Thursday, 1 August 2024

Western Victoria Region

Joe McCRACKEN (Western Victoria) (12:55): (1002) My matter is for the Minister for Roads and Road Safety as well and does again follow on from the RACV report on the My Country Road survey. Some of the roads that are mentioned that are in the top 10 worst roads are the Western Highway between Trawalla and Beaufort, the Princes Highway between Colac and Stonyford, Bacchus Marsh Road between Balliang and Lara and the Princes Highway between Warrnambool and Portland, all very significant roads in my electorate. The top issues identified were potholes, with other ones including narrow lanes, intersection safety issues and limited overtaking lanes. Top solution: fix the roads. So my question to the minister is: what are you going to do about it? Given that funding to road maintenance has been cut to just $33 million, down significantly from previous years, this does not seem to be a great start. Will the minister reverse these cuts and reinstate funding or will the country communities I represent continue to be ignored?