Tuesday, 8 September 2026

 Gaelle BROAD (Northern Victoria) (00:07): (2785) My adjournment is to the Minister for Roads and Road Safety. Across northern Victoria, residents, farmers, freight operators and local businesses are fed up with the appalling condition of our roads. We are seeing lives put at risk, vehicles damaged, roads closed, longer travel times and increased risks for everyone who uses our roads. The action I seek is for the government to fix our regional roads and to provide a specific update on the state of the Charlton-St Arnaud Road and the Elmore-Raywood Road and what is being done to improve these important roads that families, farmers and businesses rely on every day.

In June last year I wrote to the minister on behalf of a local resident to raise concerns about the Charlton-St Arnaud Road. The government responded that experts were finalising a program of works to repair, rebuild and resurface roads across the state and that the Charlton-St Arnaud Road would be considered as part of that process. The minister also advised that the road was being inspected monthly for safety hazards and general defects. Well, 12 months later nothing has been done. That same resident contacted me again recently, providing photographs showing the appalling condition of the road. They told me that in some sections the lane is just 2.1 metres wide, meaning vehicles have to drive off the road to pass each other. This is not just cars; they mentioned school buses, horse floats, tourists, learner drivers, utes with trailers, farm machinery, B-doubles, C-doubles and road trains, and they described the road as ‘dangerously unsafe’. Their experience is reflected right across the region.

In the last week I have been to Wunghnu, Maldon and Bridgewater, and everywhere I go people are raising the same issue: the condition of our roads. I was also in Raywood last week with the Nationals candidate for Bendigo East Andrew Lethlean, listening to local residents and speaking with freight operators concerned about the Elmore-Raywood Road, particularly the Kamarooka section. This road is falling apart, and it is used regularly by school buses and is an important freight and transport route. While the government patched 566,000 square metres of road in 2024–25, this year’s target has been reduced to just 74,000 square metres. That is an enormous reduction when regional roads are already in desperate need of investment. With just 11 weeks until the election, the government are now promising to fix the potholes, but they have been in government for 12 years. The Nationals have a plan: in government we will properly fund our roads through the fair share guarantee, establish Better Roads Victoria to rebuild technical expertise, allocate $5 billion to repair and rebuild Victoria’s roads, fix roads properly the first time and enforce tough standards to hold construction companies accountable. Regional drivers are paying the price for Labor’s neglect. We will stop the waste and invest in safer, better roads across regional Victoria.