Tuesday, 18 February 2025

Stratford-Maffra Road speed zones

Tim BULL (Gippsland East) (19:18): (1009) My adjournment is for the Minister for Roads and Road Safety, and the action that I am seeking is for the minister to instruct her transport department to adhere to its own speed zone policies around community consultation. This follows yet another PR disaster, with the lowering of speed limits on the Stratford-Maffra Road, a straight stretch of road of around 5 kilometres with farmland either side. When I raised this issue with the regional office, I was told broader consultation is not typically undertaken for speed zone changes. This is in direct contradiction with the department’s speed zoning policy, and I will just pull out a couple of excerpts from it. It says that as part of considerations to change speed zones community engagement is conducted:

… to understand the community’s views and explain the reasoning behind speed limit change decisions.

This did not occur. It also says:

When determining or changing a speed limit, engagement with affected communities and road users shall be undertaken.

Engagement is important to gauge the level of support that the community and the road users have …

If it is important, why didn’t it happen? It did not happen.

It also says in this policy that if a significant change is proposed in an arterial road, which Stratford-Maffra Road is, consultation needs to be expanded to include affected road users, businesses and others who may be impacted. This did not occur.

I have since learned of other changes with no consultation with business representative groups, chambers of commerce and road users, and the policy says this should occur. I was told by the department that Wellington shire was supportive. This is not accurate. Wellington shire said that it wished for community consultation to be undertaken, but it did not occur. No freight, bus or truck companies were contacted. Why not? The policy says that affected road users will be contacted, as well as businesses. These companies are both road users and businesses – not contacted.

All the new signs have been pushed over by angry motorists, and while I do not condone this, it is a symptom of not consulting and not bringing the community with you. I would like the department to revisit this decision on this road by undertaking the consultation it should have undertaken in the first place. I am sure the minister has enough on her plate with the state of the roads, but I request that she direct her department to follow its own policy, properly consult community and have public forums when changes are proposed for major arterials.