Tuesday, 26 November 2024

Questions without notice and ministers statements

Road maintenance

Danny O’BRIEN (Gippsland South) (14:01): My question is to the Premier. PAEC was told last week there are 487 kilometres of road across the state with reduced speed limits due to the poor state of the road. Will the entire 487 kilometres be fixed and the speed limit returned to its previous level by the end of the summer maintenance program?

Jacinta ALLAN (Bendigo East – Premier) (14:02): I thank the newly minted Leader of the National Party for his question. I pay tribute to the former Leader of the National Party and thank him for his service to the community, and I am sure the Deputy Leader of the National Party is pleased to be in full service of her leader at the table. I was asked a question –

Emma Kealy interjected.

Jacinta ALLAN: I am sure you are, member for Lowan. The Leader of the National Party asked a question about road maintenance funding and the work on the summer maintenance blitz, and the reason why the Leader of the National Party can ask this question is of course because we are investing $967 million in this maintenance blitz, an investment that is more than double the average spend that was invested by a previous National–Liberal government. When they were not slashing funding to roads, they were not spending anywhere near the levels of investment that we are spending on regional roads. There are a range of roads –

Danny O’Brien: On a point of order, Speaker, on the question of relevance, I ask you to bring the Premier back to answering the question about: will these roads be fixed?

Mary-Anne Thomas: On the point of order, Speaker, there is no point of order. The Premier was being entirely relevant to the question. I ask that you rule the point of order out of order.

The SPEAKER: The Premier was being relevant to the question, but I do ask the Premier to give consideration to the question.

Jacinta ALLAN: I was asked about the summer maintenance blitz and the $964 million that we are investing in that summer maintenance blitz, and I know the Leader of the National Party does not want to hear me talk about how that is more than double the average investment that a previous Nationals government spent on road maintenance. One of the challenges with this summer’s road maintenance program is that, alongside the $964 million that we are investing, there has also been significant damage –

Members interjecting.

Jacinta ALLAN: As someone who travels all the time on these regional roads, as someone whose electorate was badly flooded on not one occasion in the last two years but in at least two significant flooding events, I have seen that there has been extensive damage. I would advise the Leader of the National Party as he takes on this new role to perhaps get well briefed on how the road maintenance program works, because of course you can only get in there and do that work when it is not raining so you can ensure that that work is done appropriately. That is why we have a summer maintenance blitz. That is why this work is being concentrated over the summer, and we are getting on and upgrading those roads.

Members interjecting.

The SPEAKER: Order! I remind the Leader of the Nationals that I can hear him at the table now.

Danny O’BRIEN (Gippsland South) (14:05): Apparently the Premier cannot, Speaker, because she does not answer the questions.

The SPEAKER: Order! Through the Chair.

Danny O’BRIEN: I did say it through the Chair. The Department of Transport and Planning reported some 1200 Victorians had submitted claims for compensation due to damage to their cars from substandard road surfaces. During a cost-of-living crisis, how many Victorians received compensation?

Jacinta ALLAN (Bendigo East – Premier) (14:06): Of course, as the Leader of the National Party would know from his many years serving on the Public Accounts and Estimates Committee, the insurance processes are well laid out. I am advised that they are well laid out in terms of the motorists having to go through their insurance provider in order to work through those claims, so that question is best placed for those insurance companies. We are getting on and investing $964 million in road maintenance over this summer maintenance blitz. This is a big investment. It recognises that many regional roads were badly affected by flooding events that affected something like 63 out of the 79 ‍local government areas across the state, which is why we have made this significant and important investment.

The SPEAKER: Before I call the ministers statement, I remind members that it is disrespectful to members on their feet to continually interject. Members will be removed from the chamber without warning.