THE Victorian Rural Women’s Network (RWN) will be re-established on 1 July, 2017, with funding secured in the Victorian Budget 2017/18.
Agriculture Minister Jaala Pulford made the announcement at the annual Women in Agriculture Forum at Parliament House on Friday, and was met with cheers and applause by the crowd of about 60 women from rural and regional Victoria.
Ms Pulford said $1.7 million has been allocated to support the initiative.
“We’ve secured the funding to run the network, in what I hope will be bigger and better than ever before,” Ms Pulford said.
“The focus will be around women’s economic participation, professional development and wellbeing, through information about health and education services.”
The network began in 1986 to support women living in rural areas by raising their profile and allowing them to connect and share information, but was disbanded by the former Coalition Government in 2013.
Ms Pulford said women from all over the state had asked her to re-establish the network, particularly during the drought and dairy price shocks that occurred in recent years.
“Women from every walk of life and every corner of our state have told me how important it is, we listened and we delivered,” she said.