[@mudbutton2]

Blame the Labor voters. Bendigo? That joint is flat out and short staffed too. Ambo's are short staffed and ineffective like the other diversity and equity weakened emergency services under Labor.

[@BigGen222]

This is what you get when the Minister has qualifications in industrial relations and public policy and used to work in a bank. Not a sniff of any medical or nursing background. It's about time that Ministers are assigned portfolios that they are qualified in.

[@georgekordis4268]

Like malaka Dan who tried running a state on an arts degree that took six years to complete.

[@BigGen222]

@@georgekordis4268 and never held an actual job outside politics. Malaka.

[@georgekordis4268]

@@BigGen222 I thought he had landed a job touching his toes with his mate albo at the mardigras?

[@Ernst12]

To me it seems that right now hospitals just have to wait until CO2 emission and climate change can be combatted, the big build in Melbourne with cost blowouts as well as the housing crisis from migration demands. There is also some funding for the treaty and restitution money. It seems that these types of expenses are taking priority.

[@georgekordis4268]

As well as the side kick backs for undisclosed amounts?..

[@Russell-c9s]

THIS VICTORIAN GOVERNMENT IS CURSED THEY CAN THEIR PAY MORE TAXES WHERE THE SUN DOESN'T SHINE.

[@Slater-rh1qr]

This is wrong! Government should be doing everything to keep up funding and keep them open.

[@turnyourbacktoit]

Not just Victoria ! Regional NSW has been neglected at the expense of our city counterparts for decades. This IS NOT news sir !

[@weaselfarmer000]

In light of recent events it looks as though the average hard working honest person is the village idiot ..everyone else is grifting, gouging and scamming ...

[@Jhchah2492]

Well put

[@gardenwaster]

Please stop the " Big Build ".

[@oddball3675]

In Victoria's land, the tale unfolds, Of mismanaged funds and stories untold, Jade Benham speaks with fervent fire, Of a government’s faults, dire and dire. Labor’s hand, it cannot steer, Through health’s vast sea, or finance clear, In regional towns, the cries are loud, As anger rises from the crowd. “They can't manage,” Benham cries, “Money wasted, health system’s lies,” For in the rural, where hopes reside, Despair now shadows far and wide. Communities pay the heavy price, Of promises broken, and poor advice, The government’s choices, rash and cold, Leave hearts in pain, and dreams on hold. People’s patience, worn so thin, Their trust eroded, their voices in din, For in the heart of Mildura’s ground, A chorus of discontent is found. “Enough!” they shout, with voices clear, Of failed governance, they no longer cheer, For Labor’s path has led astray, Leaving regions in disarray. Hospitals struggle, in dire need, While funds are squandered, without heed, Benham’s words, a clarion call, To rise against this bitter thrall. In fields and towns, the anger grows, Against a government that only shows, A lack of care, a blind eye turned, While people’s pleas are harshly spurned. Victoria’s Labor, now exposed, For mismanagement, their flaws enclosed, May they heed the cry from Mildura’s lands, And mend the future with wiser hands. OddBall

[@cornernote]

What did they do to the people blocking roads to hospital? Seems government can close the hospital and no consequences

[@YvonneCrean]

But she gave herself a payrise. Gotta get priorities right!!

[@alancotterell9207]

Outside of 80 Km of every Australian capitol city, the farmers operate the feudal system. They have the worst health and safety record of any industrial sector. 'Privatise the profits and socialise the costs' ?

[@bubble8829]

Some of us saw this coming during all those eye-wateringly expensive and wasteful lockdowns.

[@troycassidy6177]

As a Gippslander I'd prefer to be a part of NSW than Victoria. All the Boarder regions probably would be better off joining NSW or SA

[@johncorlett3699]

it's all about the cities, as usual

[@jennyabel7231]

And Dan Andrews got an award for that

[@peterguertler2752]

Labor pay rises are approved don't worry about the people they are supposed to work for.

[@gregtanner1444]

What has the Victorian done with all of the money it has borrowed ?

