Portfolio — 29 August 2026

The dominant discourse arc for Ovens Valley across the sitting fortnight ran on two tracks: community-level engagement with education and disability employment in the district's towns, and sharp accountability arguments directed at the Victorian Government on mental health, public transport costs, and police recognition. The Member for Ovens Valley, Mr McCurdy, drove both tracks through Assembly speech and district activity.

On community engagement, Mr McCurdy spoke with the Myrtleford U3A during the winter recess about the role of the local MP and how Parliament operates [TA-260730-vichns-06b70b591935:s011]. He fundraised with North East Support and Action for Youth at a Bunnings sausage sale in Wangaratta, supporting the organisation's work building independent living skills and education engagement for young people across north-east Victoria [TA-260730-vichns-06b70b591935:s012].

He also attended the launch of a second mini Woolies supermarket in Wangaratta, a Villa Maria Catholic Homes training facility providing workforce preparation for young people with disabilities [TA-260730-vichns-06b70b591935:s013]. These activities positioned the district's conversation around practical inclusion — disability employment pathways and youth engagement — well before the Assembly resumed.

The accountability arguments intensified once the chamber sat. Mr McCurdy announced plans to host Senator Bridget McKenzie in Wangaratta to discuss law-abiding firearm owners' rights, arguing that lawful gun owners face undue pressure and scrutiny following events like the Bondi Beach shootings [TA-260730-vichns-06b70b591935:s014]. He accused the Victorian Government of deceiving public transport users through undisclosed fare increases to fund the Suburban Rail Loop, contending that the government's credibility has collapsed during a cost-of-living crisis [TA-260827-vichns-1d37da03d766:s025].

The sharpest intervention concerned regional mental health: Mr McCurdy stated the government has failed to address mental health support in regional communities, citing reports of suicide clusters and marking that 2000 days had passed since the Royal Commission into Victoria's Mental Health System was delivered without adequate funding following through [TA-260827-vichns-1d37da03d766:s026].

The 2000-day framing gave that argument a precise, dateable weight.

The most sombre moment in the window was Mr McCurdy attending memorial services in both Wangaratta and Bright to mark the one-year anniversary of the Porepunkah incident, in which two Victoria Police officers were murdered [TA-260827-vichns-1d37da03d766:s027]. The district thus became a site of formal remembrance, with the Member attending services at two locations within Ovens Valley.

In the petition record, the Member for Ovens Valley presented two petitions on road safety at the Murray Valley Highway and Frank Drive intersection in Yarrawonga — the first bearing 135 signatures on 30 July and the second, substantially larger, bearing 669 signatures on 11 August, both requesting urgent assessment and infrastructure upgrades including traffic controls [TA-260730-vichns-06b70b591935:s001].

The near-fivefold growth in signatures between the two petitions signals sustained constituent pressure on this specific intersection. That petition activity sat alongside a broader infrastructure petition day on 11 August in which members across the Assembly tabled constituency requests — from pedestrian bridge safety near Salesian College to tram accessibility and a train station in Altona North — underscoring that local infrastructure deficits are a persistent cross-district theme in the current sitting period [TA-260811-vichns-559d5117f54a:s023].

Across both lanes, the Ovens Valley record in this window is notable for its geographic spread — Myrtleford, Wangaratta, Bright, Yarrawonga — and for the convergence of community engagement and government accountability as twin organising themes. The mental health argument, in particular, bridges both: Mr McCurdy's district-level concern about suicide clusters in regional communities connects directly to his broader accountability claim about the Royal Commission's unfulfilled funding commitments.