Wednesday, 1 November 2023

Rural and regional roads

Joe McCRACKEN (Western Victoria) (18:08): (562) My adjournment matter is for the Minister for Roads and Road Safety, and it relates to the poor state of roads in regional Victoria and country Victoria. I note that today actually the Ballarat Residents and Ratepayers Association launched an excellent campaign, Fix Our Roads! Ballarat. The action that I seek is that the minister meet with me and with the Ballarat Residents and Ratepayers Association to inspect roads. I note that the Minister for Roads and Road Safety is also the Minister for Local Government, and she is welcome to join us to inspect local roads as well and we can have a great tour around Ballarat and surrounding areas.

The Fix Our Roads! campaign will be rolled out not just in Ballarat but in a number of other areas as well, from Bendigo all the way down to Warrnambool. It would be great if the minister even drove those roads as well to see the impact of the lack of funding. Potholes the size of craters are not uncommon. People having to go from one side of the road to the other just so that they do not damage the vehicle is not unusual at all. Country people should not have to put up with this. It does not happen on the Monash. Why does it happen on the Princes Highway, the Western Highway and other key arterial roads through my electorate of Western Victoria but more broadly across country Victoria as well? So the message to the minister is very clear: fix our roads. I hope that she takes that up with great enthusiasm.