Wednesday, 23 September 2026

 Tom McINTOSH (Eastern Victoria) (14:02): It is good to be able to get back to speaking on this motion. Premier Carroll has identified a number of areas of investment and policy to improve the conditions of our roads. The amount of potholes we will repair will go from 250,000 to 500,000, and we will complete double the length of road repair. Alongside doubling the number of potholes being fixed to half a million, we will clear and manage more than 1.7 million metres of vegetation also.

There are a number of things that Premier Carroll has outlined that are important to improving the conditions of our roads. It is not just about fixing the roads, it is about the way we repair our roads and doing that better. That involves putting government back in charge of state road maintenance programs. We have got a number of things that sit within the way we go about repairing our roads, and we have got to get them all right. Another important thing is for people to be able to identify, report and keep an eye on what is going on with potholes and other repairs that need to be done on their roads. That is why the government is going to establish a website where people can submit problems on the roads and monitor the works to repair them. New statewide standards for road quality and road safety will lift the bar for everyone, everywhere, and will make it easier for Victorians to get compensation if something occurs on the roads.

We are going to use local knowledge. We will empower our five road maintenance regions – Barwon South West, Loddon Mallee, Hume, Gippsland, inner metro and greater metro – because the best road maintenance decisions are made by people who drive on them most. We will work closely and constructively with councils. I am really passionate on that point. You want people closest to the things that matter to them making the decisions. It is also about entrusting people with the skills locally to make decisions and to roll out works across a variety of portfolios in government, and roads are an absolutely obvious area where we are going to get better outcomes by doing that.

As part of getting more hands on deck, we will work with Corrections Victoria to pilot minimum-security prisoners helping with basic roadside maintenance like mowing and graffiti removal. These supervised offenders will supplement existing workforces and allow skilled crews to get on and fix more potholes. But we did not need a Victorian Auditor-General’s Office report to tell us this. Victorians already knew it, and the condition of the roads needs to improve. That is why these announcements have been made, and this work is getting on with it right now.

I just want to add some information around freight and what is moving on our roads. Obviously we have got a variety of big users on our roads, agriculture being one. There are all the materials involved in our construction and infrastructure sector. Obviously we have got people using the roads day in, day out. We have got tourists using the roads, which somehow those opposite were trying to weaponise before. I do not know what they have got against tourists, particularly local tourists, in our state. I am a passionate believer in money being spent in our own economy. Why would you fly to the other side of the world, spend hours in airports and sitting on aeroplanes jet-lagged, when you can jump in a car and get out and experience Victoria? Of course with oil over a hundred bucks a barrel at the moment, why not do it in an electric vehicle with all the charging infrastructure that the state government has invested in as well, Mrs McArthur?

The government has invested almost $600 million in rail freight maintenance. I think Ms Bath talked before about what school this side goes to, with the things we talk about. When I was at school, I remember Kennett shutting down schools. If you want to talk about our school of thought, it was actually the Liberals and the Nationals that helped inform that school of thought when schools were being shut down, when hospitals were being privatised and when V/Line and train services were being ripped apart. That is why I am really proud to be part of a government that is investing in freight. In the last financial year we saw a 44 per cent boost in grain volumes on rail compared to the previous year, moving almost 2.14 million gross tonnes of bulk grain. We saw an increase in container freight, up 13 per cent, and crushed rock, up 11 per cent, on rail, with a total of 3.4 million gross tonnes of commodities transported on the V/Line freight network. What that means, for those opposite, is fewer trucks on our roads. It actually means lower freight emissions as well, which is a good thing. And given the inflationary component of oil prices, it is a very good thing that we are consuming less oil and keeping inflationary pressures off our commodities and off our goods. The ability to do that across regional and rural Victoria with these freight hubs and to transform how freight moves across Melbourne with the port rail shuttle network is getting trucks off our roads, is reducing congestion, is keeping prices down on goods we move across this state and is taking pressure off our road network.

