Tuesday, 17 February 2026

 Wendy LOVELL (Northern Victoria) (14:50): In late December a constituent contacted me about the poor condition of Black Forest Drive near Woodend. During hot weather last year, the road surface melted and in response contractors dumped large amounts of blue metal aggregate. When trucks turned their wheels on the aggregate it would tear up the soft asphalt leaving the road surface badly damaged.

I forwarded this complaint on to the Minister for Roads and Road Safety, who responded to say that spreading aggregate was a short-term treatment until permanent repair or resurfacing could be carried out and that the road speed would be reduced in the meantime. The minister anticipated that permanent road surface repairs would be carried out in early 2026 at which point the normal speed conditions would be reinstated. When I checked in with the constituent, he said that a sweeper had removed excess aggregate but that the speed was still reduced, and it does not appear that permanent repairs have been done yet.

The minister must inform local residents who use Black Forest Drive exactly when permanent road repairs will be carried out. The minister has already annoyed local residents by ignoring their feedback into the redevelopment of Black Forest Drive, so she should now at least respond to their concerns about the road surface and speed limit.