Because the Victorian auditor-general’s report on the condition of our state’s roads says there are only seven potholes in the shire.
The report states that according to government figures, there were only seven identified potholes awaiting repair as of June.
There are 23,000km of state roads in Victoria and 82 per cent of those are regional Victoria.
And everyone except the Victorian Government is lining up to claim the report’s assessment of the state’s roads justifies what they have been arguing.
The auditor-general has confirmed what Regional Cities Victoria has been saying for years — Victoria cannot patch its way out of a deteriorating regional road network.
RCV chair Ben Blain said the Maintaining State Roads report provided independent confirmation short-term, reactive repairs were no substitute for sustained investment in maintaining and renewing the state’s roads.
“The AG has put the evidence behind what regional communities have been telling government for years — our roads are deteriorating faster than we are fixing them,” Cr Blain said.
Brett Hosking, the Nationals candidate for Murray Plains, which covers all Campaspe Shire, said while the report confirmed what The Nationals have been saying louder and louder, “it is a joke to believe the whole shire has just seven potholes”.
“I travel between Echuca and Swan Hill, for example, every week and I would reckon there are places on the Murray Valley Hwy where there are seven potholes every kilometre,” Mr Hosking said.
“It is ridiculous to suggest there are only seven potholes for which VicRoads is responsible,” he added.
State Member for Northern Victoria Wendy Lovell slammed the government for its “long neglect” of the regional road network.
The Liberal MP agreed the report confirmed under Labor state roads were getting worse and there was not enough investment to fix the roads crisis.
“The auditor-general confirms what every Victorian can see with their own eyes — under Labor, Victoria’s state arterial roads are crumbling, and potholes and defects are spreading faster than they are being repaired,” Ms Lovell said.
“The report reveals Labor has locked-in further cuts to maintenance funding of up to 54 per cent across the forward estimates if re-elected in November’s state election.”
Maintaining State Roads says the department does not have meaningful targets.
It says road condition targets should reflect the needs and reasonable expectations of road users, but the department has no government-endorsed targets for the ‘acceptable’ condition of the network.
“The department’s annual performance measures are based on available funding, rather than on a defined condition or service level the department aims to achieve,” the report reads.
“The department’s internal draft 10-year road maintenance strategy includes a target for road condition but this has not been endorsed by the government and is not consistently referenced in the department’s maintenance planning documents.
“Without agreed targets, it is difficult for the department to plan long-term maintenance strategies, consistently identify performance gaps and demonstrate that it is prioritising works to address them.
“We did not analyse earlier years because the department could not provide its road pavement expenditure before 2022-23.”
Victorian Roads Minister Paul Hamer said the government accepted the report's recommendations and the Department of Transport and Planning had already begun implementing them.
Mr Hamer pointed to a recently announced $352 million funding boost aimed at doubling pothole repairs and road fixes.
He pointed out this extra funding was announced just after the audit was finalised, meaning it was not reflected in the report’s assessment of past funding shortfalls.
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