Tuesday, 5 May 2026

 Danny O’BRIEN (Gippsland South) (12:33): My question is to the Minister for Roads and Road Safety. On Sunday the member for Ashwood posted a reel on Facebook stating he had had a complaint last Christmas about a pothole on Blackburn Road. In the reel the member was celebrating the fact that the pothole had been fixed by May. Does it take five months for every pothole in the state to be fixed?

 Ros SPENCE (Kalkallo – Minister for First Peoples, Minister for Roads and Road Safety, Minister for Community Sport) (12:34): I thank the member for his question. We all know that there is more work to be done. We know that there are potholes around the state. There is more work to be done. We are concerned about people getting home safer and smoother, and that is why we have got a record investment in road maintenance in this year’s budget. If you add that to the previous two years budgets, we have got nearly $3 billion, and that is a record sustained investment in road maintenance.

 Danny O’BRIEN (Gippsland South) (12:35): How many potholes are there in total across the state?

 Ros SPENCE (Kalkallo – Minister for First Peoples, Minister for Roads and Road Safety, Minister for Community Sport) (12:35): Again I thank the member for the question. The answer is quite simple: too many. That is why we have got a record investment in this year’s budget of over $1 billion to get on and address potholes.