Hansard debates

Mrs McARTHUR (Western Victoria) (10:09): I rise today to congratulate Katherine Myers on her appointment as vice-president for horticulture at the Victorian Farmers Federation. Katherine is a potato, sheep and crop farmer from Tourello. She has been a staunch advocate for the interests of her local community and many others in her efforts, especially in opposing the Western Victoria Transmission Network Project. Katherine originally studied ag science and commerce, worked in the economic and biophysical modelling of farms, trained and worked as a valuer with Rural Finance and now works with the bank as a climate risk analyst.

I have had the privilege of meeting Katherine and hearing her hard-fought advocacy at public meetings in opposition to transmission lines. In late March at a meeting in Newlyn she spoke and told the crowd, ‘We know that those in charge do not understand agriculture at all, so what we need to be able to do is tell them and, more importantly, show them’. This inspiring attitude in standing up for agriculture against the city-centric bureaucracy makes her the perfect person for this important job with the Victorian Farmers Federation. I rise today to congratulate Katherine, and I am sure she will do an outstanding job in the fight for farmers and especially in my electorate of Western Victoria Region.