Thursday, 10 September 2026

 Danny O’BRIEN (Gippsland South) (14:22): My question is to the Minister for Roads and Road Safety. The Auditor-General has found that the government cannot verify how defective road repairs are fixed, creating a risk that taxpayers pay twice to fix mistakes. Can the minister guarantee Victorian taxpayers are not being ripped off?

Members interjecting.

The SPEAKER: The member for Mildura can leave the chamber for half an hour.

Member for Mildura withdrew from chamber.

 Paul HAMER (Box Hill – Minister for Roads and Road Safety) (14:23): I thank the Leader of the Nationals for his question.

Members interjecting.

The SPEAKER: The member for Narracan is warned.

Paul HAMER: That is exactly why last week we announced that a re-elected Carroll Labor government will fix the way that we fix our roads. We know that the VAGO report says that the way the roads are managed and the oversight by the department are not sufficient, and that is why we are going to bring road maintenance back in house.

 Danny O’BRIEN (Gippsland South) (14:23): The Auditor-General found a quarter of routine road maintenance works were noncompliant, while one in eight were defective and required rework. Why are Victorian taxpayers repeatedly paying for poor workmanship on our already poor and appalling roads?

 Paul HAMER (Box Hill – Minister for Roads and Road Safety) (14:24): I would refer the Leader of the Nationals to my previous response to the substantive answer. That is exactly why we have got a plan to fix the way we fix our roads, including bringing road maintenance back in house, including increasing standards and improving transparency and accountability.