We know that the Liberals, in alliance with One Nation, want to drive down workers pay. We know that the Liberals, in alliance with One Nation, want to get rid of child care. They want to get rid of schools, they want to make cuts to health care and they want to drive the cost of living for Victorians up. Victorians should think very carefully about what the Liberals and One Nation will do. We know their feverish desire for Trumpian politics to cut and slash and leave Victorians without services, to leave Victorians with lower wages and to make it harder for Victorians to have the things they need, like education, like healthcare services and like public transport. We know the Liberals and One Nation will cut and cut and cut, because that is in their DNA. We know that. We see Trump politics playing out. We know that the Liberals and One Nation look to and idolise Trumpian politics. They idolise it. Victorians will do well to remember what the Liberals have done in the past and remember what they will do if they get half a chance in the future.

 Renee HEATH (Eastern Victoria) (14:10): I am following on from Mr McIntosh’s interesting diatribe. I think in the alternate universe, which is the Labor propaganda unit, they like to set out the agenda of what it is we will do, so I am going to start strong by setting out exactly what it is that the Liberals and Nationals will do and what we will invest in if we have the honour of being elected to government in Victoria.

The first thing that we are going to do, regardless of what Mr McIntosh says, is we will invest $5 billion straightaway into road maintenance. What we are going to start with straightaway is investing that $5 billion into road maintenance, which is not a cut like Mr McIntosh would say. In fact it was Premier Carroll that cut from the roads budget, which I will get to soon. What we will do is we will invest $5 billion, a 25 per cent increase on the current spend. We will establish Better Roads Victoria as a standalone division within the department of transport and infrastructure, rebuilding the technical and engineering expertise lost when the Allan Labor government abandoned VicRoads and axed Regional Roads Victoria. We will boost roadside maintenance such as grass slashing, graffiti removal and drainage clearance. That has been spoken about a little bit. Completely opposite to reality from what we have heard here, this is what our plan is and this is what our team will deliver. We will lift departmental and contractor accountability through a review of construction standards and maintenance contracts. Let me just say that it must be embarrassing at the end of a 12-year relationship to come and say, ‘Oh, but we’re going to change.’ That is what the Allan and ‍Carroll Labor governments have really focused on.

I rise to speak in support of Mrs McArthur’s motion on roads and road safety, because it is vitally important. I will say that there is no more obvious sign of a crumbling government than its crumbling roads. It is really the physical evidence of a government that cannot manage the basics. It is the physical evidence of that. We have seen the Premier himself, Premier Ben Carroll, trying to distance himself from the issue. It was unbelievable footage we saw on the telly when he said, ‘But I’m not the minister for roads.’ It was literally the captain of the team abandoning his team and saying, ‘That’s got nothing to do with me,’ when in fact he is the Premier. The buck stops with him. But also, he was the roads minister. He was challenged, and he straightaway backed away. When he was the minister, he cut $200 million from the budget, and it is that neglect that has led us to where we are now.

I have outlined our plan. That is what we are going to do. That is what we are going to deliver. But above and beyond that we have also got the country roads and bridges program, which will be a $288 million investment in country roads and bridges. That is what we will deliver. Under this commitment, each of the 48 rural and regional councils will receive $1.5 million of untied funding for local roads and bridges so that they will have the ability in their own hands to make the decisions to fix these issues without having to come begging.

Recent RACV data shows – and in the interests of time I am just going to flick to the back of it – that essentially road surface conditions and potholes were the number one safety issue for 71 per cent of respondents, and that is an increase from 64 per cent. That is saying that the people that are using the roads – Victorians, not the people within these walls but the road users themselves, the people that put us here – are saying, that things have got worse. It has increased, that number, from 64 per cent to 71 per cent. The report states:

… with 71 per cent of respondents identifying potholes and rough surfaces as the number one issue – an increase from 64 per cent in 2024.

That is why we are going to eliminate a million potholes. The RACV had to shortlist, which is unbelievable, the 52 most hazardous roads based on design, features and narrow lanes. It says:

While each region raised distinct local concerns, the results show consistent demand for practical investment that improves the condition, capacity and safety of Victoria’s regional road network.