[@KingsleyThomson-j1w]

You wouldn't let Jacinta Allan and her government run the school tuk shop let alone the state of Victoria,,the financial hangover from Dan Andrews!!😢

[@dlbeck2023]

Queensland is the same. Maternity care is the same where mothers leave home weeks before birth.

[@DTGTDetectingTheGoldenTriangle]

Echuca hospital is closer than Bendigo

[@michellesgarden5695]

If you listen very carefully to what Jerome Powell had to say...the US is covering up the fact the recession has likely slipped into Depression....and our country will be in exactly the same thing. And yes...a number of economists over there are talking about it

[@oldtimers6460]

Victoria keeps voting them back in.

[@MargaretCampbell583]

I agree

[@peternut358]

How is Allan a leader of a state 🤮 Get an Arts Degree with an ATAR score of 87 and you too can oversee the bankrupting of a state. How has Victoria come to this with our kids future being flushed down the toilet. We need a Royal Commission into the Big Build and follow the money.

[@mariomoleta1545]

Palas with his crystal ball economics and psychic accounting practices 😮😮😮😮😮

[@georgekordis4268]

Big malaka like Dan.

[@robertgraham5709]

Disgraceful 💯

[@Kelly-oe8kr]

Labor can't manage billions of dollars, spend outrageous amounts of money on a football team in another country instead of paying their own bills (addressing the homeless epidemic and cost of living crisis) but thinks Centrelink recipients need to have their income managed for them based on where they live or the colour of their skin. Do away with politicians and put a pensioner in charge, watch those who know the value of a dollar turn this country around

[@davidrawles5732]

Renmark in SA is the closest138 klm Why are people still voting for these clowns

[@chriscoghlan692]

The rail loop is feeding Dan's mates in the CCP.

[@robertnicholson1409]

Most of the regions don't vote Labor so why worry about them and of the ones that do.......most won't next time.

[@peterjames174]

and Jacintas area is Ballarat, screwing her own people.

[@peterjames174]

like the seat of Ballarat,.

[@vernonwhite4660]

Interesting that Hawaii is testing the Japanese vertical wind turbines which can venerate at a higher and larger range of wing speeds.and are not so unsightly,😊

[@allanmartin8311]

Sadly the majority of the votes are in Melbourne

[@Eyefillet1969]

Drown in ya tears Victoria , you voted them in …..fools

[@PaulSmith-ss6zm]

A Dan Andrews tag team 😂

[@waynewilkins637]

WHY DO SOME PEOPLE START A CONVERSATION WITH THE WORDS ………I MEAN ?

[@johnwojtkiewicz6759]

Victorians voted them in no 1 else to blame

[@Graham-m4p]

Labor....the enemy within.

[@Jhchah2492]

Bad healthcare services cutting funding to HOSPITALS but plenty of trains and cashed up traffic controllers! 😂

[@Wayne-ig1il]

Labour government get a pay rise for making poor decisions, with hard working taxpayers money

[@immune2PR]

Regional must leave Victoria and become their own smaller states.

[@PaulSmith-ss6zm]

Bring back Jeff Kennet

[@LilyWhiteAkAConspiracyRealist]

I bet she had no friends at school and asked for more homework and detentions haha

[@carbonite1999]

another union! like the labor cartel they come first ..

[@MeredithBell-v3f]

Did they vote Labor

[@rosekirkwood1282]

No. The Mallee population has voted for the nationals for years

[@81carrerasc]

@@rosekirkwood1282 All the Stalanist Socialists living in inner city Melbourne couldn't give a flying duck about country Victoria. Horsham Hospital was FORCED to amalgamate with Ballarat Hospital under the threat of losing funding. Horsham residents raised many hundreds of thousands of dollars for decades for their hospital and it was stripped from under them. This is going on everywhere in Victoria ALL DOWN TO LABOR ,,,,,,,,, Dan Andrews should be jailed.

[@georgekordis4268]

People in the country can't stand the sites of labor and I don't blame them.

[@wallyrose4380]

Donts come to Queensland to live stay there

[@Phonehomefool]

Queensland is just as bad, full of arseholes

[@dlbeck2023]

Melbourne city immigrants and utopua driven academics out vote country Victorians.

[@BarbaraHambleton]

Steve z, please get off that far left project