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Nick McBride
Spotlight on incident control, mobile phone range and AVLs
Chris Oldfield. Lucindale CFS group officer Patrick Ross last week pointed to black markings on a map in the incident control room of the town’s fire-fighting base. He turned to visiting SA emergency services minister Vincent Tarzia and said: “This is where the fatality happened.”
Taxpayers funding locum doctors
Chris Oldfield. The SA Government is using taxpayer funds to pay fly-in locum doctors up to $3000 per 12-hour shift at country hospitals. And it is claimed it pays our local Naracoorte GPs as little as $285 per 24-hour shift to cover accident and emergency. Seven SA country hospitals including Millicent and Mount Gambier are now reliant on taxpayer funded fly-in locums – when they are available.
McBride to stay with Liberal Party
Sheryl Lowe. One week into a two-week time frame to decide his political future, Member for McKillop Nick McBride MP confirmed he had consulted with members of his electorate as he considered how “I can best serve my constituents and my electorate” ... Mr McBride told The News he is happy with the outcome. He has “greater lines of communication within the party” and the difficulties he experienced getting traction for important issues in the past have been removed, he said.
McBride straddles border issues and party
Sheryl Lowe. Border communities have been some of the hardest hit since the pandemic began in Australia early in 2020. Many are living and working in both states with life straddling the border on a daily basis. So perhaps it is no surprise they are now the lifeline for several thousand displaced South Australians unable to return home due to the current strict border controls between South Australia and Victoria. The office of Member for MacKillop Nick McBride MP is close to the South Australian/Victoria border and he and his staff know first-hand the struggles of the border communities.
McBride crosses floor for border community
Chris Oldfield. Member for MacKillop Nick McBride crossed the floor of State Parliament last week, preventing his party from extending its state emergency COVID powers to April 30 next year – after the next state election. He supported amendments by Mount Gambier Independent Troy Bell, and the state’s emergency Act will now be reviewed again before December 1, inclusive of some changes for regional people. The State’s emergency Act has given great power to police commissioner Grant Stevens to restrict civil liberties, enabling lockdowns, border closures and other COVID restrictions.
A voice for our cross-border community
Gabrielle Duykers. After relentlessly advocating on behalf of cross-border residents for more than a year, Apsley farmer Paula Gust is still ï¬ghting for the health and social wellbeing of her community. Mrs Gust, who has a farm straddling the SA/VIC border, began the Cross Border Call Out (CBCO) page in August 2020 ... She said she spends between 20 and 30 hours per week advocating for the cross-border community, taking time away from her own business.

