Tuesday, 9 September 2025

Polwarth electorate roads

Richard RIORDAN (Polwarth) (19:09): (1304) My adjournment this evening is for the Minister for Roads and Road Safety, and the action I seek is for the immediate commencement of the long-promised improvements on what is locally known as ‘Crash Corner’, on the Birregurra to Apollo Bay road, right in the heart of Barwon Downs. Crash Corner has been an issue, a very large public issue now, since 2018. And after much campaigning we were thrilled as a community to receive a note from the minister back in March 2024. In March 2024, Minister, you promised that by the end of the year, by the next summer season, this corner would have its remediation done to make it safer, because at the moment people speed into that corner and end up in one of two backyards time and time again. With the next summer season coming up, it is absolutely vital, before someone is killed or one of the people that lives in the homes is killed. We need this much-promised repair to the road done.

Back in March 2024 in correspondence sent to my office and distributed widely throughout my community – in the local paper, on the local radio and on social media – we were promised that this corner would be repaired. Now we are coming into our next summer, and there is no sight nor sign of any remediation and no replies from the minister’s department. So, Minister, the action my community really seeks is for the immediate allocation of the funds to this project, which has now been on your books, on the department’s books and on VicRoads books since at least 2018.

I guess it speaks to the overall parlous state of many elements on the Apollo Bay road in particular. Unfortunately, Polwarth has quite a collection of poorly maintained and poorly looked after roads, but on the Apollo Bay section once the Melbourne Cup long weekend comes around – and of course we are acknowledging Melbourne Cup here in the Parliament this evening – visitors and guests to our region increase dramatically. This Apollo Bay–Birregurra road is one of the main routes from the Great Ocean Road back to the Princes Freeway and of course people’s journey back to Melbourne. They are often at the end of their journey at the end of the day, and these accidents typically happen after 4 pm in the afternoon when people are fatigued and a bit weary after a long journey along the Great Ocean Road to Apollo Bay. For the safety of not only the local community in Barwon Downs but our visitors, guests and tourists to the great electorate of Polwarth and the Great Ocean Road, it is vital that this gets seen to immediately.