SHADOW treasurer Louise Staley is asking the State Government to reverse a decision she says would remove government banking from small communities.<\/p>\n
Ms Staley said the state government had decided all public organisations must bank with Westpac, based in Sydney, and many regional towns without a Westpac branch would have to send money out of their communities.<\/p>\n
\u201cCommunity banks are the bread and butter in rural and regional communities and without them, the necessary projects and programs that better the lives of locals simply would not get funded,\u201d Ms Staley said.<\/p>\n
Lloyd Gollop, chairman of Avoca and District Cooperative Limited community bank was concerned about losing money.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe\u2019re deeply saddened\u2026 and quite upset,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe will not have the funds available, which we generate through the community bank, to redistribute back into the community that are supporting us.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe\u2019ve distributed over $1.1 million. It mightn\u2019t be a lot of money to the government, but it\u2019s a terrible lot to the community and we\u2019re very passionate about it.\u201d<\/p>\n
In response, Western Victoria upper house MP and government minister, Jaala Pulford was dismissive of to Ms Staley\u2019s claims.<\/p>\n
\u201cThe Liberals are irrelevant to our positive plans for regional Victoria,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n
\u201cOur focus is getting on with investing in the schools, hospitals, road and rail that regional Victorians need, that will support and grow our local economy.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
SHADOW treasurer Louise Staley is asking the State Government to reverse a decision she says would remove government banking from small communities. Ms Staley said the state government had decided all public organisations must bank with Westpac, based in Sydney, and many regional towns without a Westpac branch would have to send money out of […]<\/p>\n