The Nationals’ candidate for Gippsland East, Gemma Rendell, has welcomed a newly proposed $5 billion road maintenance fund, stating it will drastically improve road construction standards and deliver much-needed relief to local drivers tired of dodging potholes and enduring reduced speed limits.
The four-year infrastructure plan was announced by the Leader of The Nationals and Shadow Minister for Roads and Road Safety, Danny O’Brien.
Under the proposal, $5 billion would be dedicated to restoring and upgrading the state’s deteriorating road network.
Ms Rendell stated that East Gippsland residents, along with regional Victorians as a whole, have long had to put up with roads that are patched up with temporary fixes rather than being properly repaired.
“The situation is these temporary solutions soon fail, and what we see is reduced speed limits for extended periods, which impacts on business expenses and travel times,” Ms Rendell said.
According to Ms Rendell, local roads have been left to crumble while billions of dollars have been directed toward high-cost Big Build projects.
She asserted that if elected in the upcoming state election this November, The Nationals will rein in waste to ensure funding is redirected back to regional communities.
The Nationals’ policy platform includes several key measures to address regional road quality:
Re-establishing Better Roads Victoria: This initiative aims to rebuild the engineering and technical expertise that Ms Rendell claims was lost when the current administration dismantled Regional Roads Victoria.
Comprehensive road audits: Within six months of taking office, the coalition pledges to conduct a full audit of the state’s roads using i-PAVE assessment technology to establish an evidence-based priority list for roadworks.
The Fair Share Guarantee: A commitment to legally mandate that 25 per cent of Victoria’s total infrastructure spending is directed to regional areas.
Ms Rendell noted that regional Victoria currently receives less than 12 per cent of state infrastructure spending despite accounting for 25 per cent of the population.
“That’s not fair, and it’s why our roads keep failing,” she said.
“With The Nationals in government, roads will be fixed once and fixed properly, and contractors will be held accountable for the quality of their work.”
