Tuesday, 25 August 2026

 Joe McCRACKEN (Western Victoria) (22:25): (2728) My adjournment matter is for the Minister for Roads and Road Safety, and I have got an exciting update for the house. A few weeks ago I raised the matter of roads and particularly the Western Highway, and I noted that there were huge signs that were saying ‘Storm damage’. The update I have got is that the signs have been taken down because there was no storm in the first place. But instead of actually fixing the roads, what has replaced these ‘Storm damage’ signs? Yellow caution signs, and there are more of them actually.

I was driving along the Western Highway over the weekend, and it was like playing Mario Kart. It is seriously that bad. I was going left and right and dodging potholes all the way across the highway, and I was very lucky that there was not too much traffic. But in times when there is huge traffic I know people are forced to hit potholes as opposed to hitting a car in another lane. That is how bad it is. We are not just talking a couple of centimetres; we are talking about huge, gaping potholes right on one of Victoria’s highways. This is not a back road, this is a highway. And this is not just an isolated incident. It is not just on the Western Highway; it is on the Sunraysia Highway, it is on the Pyrenees Highway and it is on so many state-managed roads it is getting insane. No wonder people are inflicting damage on their vehicles. They have got no choice. They either drive into a pothole or drive off the road. We are not talking a couple of hundred bucks here and there; we are talking about thousands of dollars worth of damage, where tyres are getting blown up and rims are getting buckled. That is how bad it is. It is costing thousands and thousands of dollars. You worry about the safety of people on the roads, and you think of all the people, like schoolkids on buses, trucks, commuters, motorbikes, cyclists. Everyone who uses Victorian roads is putting their own life at risk every single day.

Ironically, it is scam week this week. Well, I think any road user would have to be looking at the road thinking, ‘What a scam this is. Where is my taxpayer money going? It looks like it’s going to buying coffee machines or pot plants. It’s certainly not going into the roads.’ The action I seek from the minister is to go and fix the roads – look at them and put some money into them – because clearly it is going anywhere else but our roads.