That is exactly what we will do. Over 7000 people responded about improving specific roads. Nearly three-quarters of respondents nominated road resurfacing as the highest priority. This is a government that is really trying to reverse the narrative.

While I have time I will quickly mention a few of the things that are quite funny that these guys have said. Mr Batchelor said they are taking back responsibility and control. From whom? You have been the government for 12 years. Taking it back from whom? Ms Ermacora said, ‘Those opposite don’t like that we now have a plan and we’re going to do things differently.’ You have had 12 years to do things differently. You did not. I commend this motion to the house.

 Bev McARTHUR (Western Victoria) (14:16): I am very pleased to sum up the debate on this motion, which apart from anything else, notes that the Honourable Ben Carroll served as the Minister for Roads and Road Safety from June 2020 to December 2022, during which time road asset management funding fell from $958.8 million to $760.1 million in 2021–22. It also calls on the government to publish road condition, backlog and repair data and regional maintenance allocations and timetables and to explain how it will arrest the deterioration of roads identified by the Auditor-General.

I want to thank those that participated in the debate: Dr Mansfield – my colleague from Western Victoria Region – Mr Batchelor, Ms Bath, Ms Tyrrell, Ms Ermacora, Ms Lovell, Mr Bourman, Mr McIntosh and Dr Heath.

Michael Galea: I did want to speak; I got timed out.

Bev McARTHUR: And all those that did not get a chance, Mr Galea. Fantastic. I am sure you would have all liked to have spoken on the appalling state of the roads that you have been in charge of for 12 years. Now, at 5 minutes to midnight, when there is an election 5 minutes away, you think you have got a plan to fix the roads. Well, good luck with that. Victorians have got way more sense than you are giving them credit for. You say you are going to have a portal where we can register bad roads. Hang on a minute, they have been telling you for years how bad your roads are. You have been denying it. Ms Ermacora only came to the realisation there were bad roads very recently, and Ms Terpstra thinks potholes are wonderful. Seriously, you people think you have got a plan to fix the roads when you are about to go into caretaker mode. You have got no hope in the world of convincing Victorians that you are going to do anything decent.

I want to give a shout-out to the people that really work hard and care about roads. Regional Cities Victoria is a great group of councils. They are led by Mayor Blain from Warrnambool. He is a terrific advocate for everything that is rural and regional. There is also Rural Councils of Victoria, led by Cr Rob Amos, with deputy chair Kate Makin, who is the mayor of my municipality. I was so pleased to go to Swan Hill recently and announce the funding for the 48 rural and regional councils so that they can have untied funding – $1.5 million a year for four years – to fix their roads and bridges. That is what is important, and they have been advocating for it. We will deliver it, along with our massive investment in roads that will do something serious, apart from having a system that will provide better road infrastructure so that we do not need to continually repair roads.

I could not believe what I was hearing from the other side. You have said that you are going to ask people what they expect. I can tell you what they expect. They have expected for the last 12 years that the roads be of good condition. At the moment they are absolutely shocking. They are actually, as Mr Bourman said, a major safety issue. People are dying on these roads because of the lack of maintenance. I was on a road toll inquiry with some sorts of experts from inner-city Melbourne telling us, ‘We’ll just lower the speed limit.’ Let me tell you, lowering the speed limit out in the country does not cut the mustard when you have got to get children to school and products to market. Your solution is prisoner-led road gangs. Well, spare me. This is going to be the solution to fixing the roads in Victoria – a portal where people can tell you how bad the road is and a prisoner-led road gang out on the side of a road. There is just no limit to your hopelessness when it comes to roads and road safety. As Mr Bourman said, roads need to be car-safe, because you demand that cars are roadworthy. You have never lifted your game for the entire period you have been in office. Our roads are shocking. Our cars are very good, but you have let the side down. Victorians will give you a message on 28 November because they want real work done.

Motion agreed to.