It is hard to believe our roads can get any worse – but they will – there is no other possible outcome.
The State Government’s own assessment found a staggering 91 per cent of our roads are in “poor or very poor” condition. So, did Jacinta Allan respond to this revelation?
Figures released by Roads Minister, Melissa Horne, show resurfacing spending dropped from $201.4 million in 2022/23 to $37.6 million in 2023/24.
This 81 per cent cut in funding to resurface roads on top of their already poor condition, can only ever end one way – even worse conditions.
In addition to this, road maintenance funding (the money used to fill potholes and make temporary repairs) is less than it was in 2020 after a 45 per cent cut in that year.
Australian Community Media, which completed some additional research, revealed repairs dropped from more than nine million square metres in 2022/23 to just 343,000 square metres in 2023/24 – a 96 per cent decrease.
Some of this can be attributed to the northern Victorian flood response, but with a raft of signs on our roads warning us to slow down due to a “rough surface ahead” or “road hazard ahead”, the funding needed to be sustained rather than obliterated.
Interestingly, in the state’s own assessment, not one road was listed as “good” or “very good”, with the remaining nine per cent only listed as “fair”.
The National Transport Research Organisation (NTRO) conducted the survey for the Department of Transport across the state’s road network.
The survey was undertaken using the NTRO’s iPAVE technology and was spruiked by the Labor Government in January last year as “world-first”, despite having been used by other states for years.
The state has argued that unprecedented wet weather is a contributor, but this is not accurate and a poor excuse. The survey listed only 707kms of road as flood affected and, apart from the northern Victorian floods, Bureau data shows the weather has been largely average over recent years.
The real reason is simply this. Labor can’t manage money, can’t manage projects and its Victorian motorists who are paying the price. The roads budget has been decimated to service an increasing debt ($25 million per day in interest alone) and build a rail line worth $220 billion in Melbourne that we were told would cost $50 billion.
Only the Liberals and Nationals will provide the investment our country roads need, as committed to last election with a promise of $10 billion over 10 years.
