Tuesday, 25 August 2026

 David LIMBRICK (South-Eastern Metropolitan) presented a petition bearing 2001 signatures:

The petition of the undersigned residents of Victoria draws to the attention of the House that:

•   Cardinia Shire Council is responsible for maintaining approximately 831 kilometres of unsealed roads, representing one of the largest unsealed local road networks in metropolitan Melbourne.

•   Many of these roads are identified within Council’s Local Street Sealing Initiative (LSSI) as high priority, based on criteria including road safety, public health impacts, maintenance burden, and emergency access requirements.

•   Unsealed roads create significant and ongoing impacts for residents, including:

• Dust pollution affecting respiratory health and daily living

• Poor road conditions leading to safety risks, vehicle damage. and increased travel hazards

• Reduced accessibility for pedestrians and vulnerable road users

• Limited and unreliable access for emergency services

• Drainage deficiencies and overland flooding from road easements causing damage to private property

• A disproportionately high and recurring demand on Council’s operational budget to maintain deteriorating unsealed roads

•   Cardinia Shire is one of Melbourne’s most disaster-prone regions, experiencing:

• Bushfires in the northern areas

• Flooding in the southern areas

• Severe storm events frequently resulting in road closures and loss of access:

In these conditions, unsealed roads significantly compromise emergency response, evacuation capability, and community resilience, and highlight the need for:

• Improved environmental outcomes, including protection of sensitive waterways through better road and drainage design

• Reduced tong-term maintenance costs, enabling reinvestment of Council’s operational budget into other priority community services

•   Despite the existence of a transparent prioritisation framework through the LSSI, Council’s current funding levels are insufficient, and reliance on significant resident financial contributions creates inequitable outcomes and delays critical infrastructure delivery.

•   Evidence demonstrates that, over the lifecycle of a road, sealed roads can result in lower overall costs due to significantly reduced maintenance requirements compared with unsealed roads.

The petitioners therefore request that the Legislative Council call on the Victorian Government to:

•   Provide targeted State funding, co-funded where appropriate with the Commonwealth, to support the sealing of unsealed roads in Cardinia Shire:

•   Prioritise funding to seal up to 60 kilometres of Cardinia Shire’s highest priority roads, as identified through the Local Street Sealing Initiative;

•   Recognise the sealing of these roads as essential infrastructure investment, necessary to improve:

• Community safety

• Public health outcomes

• Emergency access and disaster resilience

•   Work with Cardinia Shire Council and the CRAG21 (Cockatoo Road Action Group) to accelerate delivery of priority projects within a clear and defined timeframe.

David LIMBRICK: As this is a petition qualifying for debate under standing order 11.03(10), I give notice that I intend to move ‘That the petition be taken into consideration’ on Wednesday of next sitting week.