Thursday, 30 November 2023

Regional infrastructure

Gaelle BROAD (Northern Victoria) (18:46): (653) My adjournment is to the Premier, and the action I seek is for the Premier to ensure a fair allocation of new infrastructure funding by the state government to regional areas. Under Labor’s leadership just 13 per cent of new infrastructure spending has gone to regional projects, although 25 per cent of Victoria’s population lives in regional Victoria. Because of this neglect over many years, Victoria’s roads and bridges are not keeping pace with economic growth in regional areas. The state government has failed to prioritise key regional projects, and now federal Labor are doing the same. The federal minister Catherine King took over 180 days to do a 90-day review of federal infrastructure projects.

It is hard to believe that the $208 million that had already been committed by the former coalition government for the Shepparton bypass project was scrapped. Greater Shepparton is a food bowl, and 25 per cent of the state’s trucks are registered in the region. The bypass remains a top priority for the local community, and I know that my colleague Kim O’Keeffe has raised this matter with Minister Pearson to ensure that it continues.

Likewise, the community of Yarrawonga are also in need of major infrastructure works. Next year the Yarrawonga bridge will be 100 years old. It was built incorrectly. Legend has it that the bend in the bridge is due to the fact that it was not built correctly – the levels were out – and that the engineer killed himself on the bridge. The bridge is now sinking and has over 10,000 vehicles cross it every day. The bridge is not wide enough to accommodate the size of today’s heavy transport vehicles, and many a truck driver has lost a side mirror, along with those towing caravans, because it is a very popular tourist region. Tim McCurdy invited me to visit the site to meet with locals and the Moira shire, and there is strong community support for this project.

I ask the Premier to listen to the experts and that rather than progress the Suburban Rail Loop, which has no business case and presents a budget black hole, priority be given to rebuilding regional roads and bridges. Our regions supply food for our tables and export food and fibre to the world. To invest in our regions would bring strong economic returns to our state, and it is time that regional Victoria received our fair share of state government funding.