Tim Quilty MLC | Politician

Tim Quilty MLC

Phone: +61 2 6048 6288

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24.01.2022 Who wouldn't enjoy a nice cruise along the beautiful Murray in a majestic paddle steamer? Unfortunately Echuca's paddle steamer fleet has been sitting at the dock, unable to ply its trade along the river thanks to NSW Government border restrictions - technically the river is in NSW. Last week the NSW Government amended its border controls, allowing Rohan Burgess, managing director of Murray River Paddle Steamers, to get his fleet back out and carrying tourists on the water.... "The crossing thing is complete bull ... it's hurt a lot of businesses" is how Rohan described the situation. I couldn't agree more, and that's why I'm determined to keep standing up in Parliament and speaking out on behalf of regional Victorians who are sick of this rubbish. Yes, let's tackle COVID-19, but let's do it without killing off our communities, our livelihoods.

24.01.2022 At 12:01am on Monday, the NSW border opened. I was one of hundreds of people who were waiting in the rain to make the journey into NSW on this historic occasion. This closure was yet another example of government overreaction. Gladys Berejiklian only wanted to buy votes in Sydney, and did not care how difficult she made life for border communities. This was not the fall of the Berlin Wall, but for many along the border it was the next best thing. I hope we never see it happen again.

22.01.2022 I spoke in Parliament this week in support of a motion by Jeff Bourman MP supporting the Victorian timber industry. Timber workers have been betrayed because Labor has decided a resource that literally grows on trees is no longer sustainable. The Government’s attack on the timber industry makes no economic sense. It makes no environmental sense. It certainly makes no sense to the communities that depend on these jobs. There must be some kind of sense behind it, but what? ... This Government is engaged in a war on the regions of Victoria. We Support the Timber Industry - Our Sustainable Resource. Bush User Groups United Australian Sustainable Hardwoods

22.01.2022 Travelling home on Saturday from our #bubblecation we stopped to take a picture of this silo art, at Picola. We weren't the only one stopping - a couple of VicPol cars - presumably on their way to a checkpoint - pulled up to take some snaps. We had previously crossed the river at Barmah, with no traffic or wait-time at the checkpoint - making a big change from the Echuca-Moama queue we'd been experiencing the previous few days. Apparently the artist is Jimmy Dvate. https://www.instagram.com/jimmy_dvate/?hl=en

21.01.2022 Shared from David's page: Human Tissue Amendment Bill - Debating this week. Next week in Parliament, we will be debating the "Human Tissue Amendment Bill 2020". This bill is intended to allow certain medical procedures to happen before someone dies to prepare or check their organs are suitable for transplantation. The Liberal Democrats are generally supportive of the idea that people should be able to donate their organs to medicine for the benefit of others.... However, consent should always be maintained. Unfortunately, this bill contains the clause below. What it means is that in the case where doctors cannot make contact with a "medical decision maker" for the patient, the doctors may make a decision on their behalf. This is a step too far. Silence does not equal consent. The Liberal Democrats will oppose this bill in its current form. The bill and explanatory memorandums can be viewed here: https://www.legislation.vic.gov.au/.../human-tissue... See more

21.01.2022 I got out to the weir wall on Saturday for the end of Lloyd's Walk for Water. Lloyd has spent weeks walking along the Murray, talking to irrigation farmers who are being ground into the dust by the Murray Darling Basin Plan. Something has to change or all our farmers, jobs and communities along the river are going to blow away like dust. Politicians in Melbourne and Canberra need to listen.

20.01.2022 Regional Victoria has never had any coronavirus cases and yet we had to wear masks. Working in warm conditions, with adequate social distancing a natural part of the job, makes wearing masks uncomfortable and pointless. I asked the Minister for Health when regional Victorians will be treated as adults and be allowed to remove their masks in workplaces where it is COVID-safe to do so?

20.01.2022 It's been a while since I shared one of these - we will get back into the swing of doing them after every sitting week. My colleague David Limbrick MP and I continue to speak out where our freedoms are being trampled and will hold the Andrews Government to account for its actions. As a regional MP on the border with NSW, I spoke on topics specific to this part of the world - such as the reopening of the border and the ongoing mandatory use of face masks - but I also challenged the Government on timber industry job losses, the plastic bag ban and unauthorised access to the Victoria Police database.

19.01.2022 The Liberal Democrats have a strong team of candidates standing for local councils around the state this year. If lower rates, greater transparency and unlocking the economy after Covid are things you are interested in, these candidates may be for you. I wish them all loads of luck, but I'm particularly barracking for our candidate in Wodonga...

