11 Jul 2018 Numurkah Leader, Numurkah VIC (General News) THE State Government has announced that a proposed drug and alcohol rehabilitation centre at Brookfield will not go ahead, with the Hume regions first residential rehabilitation facility to instead be built in Wangaratta. Construction of the new facility is expected to start in 2019, with the services becoming operational in the first half of 2021. The facility is one of four new regional residential rehabilitation facilities to be built around the state alongside facilities in the Grampians, Barwon and Gippsland regions. Member for Northern Victoria Jaclyn Symes said that there had been a lot of support for a drug and alcohol treatment facility in North East Victoria. Wangaratta is well positioned to assist country people to get their lives back on track, she said. Samantha Dixon from Wunghnu, who campaigned in favour of the Brookfield site, said that although she is pleased that there will be a rehabilitation facility in the region, she is disappointed that it will not be at Numurkah. It is so important for people to be able to receive treatment close to home, and I feel that many people in our community just dont know what theyre missing with being able to have local access to these services. Stefan Gruenert, chief executive of Odyssey House, which was the lead agency on the Brookfield proposal said that whilst it was a shame to see all of the efforts that went into the Brookfield proposal go to waste, the Wangaratta facility would be an asset to the region. It is good to finally know the location of the residential rehabilitation centre for north east Victoria, and we will do whatever we can to support it, he said.