Wednesday, 14 May 2025

Wangaratta-Whitfield Road

Rikkie-Lee TYRRELL (Northern Victoria) (12:21): (905) My question today is for the Treasurer. As a major arterial road that services almost half of the municipality, the Wangaratta-Whitfield Road has been in dire need of upgrades for many years. The road is used by local cyclists, school buses, winery machinery and over 300,000 tourists every year to travel between the tourist areas of Oxley and Whitfield. The road is narrow and rocky, and it has potholes and crumbling shoulders. The surface of the road is not fit to carry the current traffic load, let alone the expected increase in tourist traffic that has been projected for the region. The Rural City of Wangaratta has plans and costings for works to improve the conditions of this road. Will the Treasurer commit to funding this urgently needed upgrade to Wangaratta-Whitfield Road?

Jaclyn SYMES (Northern Victoria – Treasurer, Minister for Industrial Relations, Minister for Regional Development) (12:22): I thank Mrs Tyrrell for her question. At the outset, it would be a question that would be better placed for the minister for roads, but I am intimately familiar with this project as local member and someone who has supported that region for the past 11 years and indeed lots of investment in relation to the tourism offerings there.

You describe Wangaratta-Whitfield Road, but the Benalla-Whitfield Road is also an extension of Wangaratta-Whitfield Road, as is Mansfield-Whitfield Road, so the whole corridor is something that I am very familiar with. As you have articulated, there are lots and lots of visitors going there, because we have been supporting particularly the wineries but also cycling tourism and the like to approach that region. I have had briefings with the DTP and Wangaratta council in relation to this road, as well as Tourism North East, so there are a lot of discussions going about this. I think that Wangaratta council have got some ideas; DTP probably needs to do a bit more planning. It is a priority.

The actual funding question: as I have articulated in this house, just because I am the Treasurer does not mean that every portfolio project should be run through the finance lens, but in relation to this project I am of a similar view to you in relation to advocacy for investment, and I think there is a bit of work that needs to be undertaken. I cannot foreshadow budget outcomes, but in relation to the project you are talking about I am more than happy to have more conversations with you, because it was literally on my agenda with the regional director for DTP only last week.