Western Victoria Region
Bev McARTHUR (Western Victoria) (12:44): (39) My constituency question is for the Minister for Roads and Road Safety. In June 2020 Victoria’s Auditor-General handed down his report into the state’s $1 billion road safety program. The program championed the use of wire rope barriers as a solution to reduce head-on crashes and run-off-the-road accidents by up to 85 per cent. The Auditor-General found the reality was closer to 56 per cent, not 85, and questioned the cost-benefit assumptions being made on taxpayers’ behalf. VicRoads was to install these barriers on 20 of Victoria’s high-risk rural roads. It was both over time and 22 per cent over budget. The auditor required VicRoads to respond to the report within 12 months, providing detailed accident data. My question is: has VicRoads met its obligation to the Auditor-General, and what was that response? And if not, why not?