Lake Mulwala Rod Run
Tim McCURDY (Ovens Valley) (17:21): (1233) Deputy Speaker, I congratulate you on another great week in the chair. My adjournment is to the Minister for Roads and Road Safety, and I ask on behalf of Wayne Sartori: why has traffic management in Yarrawonga during the custom rod run, which has become an annual event, become so cost prohibitive that this event will now cease? Mr Sartori confirms that the rod run occurs annually in Yarrawonga as a fundraiser for local charities, and people come from all over to watch the cars parade along Belmore Street on the Saturday night. The rod run brings the local economy to life. It is a win for tourism, a win for local businesses and a win for the charities that they raise funds for. This event has been going for many years and, sadly, will cease this year if the cost of managing local traffic cannot be brought down. What started as a few hundred dollars to put signs out on the side of the road is now $5000 plus, which makes the event unviable. Minister, we all want our local roads to be safe when we are diverting traffic for an event such as this show and shine, but why has the Victorian government increased the compliance around this so much that this event will surely cease? It is outrageous, the rules and regulations that now must be ticked to divert a few cars around a main street for a few hours. This is not the only event in the Ovens Valley that has ceased or will cease due to traffic management costs, which have gone way too far. The action that I seek tonight is that the minister explain to our community why the compliance cost has increased 500 per cent over the last five years.