MEMBER for Mildura Ali Cupper has highlighted the difficulties facing the Mildura electorate in its recovery from COVID-19.

Ms Cupper, in a member’s statement in Parliament, urged the Victorian Government to consider the challenges ahead for the region when it hands down its Budget on November 24.

“The budget on 24 November is the first opportunity to invest in our recovery and our future,” Ms Cupper told Parliament.

“The Victorian Government has invested more than $23 million in infrastructure stimulus spending in the Mildura electorate since the pandemic started, including $5.5 million for the Mildura riverfront, $4.4 million for TAFE and $4 million for the Buloke shire streetscapes, but we need more, and I urge the Victorian Government to consider these issues on 24 November.”

Ms Cupper said the impacts of lockdowns and restrictions had been exacerbated by the New South Wales and South Australian border closures.

“Mildura is the only electorate to be bounded by both the New South Wales and South Australian borders, and being locked out of those states has not only impacted our day-to-day lives but has adversely affected business, our economy and in many ways our social fabric,” she said.

“Now we are headed to a COVID normal, having defeated the second wave, but our fight in many ways is just beginning.”

Ms Cupper highlighted statistics showing payroll jobs in north-west Victoria had fallen by 8.8 per cent between March and September – the biggest fall in regional Victoria and behind only two of the six Melbourne regions which were under Stage 4 restrictions at the time.

“For a region which already has low socio-economic indicators, the harsh reality of COVID-19 is stark,” she said.

“We will keep fighting—it is what we do—but now more than ever we need the Victorian government to fight with us and alongside us.”