Northern Victoria Region roads
Rikkie-Lee TYRRELL (Northern Victoria) (18:26): (1941) My adjournment this evening is for the Minister for Roads and Road Safety, and the action I seek is for the minister to conduct an inquiry into unsatisfactory road repairs in my electorate of Northern Victoria Region and to hold the contractors responsible to account. Almost as often as I hear from my constituents about deteriorated, neglected roads I hear from them about unsatisfactory road repairs. Within weeks, sometimes days, of so-called repairs being completed, I am hearing stories of these works crumbling, potholes reforming and rough surfaces reappearing. This is simply not good enough. The government spruiks about how they have spent over $900 million on roads in the past year, yet my constituents are asking: where? The shoddy workmanship we are seeing on rural roads is appalling. If we take the Katamatite-Shepparton Road as an example, within three weeks of the repairs being completed, cracks began to form; several large potholes reformed or new ones opened up; and the dangerous rutting came back, in some places worse than before. It begs the question: does anyone from the government go back and check on the work completed by the contractors hired to complete these works? To my constituents it seems like an awful lot of money is thrown around for not much in return. Repairs lasting only a few weeks is not value for money, and that is what my constituents want to see. These roads should be fixed correctly the first time, with no corners cut and no need for almost immediate repairs, so the action I seek is for the minister to conduct an inquiry into unsatisfactory road repairs in my electorate of Northern Victoria, and to hold the contractors responsible to account.