The Nationals Member for Gippsland South, Danny O’Brien has called out the Allan Labor Government for trying to hoodwink Gippslanders about the state of our roads.
Mr O’Brien said he was bemused by an announcement from the Minister for Roads and Road safety, Melissa Horne yesterday about funding to repair “flood damaged roads” across Gippsland.
This includes the South Gippsland Highway at Grassy Spur, the Hyland Highway landslip, Grand Ridge Road and Bengworden Road.
“The South Gippsland Highway Grassy Spur works are not in any way flood related.
“The resurfacing there has been done because the bitumen had become so worn it was described by the Department as “polished” and was a danger, particularly to heavy vehicles which were potentially losing traction as they climbed the hill.
“To suggest that this hilly area at Foster North had been damaged by floods is just absurd.
“Likewise the Hyland Highway, while now a major landslip, began as a relatively minor defect. But rather than get fixed properly, a patch up job was done that ultimately only worsened the outcome.
“The only one of these announcements that I believe is directly flood related is the Bengworden Road, which has had unmade sections of the road near the Avon River for some months now.”
Mr O’Brien said the reality is that the Labor Government’s 45 per cent cut to the roads maintenance budget since 2020 is what has caused the deterioration of our roads.
“So much so that we revealed yesterday that a condition assessment of roads undertaken for the Department of Transport (DTP) had found 91 per cent of roads were either in poor or very poor condition.
“This is an indictment on the Labor Government’s management of our roads and the funding cuts must be reversed in the upcoming state budget.
“Labor can’t manage money, can’t manage major projects and can’t look after our roads,” Mr O’Brien said.