Wednesday, 18 October 2023

Public Accounts and Estimates Committee

Report on the 2023–24 Budget Estimates

Richard RIORDAN (Polwarth) (10:26): I too rise to speak this morning on the 2023–24 budget estimates report. I am just starting to look through the document, and it is not a bad report. Having been a member there in the past, I would say the standard has continued to get better, so that is a good reflection on the committee. But I wish to talk this morning on page 96, ‘Roads and Road Safety: key issues’. I have spoken many, many times in this place about the need for better roads and better road safety, and as the world returns to normal from COVID and particularly in the wonderful electorate of Polwarth with the iconic Great Ocean Road, we are the centre of travel and experience for so many visitors to Victoria and Australia more generally. Not only that, of course we are a hub of agricultural output and production, and our roads are full of big B-doubles and heavy transports. Good roads, safe roads and well-maintained roads are vital to western Victoria and Polwarth in particular. It distressed me somewhat reading this year’s report, because it is not often we get publications coming out of this Parliament that actually really support what the community thinks and feels on the street. So often government will glaze over problems and the Parliament will not really point to the issues, but this report this year really does highlight for all Victorians and the people of Polwarth what some of the issues are.

I refer specifically to finding 56 of the report, and it says, in part, it is also unclear what proportion of funding for the initiatives on road funding have actually been allocated to critical or desirable projects. That really makes it clear to country Victorians that we are not spending the money on a clear set of priorities. One of the biggest complaints I get through my office from people is that they understand they cannot fix every road all at once, but they want to know when our roads are going to get fixed. This report makes it clear, when you are reading the documents, that VicRoads, the Department of Transport and Planning and the government of the day are not being clear and transparent with their priorities and how they are going to allocate that funding. Way too often, and particularly for regional Victorians when they come to Melbourne, we are seeing a lot of money spent on tunnels, we are seeing a lot of money spent on rail overpasses and underpasses, but we are not seeing the money spent on basics – in fact, so much so that one of the recommendations talks about how little the funding is being allocated.

For example, in table 6.2 in the document it has three example key measures. These are tactile line markings, which are the audible line markings we have on the side of the road, road safety barriers and other initiatives. In the lead-up to the election the government managed to roll out a few things last year. Just to give you an example, in the budget this year instead of 103 kilometres of extra line markings, they are only budgeting for 3. Can you imagine in the state of Victoria, with the amount of road we have got, they are only budgeting for 3 kilometres of road treated with tactile road marking?

In terms of barriers and extra road safety measures 220 kilometres worth is down to 23 kilometres worth of safety barrier, and then for road safety initiatives and other projects almost half the amount of projects are allocated. It is simply not good enough, and the worst part is this budget confirms what most country and regional Victorians fear more than anything: that not only is there not enough funding this year, there is not enough funding next year. In fact the budget papers talk about a 10-year commitment, with most of that 10 years worth of funding being pushed out into well beyond 2026–27. How will we ever hold the government to account that they will in fact spend that money? In real terms the money that Victorian regional road users will see is much less this year.

It also confirms why the contractors who are responsible for keeping our western Victorian roads safe, in particular, with roadside mowing and cutting – their budget now has been cut to only one mow a year, and they are being asked to see if they can even avoid that by using sprays and other things. So the actual funding that is going into looking after the quality of our road surfaces, the environment around our roads, is just being slashed at the expense of road safety and country communities. Of course when you talk about things like mowing the grass on the sides of our roads, that is not only a road safety issue, it is a fire management issue as well for country Victorians. I encourage all Victorians to have a look at this report to find out where their funding is going.