Tuesday, 28 May 2024

Narracan electorate roads

Wayne FARNHAM (Narracan) (19:18): (679) My adjournment this evening is for the Minister for Roads and Road Safety, and the action I seek is that immediate action be taken to address the disgraceful state of the roads in my community. This week in the Parliament’s Public Accounts and Estimates Committee under questioning from the member for Gippsland South, the government confirmed road repairs will be slashed by 75 per cent next year. That is astounding. They have also cut $88 million from the road safety fund this year. Regional roads are worse than ever. PAEC also heard that 388 kilometres of roads are now subject to speed restrictions due to a lack of maintenance.

I have brought up in this Parliament before, to the minister for roads, two intersections that are particularly dangerous in my electorate. One is the Hope Street intersection at Bunyip, and since I have raised the adjournment matter with the minister there have been nearly eight fatal collisions at that intersection. The other section of road I brought up with the minister was Main Neerim Road, just outside of Rokeby. Since addressing this issue there have been another five cars that have lost control on the road and slammed into a bank. The list of roads in Narracan in desperate need of road maintenance funding is so long that it would actually be faster to name the roads that do not need funding. On top of these cuts to maintenance we have also seen a failure to deliver the critical infrastructure upgrades we need. My regional roads are in an absolute mess under this government. My community want action now to fix road surfaces, to upgrade intersections and to address the massive population growth we are experiencing. It is so disappointing that Labor cannot manage money and clearly regional road users are going to pay the price.