Road maintenance
Danny O’BRIEN (Gippsland South) (14:40): My question is to the Minister for Roads and Road Safety. A crew of 10 Fulton Hogan workers from Ballarat are in Far North Queensland working on Queensland roads for six weeks because for the first time in decades there is no work for them in Victoria. Why are Victorian road workers having to travel to Queensland to find work when our own roads are in such a disgraceful condition?
Melissa HORNE (Williamstown – Minister for Casino, Gaming and Liquor Regulation, Minister for Local Government, Minister for Ports and Freight, Minister for Roads and Road Safety) (14:41): I always welcome an opportunity to talk about our record investment in road maintenance. As the member for South Gippsland knows, we are spending $964 million this year on road maintenance, and that is happening all across Victoria. But let us be really clear –
Members interjecting.
Melissa HORNE: Are we interested in the answer? This is absolutely a historic investment. As you would be aware, we have got new contracts in place, which give us much more information about how we treat the road maintenance program. But we have signed up with national companies as well. So in relation to crew members from Fulton Hogan working all across the country, that is entirely a matter for Fulton Hogan, but what I can tell you is that we have got contractors out across the network. Whether it is on the South Gippsland Highway, whether it is up in Mildura or whether it is out on the Western Highway, we have got crews all across Victoria, with 70 per cent of that work being done in regional Victoria.
Danny O’BRIEN (Gippsland South) (14:42): The department of transport’s annual report tabled last sitting week revealed that road repairs dropped by 95 per cent compared to the previous year. Further, no new road surfacing contracts have been let since the latest blitz was announced. When will this Labor government stop misleading Victorians about maintenance blitzes and actually fix our roads?
Melissa HORNE (Williamstown – Minister for Casino, Gaming and Liquor Regulation, Minister for Local Government, Minister for Ports and Freight, Minister for Roads and Road Safety) (14:43): I have said this before in the chamber: we have got shifty numbers by the shifty member being put up before the chamber. However, if we can go back in time to October 2022, I appreciate that the flood events that occurred there are a very inconvenient truth for those on the other side to recognise that this did untold damage to our road network. That is why –
Danny O’Brien: On a point of order, Speaker, the minister is debating the question. If she would like to show us on her government website where the tenders are for this work, that would be appreciated.
The SPEAKER: The minister was being relevant to the question that was asked.
Melissa HORNE: As I said, we have got more data – we have got these contracts in place – to be able to make sure that we have got the appropriate treatment for what the road maintenance task is. As I said, whether you are out on the South Gippsland Highway, whether you are on the Melba Highway or whether you are up in Mildura, there is road maintenance happening.