Release of Peter Greste

 Federal Member for Parkes, Mark Coulton has welcomed the release of journalist Peter Greste. Mr Coulton said that Australians were pleased that Mr Greste would be able to come home after spending more than 400 days in an Egyptian jail. “Peter Greste’s family were tireless in their efforts to secure his release,” said Mr Coulton.…

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Growing stronger regions across the nation

 REGIONAL Development Australia (RDA) will greatly benefit from new appointments to each of its committees. Deputy Prime Minister and Minister for Infrastructure and Regional Development Warren Truss said the three-year appointments will provide leadership to RDA organisations to develop a model where all three tiers of government work together. “The RDA committees can play a…

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Training Complaints Hotline

 Federal Member for Parkes, Mark Coulton has said that vocational education and training (VET) students now have a complaints hotline to bring rogue training providers to the attention of regulators. “Our Government is taking firm action to crack down on unscrupulous and misleading behaviour by some training providers and brokers, and this one-stop-shop hotline will…

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Rogue Operators targeted with new regulations

 Federal Member for Parkes, Mark Coulton, has said that new regulations introduced by the Federal Government and effective from 1 January 2015 are targeted at rogue operators within the training sector. Mr Coulton said that there had been cases within the Electorate where training brokers had employed unscrupulous practices to sign prospective students up. “Most…

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MUSIC AND THEATRE TAKE TO REGIONAL STAGES

 Minister for the Arts, Senator the Hon George Brandis QC, has announced over $2 million in funding to bring music, theatre and other arts experiences to regional and remote Australians. Federal Member for Parkes, Mark Coulton, welcomed the Australian Government’s funding for performance arts to tour in regional Australia. “$340,783 will be provided to Circus…

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Sustainable Medicare essential to Australia’s future

 Federal Member for Parkes, Mark Coulton, said the Government has listened to community concern and would make changes to the proposed Medicare co-payment. The changes will mean the Medicare rebate for common consultations will be reduced by $5 only for non-concessional patients over the age of 16. The Government will not impose a co-payment on…

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Rural R&D round one funding closing soon

 The application period for the first round of the Australian Government’s $100 million Rural Research and Development (R&D) for Profit grants programme is now open. The application period closes on 15 December. Federal Member for Parkes, Mark Coulton encouraged local industry, researchers and private organisations to think creatively to develop innovative and ongoing collaborations that…

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