Member for South West Coast Roma Britnell has called on the Minister for Roads to ensure roadworks being carried out across the region are done to an acceptable standard that prevents further work from being necessary in the short term.
Her call comes after a 130 metre section of the Henty Highway at Maretimo was closed because its condition was a safety risk.
Mrs Britnell said she has been informed the particular section of the highway has been patched five times in the past six months.
“It’s not an isolated case – in June I spoke about a section of the same highway just a few kilometres up the road and I receive calls and emails from constituents from Caramut, Heywood, Macarthur, Warrnambool, Nelson, Port Fairy and Panmure telling me about a recent road repair which is failing after only a few weeks,” Mrs Britnell said.
“Is it any wonder the people of regional Victoria feel like they are being left behind by the Labor government when they continually see their hard earned money being shovelled into shoddy repair jobs week after week.”
Mrs Britnell said the Victorian Auditor General’s Report into maintaining state-controlled roadways found that there has been a complete failure by this government to manage an effective state-wide maintenance program or to ensure timely repair works.
“Labor Government has no plan for regular maintenance on county roads and seems not to care that third-party contractors are never held to account,” she said.
“In other words, the government is throwing good money after bad on sub-standard road repairs and no one is responsible for the final product.
“The fact this is happening again and again shows the minister is not one bit concerned about his department wasting money and is out of touch with what is really happening.”
