Wednesday, 2 April 2025

Shepparton electorate roads

Kim O’KEEFFE (Shepparton) (19:13): (1107) My adjournment matter is for the Minister for Roads and Road Safety, and the action I seek is that the minister join me for a tour of the dangerous roads in my electorate with Mr Stewart Edgar from Sutherland Transport Services. Just last week Stewart contacted me requesting that I join him on the road in his truck to see firsthand the dangerous roads and unsafe conditions that he faces on a daily basis. Stewart raised one of the dangerous circumstances: when trucks are passing one another on these roads, there simply is not the clearance to swerve to miss a pothole, and often it is a case of hitting the pothole or ending up in a ditch or a head-on collision. Damage to their vehicles from damaged roads or hitting potholes is costing local truck companies thousands of dollars every month, and it is simply not sustainable. These costs should not be put on the local trucking businesses for no fault of their own. Being able to drive on safe and well-maintained roads and make it home at the end of a shift is crucial to the livelihoods of our truck drivers. Let us remember roads are their workplace, and this government is failing to keep them safe.

Twenty-five per cent of this state’s trucks are registered in my electorate. This a phenomenal number and something that we are incredibly proud of. We are talking about a major transport region that contributes so much to the nation and should have assurance of a safe road network so that they can transport produce to the port or wherever they need to. With so much movement of trucks, you would expect that our roads would be maintained.

It is not just Stewart that is fed up. I am regularly contacted by other truck drivers and other road users who are at their wits’ end over the state of our appalling and unsafe roads. It is actually astounding to see the degree of damage that is happening and that road users are expected to navigate. Road maintenance targets are not being met, funding is cut and our roads continue to crumble and are full of potholes. The government continues to prioritise city-centric projects with billions in cost blowouts rather than prioritise our roads and road safety. Stewart has invited me to join him, as I said, in his truck to see what he is experiencing on a daily basis. He also invites the minister to join us so she can also experience and see firsthand the dangerous road network out in the regions due to the neglect of our roads. This is the minister’s responsibility, and the level of neglect and the impact need to be seen to be believed. I invite the minister to join me and Stewart to experience firsthand what the neglect of our road network looks like from a truck driver’s perspective.