Lisa Chesters (Bendigo, Australian Labor Party) Share this | Hansard source

The black spots program—and we're talking about roads here, because sometimes people confuse it with the black spots program for mobile phone towers—as those in regional electorates know, is critical. They also know that it has been bipartisan for many years. It has existed in its current form since 1996, but we have seen a significant increase in funding flow into the program since that time.

In Victoria, my home state, from 1996-97 to 2022-23, over $360 million has gone into local roads, funding individual black spot programs. My electorate has done well. Since 2011-12, we have received close to $30 million through this program for that little intersection, where it might be $250,000 to upgrade pedestrian access around a roundabout, to major intersections like Edwards Road in Maiden Gully. I mention Edwards Road in Maiden Gully because it's receiving funding in this round of the black spots program. What I've always thought is tough to stomach when it comes to this program is that you need to have fatalities or near misses to be able to qualify. It is when we start to lose lives or are at risk of losing lives. Everybody knew that Edwards Road would be a problem from the moment they started building houses on the other side of the Calder Highway. Yet, until now, there wasn't a funding source available to fix this intersection.

Before I became a member of parliament--a decade ago--people were raising this issue with me. We need to do better in how we help local and state governments fund road infrastructure. This is not the only program that the federal government funds. There's also the Roads to Recovery funding, which is funding that goes directly to local governments to help with local roads, plus there's a Local Roads and Community Infrastructure fund. Our government has extended the funding for another year to focus on regional and rural road funding for local councils to do the work that is needed.

What's missing from this debate is a discussion about what has happened to our road network in the last decade. The impact of natural disasters has had a significant impact on our local roads. The flood event that we had in October in my electorate washed entire roads away, not just our small gravel grade roads around Axe Creek and Axedale, but VicRoads lost entire major arterials in and out of Bendigo. Every major road into town was damaged just as much small roads. Unfortunately, we're now in a situation where we're repairing roads damaged by the previous floods into this year. This is a problem that all of us face. With increased natural disasters, the roads that were repaired last summer may have to be repaired this summer. So, yes, there are lots of challenges out there, but it's also an unprecedented experience that many of our communities are having because of the impact of increasing natural disasters.

This program is a program that was, I thought, bipartisan. It was recognition that funding did need to be allocated to state government to help local government fix black spots. It was an extension and a gesture from the federal government to say, 'We are here to help you to do the work that is needed.' Yes, the process does feel a bit clunky. We, at the federal level, allocate the money to the state government to establish a panel. I got the opportunity to chair the panel in Victoria. We consider a list that's been put forward by the Victorian government. It's a panel made up of a few representatives, not just members of parliament, and then local governments put forward those projects.

The program is always oversubscribed, as there is a need for it. So there could be a future review of how we go through that process. However, even the money that you might save by looking at that process isn't going to be enough to bridge the gap. Yes, we need to have a stronger dialogue between local, state and federal governments on how we fix all our roads, but we also have to look at how we adapt to climate change and the increase of natural disasters and the impact that is having on our local infrastructure. The role of local government is important, as is state and federal, in this conversation about black spots and all road program funding.

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