Thursday, 1 September 2022

Western roads upgrade

Dr CUMMING (Western Metropolitan) (17:57): (2119) My adjournment matter is to the Minister for Roads and Road Safety in the other place, and the action that I seek is for the minister to provide the measures that were put in place to ensure that works completed as part of the western roads upgrade met the required standards. The western roads upgrade is a $1.8 billion scheme awarded by the government to contractors. Leakes Road in Tarneit was improved as part of the western roads upgrade in 2021. Shortly after its completion locals started to notice parts of the works were deteriorating rapidly. Last month they received letters informing them that a section of the road that had been completed was already being resurfaced. Surely the work was given to a company that was fully aware of the required standards, and I would have assumed that someone from the government would have overseen the work at the time to ensure that it met the standards. Instead we have residents having to pay the price by having to put up with the noise and the disruption while the road is being redone less than 18 months after it was completed. What a waste of money—taxpayers money.

The western roads upgrade is yet another government scheme that has been plagued with problems. Dozens of small businesses are facing bankruptcy after a major contractor went bust. Firms which were never paid are working towards a class action against the government, which commissioned the project, to get the money that they are owed. They are also calling for an independent probe into the state’s handling of the projects, including how contracts are awarded and how blowouts are managed. I do not blame them. This government is incapable of managing projects. We have to work just to actually balance a budget and make sure there is a couple of million for Western Metro, rather than blowing out billions.

But we are used to these massive blowouts by this government and to everything taking longer than expected. Roads are in disrepair everywhere, with potholes; even here in the CBD, just driving through, there are potholes absolutely everywhere. Where is the money being spent for our roads? Whose pockets is it going into? The people of Victoria, particularly the ones in the Western Metropolitan Region, get to pay the price, with inconvenience, consistent disruptions to their lives and massive state debt.