Investment in country roads must be a priority of the upcoming State Budget, says local MP, Tim Bull.
“At the risk of re-stating the bleedingly obvious and repeating what we all know, the state of Victoria’s country roads is the worst in recent history,” he said.
Speaking in Parliament, Mr Bull said ‘traffic hazard ahead’ signs had in some cases been a constant in the one location for four years without any proper fix being applied.
“When you have both the roads’ resealing budget and general maintenance budget slashed over recent years, there is only ever going to be one outcome and that is what we are seeing,” he said.
“When we raise this, the Minister blames the weather and floods, but Bureau of Meteorology data tells us our weather patterns in Gippsland have been incredibly normal over recent years with no major events.
“It is an attempt to deflect the cuts that are clearly stated in the Government’s own Budget papers and is a direct result of their inability to manage money.
“Unfortunately, we have arrived at a point in time where their own figures indicate a debt of $187 billion with interest payments alone of more than $1 million per hour, or $1 billion every six weeks.
“The result is we see cuts in funding programs (like roads) and services (like fisheries officers), but it is just a case of Labor being unable to manage money and country Victorians paying the price,” he said.
“In addition to roads funding, we need new fire stations at Metung and Lakes Entrance and police stations at Orbost and Maffra, as well as the promised mental health services delivered.
“I am aware we won’t get all we need, but it is about time we started knocking a few of these projects off the list,” he said.
