Wednesday, 18 February 2026

 Richard RIORDAN (Polwarth) (19:18): (1537) My adjournment this evening is for the Minister for Roads and Road Safety, and the action I seek is for the immediate funding of the urgent road bridge repairs on the Carlisle River road, the C161. This Parliament will be well aware of the fact that the Carlisle River community has been devastated by fires on and off now for weeks. In June 2025 two key watercourse crossings on the Carlisle C161 road were replaced with temporary bridges. Unfortunately, in the last week one of these temporary bridges has been knocked by one of the many pieces of heavy equipment going down to secure that community and the rest of the Otways and has lodged the bridge free. The community has been reliably informed by the government’s own contractors that there is just simply no money to replace this bridge. That damaged bridge saw the good nature and the good spirit of the local farmer Matt Reid provide an alternative route through his farm, past his dairy, through his back store paddock, across over his own bridge and back onto the road again. In the last week this saw students going to school at the local Carlisle River Primary School, milk tankers and other important forms of transport down that road having to use a farmer’s paddock because this state is so broke.

This state, as we have heard this week, has had $15 billion to give away to all sorts of nefarious causes within its own groupings around the state, yet a hardworking local Otway community like the Carlisle River community has been left with two broken bridges and one-way traffic in an area that has literally seen thousands of emergency services vehicles in the last few weeks having to use this inadequate source of bridging across a main road. It is simply not good enough. The very least that this government could do is, perhaps when it finds some of the missing $15 billion from the CFMEU and other strange causes, direct some of that funding back to this urgent bridge request. This community will be for the next month, if not years, recovering from the fire damage to pastures, fences and other things, and the last thing those that live in the community and are rebuilding their lives need is to have their lives put at risk because this government has simply been unable to afford to maintain basic road infrastructure on what is an important and accessible piece of road network and the only road network in and out of the community. So, Minister, the action I seek is for the immediate funding and repair of the Carlisle River bridges on road route C161.