Tuesday, 7 May 2024

Road safety

Danny O’BRIEN (Gippsland South) (12:36): My question is to the Minister for Roads and Road Safety. Do Victoria’s roads meet the government’s safety standards?

Melissa HORNE (Williamstown – Minister for Casino, Gaming and Liquor Regulation, Minister for Local Government, Minister for Ports and Freight, Minister for Roads and Road Safety) (12:37): I ‍thank the member for his question. As he would be aware, there is the Road Management Act, and we have got crews out there on the road network looking at the state of our roads all the time. This builds on our record investment in road maintenance, which gives us a 10-year horizon of $6.6 billion.

John Pesutto interjected.

Melissa HORNE: No, you’re right, it’s not a joke. In fact just a couple of weeks ago I was down in the member’s electorate looking at some of the rehab work that had been done in North Foster, seeing the road crews that were down there, seeing the regional manager who was down there and seeing the work that had been done. In fact they had actually done it to a different standard because of the difference that was occurring with the heavy vehicles down there in that electorate. They were looking at the volume of –

Danny O’Brien: On a point of order, Speaker, on the question of relevance, the question was about: do Victoria’s roads meet government safety standards? I ask you to bring her back to the question.

The SPEAKER: I cannot tell the minister how to answer a question. The minister was being relevant to the question that was asked.

Melissa HORNE: As I was saying, we are constantly looking at innovative ways to make sure that our roads are being maintained. We have got that record level of investment. In fact as I was saying, down in North Foster we have actually used different technology to be able to make sure that that road is performing better for the vehicles that it is carrying. However, we do have crews out there all the time making sure that our roads are performing correctly and making sure that they are being repaired.

Danny O’BRIEN (Gippsland South) (12:39): A survey undertaken for the minister’s department in January 2023 found that 91 per cent of roads were rated poor or very poor. Given this, are our roads safe for Victorians to drive on?

Melissa HORNE (Williamstown – Minister for Casino, Gaming and Liquor Regulation, Minister for Local Government, Minister for Ports and Freight, Minister for Roads and Road Safety) (12:39): What I would say to the member is that we need to disaggregate the way that the roads are being maintained and also road safety, because road safety –

John Pesutto: No, that’s just a convenience.

Melissa HORNE: No.

The SPEAKER: Order! The Leader of the Opposition will come to order.

Melissa HORNE: As we are well aware, most of the road toll is being caused by driver error, so do not politicise the safety of drivers with the condition of our roads.

Danny O’Brien: On a point of order, Speaker, on the question of relevance, I asked if Victoria’s roads were safe to drive on. I did not ask about the road toll or any other messages the minister might want to be asked about. I ask you to bring her back to the question.

The SPEAKER: The minister was being relevant to the question.

Melissa HORNE: What I would say is that in October 2022 we had significant flood events. In fact we had flood events that covered 63 of the 79 local government areas. This had a significant impact on our roads, which is why we responded to be able to get crews out on the roads, fixing our roads, and have also got that 10-year funding horizon for road maintenance.