Two key priorities for Mount Gambier MP

Palliative care & tourism on Troy Bell’s 2023 hit list

When it comes to rolling up his sleeves for the Mount Gambier community, Troy Bell has two key targets on his 2023 to-do list.

The Member for Mount Gambier has set his sights on tourism and palliative care and while he will continue to liaise with the community and key stakeholders every step of the way, he has some clear ideas on what needs to happen.

In the palliative care space, it is all about the establishment of a hospice.

That works has been started courtesy of some passionate, driven community members and Mr Bell will be doing all he had to support the project. On the tourism front, it is all about value-adding to the raft of experiences already on offer in the Mount Gambier district and also to ensure our iconic free, nature-based attractions can be supplemented with experiences that provide some economic injection into the local industry.

And you know the MP means business, having employed a dedicated staff member for two days a week to focus on those two target areas with Ilana Adam starting in the specialised role last week.

“It is clear the community needs a hospice – a purpose built facility for end of life for those people who don’t want to die in hospital and don’t want to die at home,” Mr Bell said.

“It is combining a clinical setting with nurses and health practitioners and the feel of home with family access. I will be going to the State Government for support in its establishment.

It will need private investment as well.” Investment will also be the key word when it comes to Mr Bell’s tourism vision.

“It is great that the town is bustling with people but we have to give them every opportunity to deposit more money into our community,” he said.

“A lot of our attractions are free and that’s great and we don’t want to go away from that but we need to value-add to with paid experiences.”

And the Member for Mount Gambier has already started conversations with the State Government regarding his vision for an even more vibrant Mount Gambier tourism sector.

“I am starting to talk to the State Government about freeing up parts of the Blue Lake like the grassed areas at the Pumping Station,” he said.

As he looks for inspiration to expanding the experiences on offer in Mount Gambier, Warrnambool’s Lake Pertobe is one of the locations he references and a quick glance of social media comments on the City of Mount Gambier facebook page shows the popular Warrnambool location is front of mind for many local residents.

It is an example of an experience with a free element that has the add-on value of hospitality and other paid experiences.

Mr Bell said Umpherston Sinkhole was a good case study as a popular free destination that has had cars lined up outside the allocated car park and vehicles on both sides of the road this summer holiday season that could perhaps develop a paid experience as an economic driver.

Developing a five-star resort is also part of Mr Bell’s vision.

“Especially for international visits,” he said.

“A lot of those international tourists will pay upwards of $1000 a night if it’s an iconic location.”

And as with looking to expand any sector in the community, keeping one eye on infrastructure and development in that area is also critical.

“Things like the path around the Blue Lake is too narrow and we need to look into what would it take to widen it and what role the State Government could play in that development,” Mr Bell said.

And while summer visitation is impressive, working on attracting a visitor economy in the traditionally quieter winter months was also a key.

“We need to be looking at possible winter festivals and other events to draw people here in those months,” Mr Bell said.

He did concede one of the more complicated issues that is related to the development of the tourism sector was staffing and the cost to business owners of penalty rates, admitting there were no easy answers to keeping the town open for business and not sending business owners to the wall.

The Member for Mount Gambier did start the New Year with the good news that the State Government was installing the first major increase in the Patient Assistance Transport Scheme (PATS) in more than two decades – an issue Mr Bell has spearheaded since 2019 when he first held a community forum to ascertain the issues with the scheme.

The doubling of the fuel subsidy has been widely welcomed.