ARARAT once again hosted an excellent J K McDougall lecture delivered by Joel Fitzgibbon, Shadow Minister for Agriculture and Shadow Minister for Rural Affairs.
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The lecture followed a busy day during which the Shadow Minister and Daniel McGlone, Labor candidate for Ripon visited Lynne and Graeme Maconochie's property at Ballyrogan and discussed the importance of retaining the Renewable Energy Target to ensure jobs, investment, clean energy and on-farm income.
Next stop was major Ararat employer and family business AF Gason, and a discussion with the managing director on issues facing manufacturing in rural and regional Victoria.
Mr McGlone and Mr Fitzgibbon were both highly impressed with the innovation demonstrated by the company and its ongoing commitment to the local community.
They next sat down with the Mayors of Ararat, Northern Grampians and Pyrenees who briefed them on issues facing these municipalities. The importance of retaining the Renewable Energy Target was again high on their list.
The Mayors pointed out the substantial rates that wind energy companies pay to local government and the jobs, investment and community support that they bring to the region.
They also alerted Mr McGlone and Mr Fitzgibbon to the water scarcity and lack of run-off across significant areas of the three municipalities.
Mr Fitzgibbon took these concerns to Parliament within a couple of days and his speech in Parliament can be found on his Facebook page.
In the evening, a packed house welcomed Mr Fitzgibbon and Mr McGlone to the Ararat Hotel.
Joe Helper, retiring MP for Ripon, who has served the community for the last 15 years, attended the evening and was given an extremely warm welcome. During the evening, Mr Helper endorsed Daniel McGlone as a worthy candidate to replace him as the Member for Ripon.
In his speech titled 'Championing the Bush' and as a former Minister for Agriculture, Joel Fitzgibbon highlighted the achievements of Labor governments in both agriculture and rural and regional policy.
Mr Fitzgibbon also called for the Labor Party to take up the challenge of winning seats federally to ensure a voice for rural Australia in Canberra.
"You can't have a strong Australia without a healthy and strong rural Australia. It is after all, where we produce all of our food, fibre and minerals wealth," Mr Fitzgibbon said.
