Tuesday, 3 February 2026

 Melina BATH (Eastern Victoria) (19:37): (2089) My constituency question is for the Minister for Roads and Road Safety. Minister, we are experiencing yet another high bushfire season, and communities right across my Eastern Victoria electorate are deeply concerned about dangerously overgrown roadside vegetation – fuel loads that turn state roads into fire wicks and fire corridors. Despite repeated warnings from the CFA and local landholders, roadside slashing and fuel reduction works continue to be inconsistent, delayed or just not done. I can list Bass Coast, South Gippsland Highway; Hazelwood Road; Korumburra-Warragul Road; the Glengarry–Tyers road; and Strzelecki Highway. I can keep listing until morning all the roads – VicRoads roads – that need slashing and their fuel reduced. Will the minister commit to an urgent overhaul of roadside vegetation and fuel management and establish, in conjunction with the CFA, a process to make sure that these roadsides are slashed and fuel is reduced?