The Minister for Roads and Road Safety must be overwhelmed by what he has seen in his social media pages in the last few days, mostly from people in my electorate. Last week Glenelg shire released another video highlighting how bad the roads are. It is truly shocking. The RACV has now confirmed that the roads in the west of my electorate are the worst in the state. The video features footage of trucks and cars navigating around giant holes and having to cross double lines to do so. The roads in Moyne and Glenelg are deathtraps. Accidents have already happened, and it is only a matter of time before somebody is killed.
Despite constant lobbying from the Glenelg shire and the public, the minister has sat on his hands. Rather than taking action, the minister lies and says he has increased road maintenance funding, when figures from the Public Accounts and Estimates Committee show it has decreased under this government and local councils themselves say they are $1 million worse off. He is trying to shift the blame to councils, trying to make people believe they have been irresponsible with the money he has apparently given them. He is trying to shift the blame to the federal government, saying he wants their money to help fix roads that the state is responsible for. The buck stops with him. He is in charge of these roads, he is responsible for funding them and he is doing nothing. He is failing. If the minister cannot do his job, then he should resign.
This government is rolling in cash. There are billions in surplus and billions from the port of Melbourne. It is time to stop playing political games. It is time to govern for the entire state and make a commitment to fix the roads that are the worst in Victoria. If he cannot, then it is time for him to step aside and allow someone with an understanding of the importance of rural and regional roads to take over.
