State Member for Euroa Annabelle Cleeland fears “devastating consequences” to regional communities after she said road maintenance funding was ‘slashed’ in this week’s state budget.
A government spokesperson, however, has refuted that claim.
A Federal Standing Committee on regional development, infrastructure and transport held an inquiry just last week on the impact that severe weather had on regional, rural and remote roads across the country.
During this meeting, it was estimated there was at least $6 million worth of damage to road infrastructure in Mitchell Shire alone.
Ms Cleeland contends that road maintenance funding has decreased from $702.2 million to just $441.6 million in the past year alone.
However, a representative for the Victorian Government said it was investing $770 million in maintaining Victorian roads in 2023-24.
“This year's budget delivers an extra $2.8 billion in road maintenance over 10 years to ensure motorists can keep moving safely,” the spokesperson said.
“Meaning at least $6.6 billion will be invested in road asset management on Victoria’s road network over the next decade.”
Ms Cleeland said that the short-term funding cuts represented the amount of care the state government had for regional Victoria.
However, the average annual expenditure on road asset management since the 2018 election is $823 million, compared to a $493 million average of the former Coalition government, according to the state government spokesperson.
There have been 124 deaths on Victorian roads reported in 2023 so far, up 30 per cent on this time last year. The tragedy of road trauma is something both Ms Cleeland and the government spokesperson agreed on.
“The road toll continues to rise, with far more deaths on our roads than previous years,” Ms Cleeland said.
“We should be doing what we can to help prevent this issue, and it starts with the quality and safety of our roads.“
The government spokesperson agreed, saying that every life lost on Victorian roads is one too many and that their thoughts were with anyone impacted by road trauma.
“Sadly, the contributing factors this year are not new,” the spokesperson said.
“Travelling over the speed limit, drink and drug driving, distractions, unlicensed driving and riding, and critical concentration lapses are all evident.”
Ms Cleeland said claims made to Regional Roads Victoria and VicRoads had also been facing considerable delays, with impacted drivers unable to receive assistance or compensation within a reasonable time-frame.
Ms Cleeland said some constituents waited more than four months to receive compensation after their vehicles were damaged on roads in disrepair.
“The wait times that people are going through are simply unacceptable,” Ms Cleeland said.
“How can we expect this to improve when the Labor government is slashing funding for our road network?”
However the state government spokesperson made a point of noting that when last in government, the Liberals and Nationals fired 450 VicRoads staff and cut country roads funding by 40 per cent.