Ryan to watch Labor on CSG
GIPPSLAND South MLA Peter Ryan will watch the new Labor Government’s approach to coal seam gas with interest.
Speaking at the declaration of the Gippsland South poll in Leongatha last week, Mr Ryan said he expected Labor’s past track record on the issue would influence the government’s future decisions.
The controversial gas extraction process of fracking was last carried out in Victoria in 2009 under the watch of the then Labor Government.
Mr Ryan was responding to comments from independent candidate for Gippsland South, Phil Piper, who ran on an anti-CSG ticket.
Mr Piper said, “I hope the new government will take the issue that I was running on more seriously than the Coalition Government did.”
Mr Ryan pledged to serve the Gippsland South electorate, and lobby Labor to fulfil his pre-election pledges of rebuilding Korumburra Secondary College and upgrading Leongatha Secondary College.
“It’s up to me to ride them about these projects and I will,” he said.
Mr Ryan had received 57.69 percent of first preference votes, ahead of Labor’s 21.67 per cent and Mr Piper’s three per cent.
He said The Nationals may receive government funding despite losing third party status after not winning enough seats at the election. The funding was dependent on a decision by the new Premier Daniel Andrews.
The party elected a new leader in Peter Walsh after Mr Ryan stood down. New Euroa MP Steph Ryan was named deputy.
Nationals’ Eastern Victoria MLC Danny O’Brien paid tribute to Mr Ryan as a great servant of country Victoria.
Mr Ryan recently stood down as party leader in Victoria.
“Peter Ryan took on the leadership of the party in very dark times after the fall of the Kennett Government and refocused The Nationals onto our core task of representing the interests of country people,” Mr O’Brien said.
“Despite the many doomsayers, he rebuilt the party into a strong force that ultimately led to the election of the Coalition Government in 2010 with The Nationals in the balance of power position.
“Using that influence, he delivered the unprecedented $1 billion Regional Growth Fund that has helped create jobs and developed local infrastructure throughout the country areas of the state.”
Rivals unite: independent candidate Phil Piper (left) of Mirboo North and re-elected Gippsland South MLA Peter Ryan shake hands after the formal declaration of the poll in Leongatha.
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