IN THE first sitting week of parliament, State Member for Northern Victoria Wendy Lovell has blasted the State Government on the poor condition of roads in regional Victoria.
Addressing the new Minister for Roads and Road Safety, Melissa Horne, Ms Lovell described the condition of Victoria’s regional road network as “deplorable” and blamed chronic underinvestment in road maintenance.
Ms Lovell said that the Andrews Government had never prioritised the maintenance and safety of regional roads, evidenced by scrapping of the State Coalition’s ‘Country Roads and Bridges Program’ in 2014. The program provided $160M to 40 small regional councils and shires to maintain and repair local roads.
In her contribution, Ms Lovell highlighted the dangerous condition of the Katamatite-Nathalia Rd, which has a large pothole on a sweeping bend, causing some drivers to cross onto the wrong side of the road. Like many others, the pothole has been filled several times with premix, which begins to break up with the first vehicle to cross it.
“Road users must ensure their cars are roadworthy but sadly our roads are not roadworthy because of the chronic lack of funding from the Andrews Government since their election in 2014,” said Ms Lovell.
“The practice of not repairing potholes properly has led to sections of roads in my electorate being extremely dangerous and I call on the Minister to articulate her plan and provide the substantial funding required to fix regional Victoria’s deplorable road network.”She requested Minister Horne to unveil her plan to fix regional roads and match or better the Coalition’s election commitment of at least $1B a year for the next 10 years to complete the intensive maintenance program required.
