Tuesday, 12 May 2026

 Matthew GUY (Bulleen) (19:00): (1649) My adjournment matter tonight is for the Minister for Roads and Road Safety – I am very glad she is in the chamber – and it concerns the quality of road signs in and around the Bulleen electorate, specifically on the Eastern Freeway, Thompsons Road, Manningham Road and Bulleen Road. At the moment it is fair to say that the quality and condition of road signs, particularly along the Eastern Freeway – people in eastern Melbourne would understand this – but also in the areas around the North East Link roadworks and also beyond that, is deplorable. They constitute a road safety risk. Some of them are unreadable, and as a consequence they are quite a problem for those seeking to obviously transit through this area, particularly to go certain ways, whether it is tourists going out to Westerfolds Park to see kangaroos or coming out to Heide, whatever it might be.

It is also an issue of self-respect. At the end of the day, we are a city of 5.5 million people, we are a state of 7.25 million people, and we have to present ourselves, as you would expect, in a way that is actually in a First World state with First World conditions. I and the member for Narracan recently on a trip to South America noted similar issues in relation to road sign quality. That is what happens when the government is out of money in Argentina, and it almost feels that way in Victoria, because the condition of road signs and roadside verges is beyond a joke, and particularly coming up, as I said, around the Eastern Freeway, Thompsons Road, Bulleen Road, Templestowe Road and Manningham Road, the condition of and the quality of the road signs there has been raised with me by a number of people. If they are not covered in graffiti, if they are not half missing, if they have not been struck by a truck and not repaired or if they are not on the ground, well, they are probably none of the above, because I do not think I can find or remember one that is in reasonable condition. My request to the minister for roads is to intervene and advise whether it is the department or VicRoads or whoever has responsibility over the whole lot of those signs to fix them, get on with it and actually make these signs readable.