Wednesday, 9 September 2026

 Danny O’BRIEN (Gippsland South) (14:17): My question is to the Minister for Roads and Road Safety. Why has the percentage of the road network in poor or very poor condition grown to almost half, up from 39 per cent in 2021?

 Paul HAMER (Box Hill – Minister for Roads and Road Safety) (14:18): I thank the Leader of the Nationals for his question. The Premier and I have been quite clear that the condition of our road network is not acceptable, and that is why last week we set out a plan to fix the way that we fix our roads, bringing road maintenance back in house, with more transparency, more accountability, more local knowledge and more hands on deck.

Danny O’Brien interjected.

The SPEAKER: Leader of the Nationals! I remind members that when they ask a question it might be respectful to hear the answer.

 Danny O’BRIEN (Gippsland South) (14:19): The Auditor-General has revealed that the department has repeatedly said it requires more funding to stop the decline of our roads and prevent the maintenance backlog increasing. When will the backlog be cleared?

Roma Britnell interjected.

The SPEAKER: The member for South-West Coast is warned.

 Paul HAMER (Box Hill – Minister for Roads and Road Safety) (14:19): I thank the Leader of the Nationals for his supplementary question. Work is already underway. Crews are out on the ground at the moment implementing our extra $352 million –

James Newbury: On a point of order, Speaker, this was, on relevance, a very simple question that just asked when.

The SPEAKER: I believe the minister was answering the question and he was being relevant.

Paul HAMER: For the benefit of the member for Brighton, the $352 million, combined with the $1.04 billion that we announced in the budget, is being expended as we speak. Crews are out on the ground, fixing potholes. Five hundred thousand potholes we will be fixing this financial year, and we are doubling the amount of roads that we will repair this year. We are not waiting for four years to fix half the number of potholes; we are getting on and doing it now.