Catholic schools safe for now
NO Catholic schools in South Gippsland will lose Commonwealth funding in the wake of last week’s Federal Budget, McMillan MP Russell Broadbent confirmed.
He said consultations around Catholic education were still being considered by the Federal Government.
The region’s Catholic schools are Mary MacKillop College and St Laurence O’Toole Primary School in Leongatha, St Joseph’s Primary School in Korumburra and St Joseph’s School in Wonthaggi.
Mr Broadbent said the budget did not have any substantial effect on South Gippsland, with the main focus for regional areas being roads.
South Gippsland Shire Council will receive $3.3 million and Bass Coast Shire Council $1.3 million from the government’s Roads to Recovery program to upgrade local roads.
Mr Broadbent said a highlight of the budget was the $20,000 tax write-off on asset expenditure for small businesses.
“This is a real benefit for small businesses in need of new equipment,” he said.
The MP said he would have liked to have seen more done for aged care in the region.
“This is something I had been campaigning for, but you don’t always get what you want,” he said.
“I am happy with the budget overall. The NDIS was fully funded, which was something I was campaigning for.”
South Gippsland Shire Council welcomed the end to the freeze of federal indexation grants that had been in place for three years.
Despite the freeze being lifted, councils will still experience permanent loss of revenue, with council estimating it would lose $6.5 million over 15 years.
Broader Gippsland benefited from the budget, with the budget including an immediate allocation of $290 million for upgrades on the Gippsland rail line.
Beyond the region, there was funding for an upgrade of the Monash Freeway and $3 billion set aside for a future East West Link construction. East West Link has previously been a priority of One Gippsland, and the Committee for Gippsland would welcome a returned focus to its future construction.
“This budget provides funding and a pathway forward to cementing the infrastructure Gippsland needs, particularly in relation to rail,” Committee for Gippsland CEO Mary Aldred said.
Short URL: /?p=21387
Posted by Tayla Kershaw on May 16 2017. Filed under News. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0. You can leave a response or trackback to this entry
