Thursday, 17 August 2023

Northern Victoria Region roads

Wendy LOVELL (Northern Victoria) (09:52): The Andrews Labor government’s failure to invest in the maintenance of roads in regional Victoria has reached a crisis point. Our road network is crumbling, and our roads are not safe. In the past people in the country have joked about it by saying, ‘We no longer drive on the left of the road, we drive on what’s left of the road,’ but the reality is this is no laughing matter, because country people are dying on country roads. Since 2020 the Andrews Labor government has slashed 45 per cent from the road asset maintenance budget, including $260 million from the budget this year. While the government continues to pretend this is not an issue, roads remain unsafe and tragically people are dying. TAC data confirms that, as of midnight on 10 August, 179 people had died on Victorian roads this year, an increase of 24.3 per cent on the same time last year. Tragically, 102 of those victims died on regional roads, an increase of 27 per cent on the same time last year. Sadly, 64 people have lost their lives in my electorate of Northern Victoria Region. That is 63 per cent of all regional deaths and includes 11 lives lost in the Moira shire, nine in Greater Shepparton and six lives lost in both Wangaratta and the Yarra Ranges. These are not just statistics but are tragically lives lost on our Third World standard regional road network. In Victoria we have a government that requires our cars to be roadworthy but does not provide motorists with roads that are carworthy.