19.01.2022 Mrs Berejiklian - tear down this wall. And then, just like that, we were one community again. Despite a decent - and welcome - drop of rain around midnight, a large queue of vehicles gathered to cross into NSW unchallenged. I managed to speak to a few drivers and there were various reasons for crossing. Some were in a rush to see family, others were going on a holiday - and some were taking the first opportunity to leave Victoria and never come back. ... As expected, there were no problems at the crossing - this is what happens when courteous drivers work with trained professionals at the crossing. We were joking that it was comparable to the fall of the Berlin Wall. But really, there was an almost euphoric feeling for many of us. A small crowd had gathered on the other side to witness the historic moment. There was quite a throng of national media here to cover this significant moment. And of course a queue of politicians getting in front of the cameras. There was a palpable sense of occasion, lots of happy faces, and I'm glad I made the effort to cross. But right now, my main priority is coffee - this morning everyone who wasn’t up at midnight can laugh at the idiots who were.

18.01.2022 Mistakes have clearly been made which have wreaked havoc throughout Victoria and across state borders. And yet nobody is mature enough to put their hand up and claim responsibility. What kind of leader throws their team under a bus and denies any knowledge of what happened?... Dan Andrews, that's who.

18.01.2022 One of the key issues which affects us in the border region is the unwillingness for governments on either side of the Murray to work together. During a visit to Walwa last year I heard how different radio systems prevented Victorian and NSW fire crews from working effectively together. It's encouraging to see NSW implementing what the Bushfires Royal Commission highlighted.... Fires don't recognise borders, it's up to us to work together.

18.01.2022 The National Shooting Council (NSC) picked up on my question to the Police Minister around firearms owners having their licenses suspended for copping fines for COVID-19 breaches. The minister has claimed that nobody would have their license suspended just for a fine. However the NSC believe they have a number of cases where this exactly what has happened . Is this a case of the Licensing and Regulation Division (LRD) lying to the Police Minister?... In addition to the above issues, I am told that people who get COVID fines are being entered onto the Victorian Police criminal database, where their name will remain forever, coming up every time they interact with police from now on. https://nationalshooting.org.au//covid-lies-victorian-mini

18.01.2022 Yeah. Gladys, your hypocrisy is staggering. I mean, I agree that this border closure is completely unjustified. But so was the last one. Dan may be having his revenge, at the expense of the border residents, but Gladys has absolutely no credibility left on this subject.

18.01.2022 Nicole Chvastek invited me on her drivetime show to describe the historic reopening of the NSW border. After 137 days of hardship and inconvenience, I was there at 12:01 to drive unhindered into NSW and told Nicole how I felt about the reopening as well as what the closure had done to border communities.

14.01.2022 When your photo ops backfire because you've destroyed future of a generation with your authoritarian dictats: One apprentice's reply in the picture. The other apprentice's reply provided separately: "Mr Sharlassian, a plumbing apprentice in his final year, has also lost his job due to the coronavirus-caused recession.... He told Daily Mail Australia: 'I've been laid off as well due to lockdown. I'm not too impressed with the pic. It seems like a joke.' " Read the full story here: https://www.dailymail.co.uk//Daniel-Andrews-suffers-epic-F

12.01.2022 It's been a year since the government implemented a plastic bag ban in Victoria. Now, a bit further down the track, seems like a fine time to find out how much worse they have made the environmental outcomes with their poorly thought out virtue-signalling ban. I called on the Minister for Energy, Environment and Climate Change, to explain how the Government is measuring the impact of its plastic bag ban both in terms of the amount of additional plastic going to landfill from bin liners and thicker bags as well as the additional cost to consumers of buying these bags.

12.01.2022 They're the same picture...

12.01.2022 Once again our government in Melbourne confirm their contempt for the regions. Despite the Covid case rate in regional Vic approaching zero, we will not be allowed to move on to the next stage on our own - we have to wait until Melbourne gets to zero cases for 14 days. This is despite us not officially having adopted an eradication strategy. And then what is going to happen if - one day - Victoria eradicates the virus but NSW does not? I can just see the Andrews government i...mposing their own border lockdown, just for payback... https://www.bordermail.com.au//border-virus-restrictions/

11.01.2022 Last days of the membership discount.

10.01.2022 I asked the water minister what the Andrews Government is doing to stop the erosion of the banks of the Murray due to sustained high flows. Too much water is being forced down the Murray at consistently elevated levels, causing erosion which would not occur with naturally fluctuating river levels. I saw the erosion for myself at Cobram, and it is extremely concerning to see the environmental damage being done by so-called environmental flows.

10.01.2022 Mask crackdown - against expert advice. Curfews - against expert advice. 5km travel limit - against expert advice. The Premier likes to hide his authoritarianism by claiming that he's just 'following the expert advice' but when the experts disagree he insists on authoritarianism anyway.

10.01.2022 Grace Presbyterian Church in Wodonga has a small congregation and has been without a permanent pastor since the end of 2019. Thanks to the Andrews Government's COVID laws, they cannot meet without a paid pastor. This means the church group cannot meet in virus-free regional Victoria.... I asked the Health Minister what will be done to change this appalling situation.

