Hansard debates

Mrs McARTHUR (Western Victoria) (16:03): Western Victoria is home to many of the world’s best restaurants, cafes, agricultural enterprises and many other businesses. This was confirmed again recently when renowned chef Dan Hunter’s Birregurra restaurant, Brae, was named as one of the best restaurants in the world. The Brae farm, which in addition to using local producers, grows organic food for the restaurant, utilises regenerative farming techniques, is water efficient, produces 17 megawatt hours of solar power per year and has a composting program which diverts around 100 kilograms of food scraps and green waste per day, among a fantastic array of other sustainability measures. It justifies my repeated position that farmers are the real environmentalists, not the self-professed inner-city greenies.

The Brae farm and restaurant truly are incredible businesses. Unfortunately for Dan and his staff, like thousands of other businesses across the state, the restaurant is being debilitated by the government’s crushing restrictions, especially patron caps. Early in September Dan’s partner, Julianne Bagnato, accurately said:

If we need to be shut down for medical reasons and the safety of the community, we can accept that.

But what we can’t accept is we and our industry bear a disproportionate weight of the financial impact when others are still working.

Congratulations to Dan and Brae for the international recognition, and I hope this government soon gets off your back.