Tuesday, 21 March 2023

Rural and regional roads

Wendy LOVELL (Northern Victoria) (16:57): (109) My adjournment matter is directed to the Minister for Roads and Road Safety, and it concerns the standard of road maintenance being deployed to repair regional Victorian roads. The action that I seek is for the minister to intervene and order a review of the maintenance program to ensure that all repairs carried out on roads by Regional Roads Victoria are completed using the correct method and equipment so all repairs carried out are of the highest quality to ensure the longevity of the work. The appalling condition of many roads in regional Victoria can be attributed to the chronic underinvestment in road maintenance since the election of the Andrews Labor government. The maintenance and safety of regional roads has never been a priority under Labor, who upon winning government scrapped the successful country roads and bridges program. While the government has trumpeted a belated program to repair Victoria’s road network, there is evidence that many repairs are being undertaken with such poor quality standards that the repairs last just a brief period of time, in some instances only a few hours.

During the adjournment debate on 9 February 2023 I raised the need for the government to invest more money to properly fix our regional roads and cited the Katamatite-Nathalia Road in my electorate as one road that had been insufficiently repaired using premix that broke up when the first large vehicle drove over it. In her response the minister blamed the recent floods for the terrible state of regional roads in my electorate, conveniently ignoring two facts: firstly, that the roads were in a state of disrepair prior to the floods, and secondly, that the floods were five months ago and the roads are still not being repaired properly.

I have recently been contacted by a constituent with many years experience in the construction of roads throughout Victoria, including in estate subdivisions, local roads and major freeways. My constituent has also expressed many concerns about the standard of the work currently being undertaken to repair our damaged roads and states that most worksites do not even use the correct equipment to ensure the repairs are of a high standard. The constituent states that he decided to resign from one company because he knew the repair practices employed by the company would mean the same section of road would need to be redone in only a few months time. My constituent’s concerns are consistent with the reality of road maintenance by the Andrews Labor government, with the practice of not properly repairing damaged roads leading to sections of roads in my electorate and throughout Victoria remaining dangerous for prolonged periods. The minister claims the government is repairing Victoria’s regional road network, but she needs to ensure the repairs are done once and done properly, and I call on her to order a review to ensure this is the case.