The Nationals candidate elected to represent the north western Victorian seat of Mildura has told Flow the federal emergency management and agriculture minister did well to go beyond the Mildura airport to show support for flood-affected Victorians.
On Wednesday, Jade Benham commended Murray Watt for his flying Monday visit to the region in contrast to the short stay by Prime Minister Anthony Albanese:
"He actually left the airport too, which was nice, unlike the Prime Minister.
"It's really good that when Anne (Webster, MP for Mallee) expresses some frustrations, the federal ministers are listening to her. She's a terrific advocate in federal parliament and I'm looking forward to learning from her.
"It was great to see Murray Watt actually come and have a look at the situation here because it is frightening - anyone who has not lived through floods of this scale before, it really is frightening. It is going to take a mammoth flood recovery effort both in terms of boots on the ground and dollars to aid that recovery - so it is good he came and had a look."
Hear the full interview with Mildura MP-elect Jade Benham on the Flow podcast player below:
Minister Watt told Flow on Tuesday he was pleased to visit the Mildura region:
"I spent a bit of time in Mildura then headed over to the Riverland region (of SA) as well just so that I could see first hand what dmaage there has already been and more importantly to get an understanding of what is coming.
"In these regions, the flood waters hasn't peaked yet. There's a lot of parts of Victoria and NSW that I have been to that have seen their flood peaks and have gone through the damage. We know there's even more to come for places like Mildura and the Riverland, so (it was) really valuable visit to see and hear first-hand from people what support is needed."
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