ABORIGINAL affairs and tourism were on the agenda in Kerang and Cohuna last Thursday when a Shadow Minister visited the district.
Heidi Victoria – the Shadow Minister for Tourism and Major Events, Arts and Culture, and Aboriginal Affairs – stopped off at Mallee District Aboriginal Services in Kerang and met with the Cohuna and District Progress Association in Cohuna.
Ms Victoria, together with Member for Swan Hill Peter Walsh, toured the Kerang organisation and heard from coordinator Melanie Lane about the renovations planned for later this year.
“We’re waiting on plans to be drawn up then we will start on basic renovations to make the building more suitable for health care,” Ms Lane said.
“That’s going to be our focus into the future and my dream is eventually to have this existing building as a social space and build a medical building on our block next door.”
Ms Lane told Ms Victoria that MDAS in Kerang was stronger than ever, with more than 250 members of the local community using the services on offer, although she did express concern about the lack of funding for several programs.
Ms Victoria said this was troubling and she would raise the issue with the government.
“I think it’s an essential service and having just spoken with Mel I’m surprised that some of the programs that seem to have been working really well aren’t going to be able to operate so as Shadow Minister I’m going to be asking questions,” she said.
“I’m going to find out why that funding has not been ongoing and with Peter Walsh try as hard as we can to make sure the services that are needed are able to be delivered.”
Ms Victoria said MDAS was hugely important to the Aboriginal community of Kerang and district.
“We don’t have to quote statistics to know that our indigenous population is over-represented in areas that we don’t want them to be over-represented in, and it’s up to us to make sure that every resource that they need is put in place,” she said.
Later Ms Victoria and Mr Walsh travelled to Cohuna to meet with members of the Cohuna and District Progress Association.
“Tourism can be such a benefit, especially to smaller towns,” Ms Victoria said.
The progress association discussed the ongoing bureaucratic problems water-based tourism businesses deal with in Cohuna.
“There has been a lot of problems for the tourism boat. It has taken two years to have permits signed off by different government departments,” association president, Sonia Wright said.
“We sought to have the right advice from Ms Victoria in regards to how to make events and activities for tourism viable in the long term, how to attract investors for other accommodation options in town and promote the forest.”
