Dan Tehan (Wannon, Liberal Party, Shadow Minister for Immigration and Citizenship) Share this | Hansard source

I move:

That this House:

(1) notes that the:

(a) deterioration of country roads due to the reduction in funding for maintenance has created millions of potholes leading to accidents and serious damage to vehicles;

(b) Government has been cutting and delaying road projects since it was elected;

(c) Victorian State Government has drastically reduced funding for maintenance of the state road network;

(d) reduction in funding for maintenance has led to an increase in Victorian motorists having tyres shredded, wheels misaligned, and accidents including fatal accidents over the past two years; and

(e) state of the road network in regional Victoria has led to an increase in serious accidents and an increase in fatal accidents; and

(2) calls on the Government to:

(a) undertake an audit on the condition of Victoria's local and state road network and make that information public;

(b) double the amount of funding available to repair Victoria's road network over the next four years; and

(c) abandon support for the Suburban Rail Loop (SRL) and invest the $2.2 billion of funding allocated to the SRL in Victorian country roads.

The Albanese Labor government has its priorities all wrong. What we need to see from them today and over the next months and years ahead is investment in our crumbling road network in Victoria. If they don't do that it will be another example as to how they have their priorities wrong. Sadly, what he have seen from the Albanese Labor government so far is them cutting maintenance funding to our regional and rural roads in Victoria—as a matter of fact, to roads right across Victoria. We need to see that reversed, and we need to see that reversed immediately. If we don't then the sad reality is that the cost-of-living crisis people are facing at the moment and especially what they have been facing over the last two years will only get worse. Everywhere I go people are now saying to me that they are starting to see their tyres get punctured, they're starting to see their rims get damaged and they're starting to see a greater cost to actually driving on our road network. Not only that but, sadly, in regional and rural Victoria in particular we are starting to see road accidents and road deaths begin to increase again. That is why the Albanese Labor government has to change its priorities and change them right here and now.

If we take the Princes Highway in my electorate, what have we seen the Albanese Labor government do since they came into power? They've not said to the Victorian state government, 'We'll provide 80 per cent of the funding for the road maintenance if you will provide 20 per cent.' They have said, 'We will only provide 50 per cent.' The Allan Labor government has cut maintenance funding to Victorian roads by 95 per cent, and the Albanese Labor government have dramatically cut their road funding to Victoria as well. This is simply not good enough. I can tell you: the feedback I get from my electorate on a daily basis—and I know other members get exactly the same—is that we need the federal government to immediately take action and start investing in our local road network again. They cannot waste time, effort and money on business cases; they need to make sure they deliver that money right here and now.

This isn't against investing in rail. As my constituents know, I advocated strongly for an upgrade to the rail link between Melbourne and Warrnambool, and we got serious Commonwealth investment into that rail network, so this is nothing against rail. This is about the dire emergency facing Victoria's road network. And it's not just me or the member for Casey complaining about this. Even the government's own members of parliament are doing that. If you go and have a look at the member for Corangamite's social media, there is the member for Corangamite complaining about the state of the roads in Corangamite. This is an issue across the board. Everyone in Victoria knows that we're not getting the investment that we need in our roads. Everyone knows that the Albanese Labor government has its priorities wrong in cutting maintenance funding. Everyone knows that the Allan Labor government have their priorities wrong in cutting funding to Victoria's road network.

That is why this motion calls on Anthony Albanese to immediately invest money in improving our road network in Victoria—both maintenance and building. If he doesn't do this, then, sadly, the phone call that I received a couple of weeks ago is likely to become all too common. A lady rang me and said that she lost her brother years ago in a road accident and, given the state of the roads, she is worried that it will happen again.

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