09.01.2022 Meeting Chris Crump and David Landini at the Mathoura Red Gum Sawmill to discuss the prospect of regional life with a government based in the regions, working for the regions. On both sides of the border, regional communities are getting screwed by governments which are focused entirely on the metropolitan vote. There is a better way.... #rexit

09.01.2022 On Tuesday, travelling from Rutherglen to Echuca-Moama, we took a lunch-break at Cobram. Sandwiches on the beach and then an hour or so of floating down the river and walking back up again. Got to see some koalas, and inspect the erosion on the Murray banks up close. Also the first sunburn of the trip. Northern Victoria has everything you need for a summer holiday. #bubblecation

08.01.2022 This is a passionate defence of liberty and of the risks from government overreach following the virus lockdown.

07.01.2022 The border bubble is going green. Border businesses have been struggling with the designation of all of regional NSW as orange - it meant any Victorians from outside the bubble who crossed into a NSW border town would not be allowed back unless they isolated, took a test and stayed in isolation until they got a negative result. This change means there can be free movement across the border for any Victorian visitors from outside the bubble, which will have tremendous benefits... for all border businesses who suddenly found themselves without customers, scared off by the harsh and ridiculous rule. I'm not so arrogant as to claim credit for this, save to say that I had added my voice to the #turnthebubblegreen campaign following a meeting in Moama last week.

07.01.2022 Private Function celebrate the reopening of the border. I played their iconic song Albury-Wodonga last night while waiting for the border to open. Although we all know it should be Wodonga-Albury...

06.01.2022 So the state budget is out today. We have only begun to look at it - but if you want the briefest of summaries - some tax cuts and tax deferrals and huge spending hikes. Which means massive borrowing to pay for the spending. Also, apparently Frankston is in regional Victoria. You read it here first. $560m of $1B being spent on "regional" hospitals is being spent on the Frankston hospital. I have said this government has no idea where regional Victoria is - this would seem to... confirm that rather more spectacularly than I had expected. https://www.bordermail.com.au//budget-pours-8b-into-regi/

05.01.2022 This is hardly surprising. The Andrews Government won't want to upset their new best friends by something as trivial as standing up for Australia. Australia deserves to take some international flack over what has apparently happened in Afghanistan. But China of all countries is in no position to be throwing human rights sledges.

04.01.2022 Some positive news from NSW which makes life a bit less difficult for Victorians. Victorians from outside the border bubble can enter the Murray River without a permit if they (1) are a Victorian resident who has not been in a COVID restricted area in the last 14 days and (2) don't enter an embankment, dock, port or wharf on the northern side of the Murray River. This means holidaymakers in Victoria can go for a river cruise, have a swim, go fishing or go kayaking because, on...ce you're in the water, technically you're in NSW. While this is welcome news for school holidaymakers, I do wonder why it has taken so long for this socially important but COVID-insignificant step to be taken. Ah yes, I know why: government decision-makers in Melbourne and Sydney have no idea how life operates in the Border regions. #rexit

04.01.2022 Former Health Minister Jenny Mikakos now admits the truth - that despite all the official denials, we are pursuing an eradication strategy for COVID-19. This is something she couldn't bring herself to say - or wasn't allowed to say - while she was minister. I'm sure this was not a slip but a deliberate back-hander delivered to the Premier on her way out. I believe an elimination strategy is a bad idea, but if they are going to do it, they shouldn't be lying about it.... https://twitter.com/JennyMikakos/status/1310381619329466370

04.01.2022 At long last, the border between Victoria and NSW was reopened at 12:01am on Monday November 23. I was one of maybe 30 drivers who crossed via Lincoln Causeway into Albury on a wet and sometimes rainy night - some were going to see family, some were going on holiday, and no doubt a few were, like me, doing it for the sense of occasion. It was surprising to see how many people had come out to stand by the side of the road to watch this moment, but the media were out in force t...o record the event. I copped some flak via social media over doing this, but the professionalism and courtesy of all those involved made sure it was a smooth transition.

04.01.2022 A big thank you to bootbrisbane.com for inviting me to discuss self governance last night for their podcast. It’s not only regional Victoria which is suffering at the hands of metro-centric government, and I enjoyed discussing the issues which seem to be challenging many regional Australians. #Rexit

02.01.2022 Australia’s drug laws are stupid and self-defeating. Many people can embrace the idea of legalising cannabis and other soft drugs, but baulk at drug-law reform when it comes to the so called hard drugs. But what we are doing now is not working. Prescription heroin for addicts wouldn’t be my first choice for a reform, but it would make things better than they are now. ... I have said repeatedly that I will support any policy from any party that makes our drug laws less bad. This would meet that criteria.

02.01.2022 This government describes a record cost and slower ambulance response times as "continuous improvement". Maybe it's just me but I see faster ambulance responses and lower costs as an improvement. More info:... Indigo - state’s worst in ambulance response times https://www.corowafreepress.com.au//indigo-states-worst-in See more

02.01.2022 It's not what we would all ideally like to see, especially families looking for some school holiday fun, but it's a step in the right direction.