Wednesday, 30 October 2024

 Wendy LOVELL (Northern Victoria) (14:07): (1207) My question is for the Minister for Roads and Road Safety. Can the minister explain why the Melba Highway and the Midland Highway from Tatura to Shepparton have been dropped from the government’s road maintenance list? The minister recently made a rushed announcement that the government was finally going to spend the road maintenance money allocated in the 2024–25 state budget and start road repair works. The Melba Highway, in my electorate, was top of the RACV’s list of worst roads in Victoria, so I was excited to hear Minister Horne promise on television that the Melba Highway would be repaired. Imagine my disappointment when I looked at the Department of Transport and Planning’s website and saw that the Melba Highway was not on the list of roads to be repaired. The Midland Highway from Tatura to Shepparton was in the top 20 worst roads in the RACV report, and it was on the list for repair that the government provided to the media, but that road section is also now missing from the maintenance schedule on the department’s website.