Darren Chester (Gippsland, National Party, Shadow Minister for Regional Education) Share this | Hansard source

In the middle of a cost-of-living crisis, Gippslanders are paying more and receiving less from the Labor Party at both state and federal level, particularly when it comes to much needed upgrades to our transport network. We're expected to drive cars that are roadworthy, but the government is not providing roads which are 'carworthy'. This is costing lives and costing money in regional areas.

On top of the bureaucratic incompetence and lack of urgency shown by the relevant ministers, the cost of infrastructure projects in regional Victoria is blowing out by millions of dollars every week thanks to the ridiculous environmental laws that place a huge cost burden on public authorities. The safety of my community is falling a distant second to the need to purchase native vegetation offsets and comply with stringent environmental regulations, even when roads or airport extensions are occurring within the footprint of the land specifically reserved for that purpose. In some cases, more than 30 per cent of the cost of a project has been absorbed by compliance with state and federal environmental laws. Now, imagine how much better our transport network would be if one-third of the budget wasn't being wasted to purchase vegetation offsets.

It's even more extraordinary in Victoria that the Labor Party has banned the harvesting of native timber on public land. And not satisfied with this illogical decision to ban a sustainable and 100 per cent renewable industry, the state government is still requiring more land to be locked up in vegetation offsets if a road authority has to remove trees to widen a highway.

A planned extension and widening of the runway at the Bairnsdale aerodrome is on hold today because native grass was detected alongside the existing pavement. It would cost the local ratepayers several million dollars that they don't have to buy a separate piece of land, as a vegetation offset, in order for this project to proceed. This is bizarre, because the airport extension is meant to save lives. During the Black Summer bushfires, the Bairnsdale aerodrome was transformed into one of the busiest airports in Australia, hosting our Defence Force personnel and emergency services. Without the extended runway, the Bairnsdale aerodrome won't be fit for purpose in the future and lives will be put at risk in our community thanks to some native grass you can find in a paddock next door.

This environmental madness is tying up projects across our state and taxpayers are footing the bill for infrastructure which is costing more than necessary and running years late on the planned construction timeframes. And when you overlay this madness with city-focussed state and federal governments not putting the time or effort into our roads, we are bearing the cost in our communities. One transport operator told me last week that the front left-wheel shackle bushes on his trucks used to last a million kilometres; now he's lucky if they last 300,000 kilometres. That's because they're getting constantly pounded driving through potholes on the Princes Highway and the Monaro Highway. These potholes haven't been repaired by state and federal governments, which treat regional Australians, regional Victorians and Gippslanders as second-class citizens.

See this speech in context