Western Victoria MP Bev McArthur is calling on the government to advise where Victoria Police officers, Protective Services Officers, private security guards and Corrections Victoria staff, who normally reside in RURAL and REGIONAL Victoria are being pulled from.

Mrs McArthur said, “Essential services across the state remain open under these restrictions, and there is no more essential service than the provision of democratic representation through the convention of Parliament.”

She said, “Ministers have continually avoided all correspondence, most Questions on Notice and other forms of Parliamentary scrutiny, in relation to their response to the COVID-19 pandemic. It is worse now that their own incompetence has instigated a new outbreak, which is not only threatening Victorian lives and livelihoods but those across the rest of Australia.”

“With virtually no scrutiny and democracy just about dead in Victoria, perhaps journalists will have more luck in asking Ministers these important and need-to-be-answered questions for many regional Victorians, than elected Members of Parliament.” She said.