Tuesday, 8 March 2022

Gippsland East electorate roads

Mr T BULL (Gippsland East) (19:05): (6248) My adjournment tonight is to the Minister for Roads and Road Safety, and the action I seek is for the minister to please come up and travel with me the East Gippsland roads. Now, this comes off the back of what I thought was perhaps a bit of a comedy routine when the minister made his ministers statement last sitting week. The minister stood up and said that our roads are smoother and safer. This is not true. They are the worst they have been for many, many years. It is not just me saying this; local motorists, visiting motors, truck drivers, freight drivers and bus drivers are all saying they have never seen the roads so bad.

Last week I did a bit of travel around my electorate. I went to Bonang, which is right up at the top, halfway along the Black-Allan Line on the Victorian border. I went to Tamboon, Orbost, Benambra and Omeo; I went to Maffra and various other locations, and the roads are a disaster. They have got absolutely massive holes that are not fit for driving. For the minister to say that they are safer and smoother is an absolute joke. They are more dangerous than they have been for years, and they are crumbling like never before.

Now, I will give the minister a bit of credit. The last time I asked him to come up and have a look at an issue, he did. Unfortunately our diaries did not correspond and I was in Canberra at the time—but he came up to have a look, and I appreciate it. But if he thinks our roads are safer and smoother under his watch, he is just not right. He needs to talk to his advisers, who are filling him up with just rubbish if that is what they think is the case, and he needs to come out and have a look. There are two reasons for this: the first is we have got roads not being built to the right standard, and the proof of that is that they are crumbling within weeks of having been laid down; and the second issue is the lack of maintenance. We have got potholes that have had paint painted around them on the road surface that are still there six and eight weeks later, and we have had signs up for two to three months saying, ‘Caution: traffic hazard ahead’. What needs to happen is they need to get in and fix these roads, and when we are building new roads, build them to a higher standard. I ask the minister to please come up and I will show him firsthand that our roads are not smoother and our roads are not safer.