General News
15 March, 2023
Britnell top 10
SOUTH West Coast MP Roma Britnell has used an adjournment matter in Parliament to identify the 10 roads her office has received the most complaints about.
Ms Britnell directed the matter to Minister for Roads and Road Safety Melissa Horne, and called on her to drive through South West Coast to “experience in person the roads that this government seems to believe are in excellent condition”.
“This is not the first time I have invited a Minister for Roads and Road Safety to visit South-West Coast and look at the disgraceful condition of our roads,” she said.
“Every previous invitation has been ignored, and I expect this one will be too.”
Ms Britnell said her office received daily complaints from constituents and visitors alike who were “horrified” by the condition of roads in the electorate.
“The potholes frequently span the width of the carriageway, and the corrugations scrape the bottom of cars and shred tires,” she said.
“These roads are not just dangerous, they are unroadworthy.”
Ms Britnell said the ten roads her office received the most complaints about were:
Woolsthorpe-Heywood Road;
Princes Highway;
Hopkins Highway;
Warrnambool-Caramut Road;
Hereford Road;
Cobden-Warrnambool Road;
Mailors Flat-Koroit Road;
Myamyn-MacArthur Road;
Hamilton-Port Fairy Road; and
Terang-Mortlake Road.
“These roads are significant thoroughfares carrying not just domestic vehicles with families and children but school buses, caravans, coaches, milk tankers, log trucks and trucks carrying aluminium ingots, grain, fertiliser, stockfeed and livestock,” Ms Britnell said.
“These roads have not transitioned into this condition overnight either.
“It is the accumulation of years of neglect and mismanagement that has led to so many of our roads being unroadworthy.
“I note that for 18 of the last 23 years Labor have governed Victoria, and the connection between the shocking condition of our roads and the general disdain shown by Labor to the regions cannot be ignored.”
Ms Britnell called on the Minister Horne to be “brave enough” to visit the region and travel the aforementioned roads.
“Bring the Premier too. Let us make a day of it,” she said.
“There is lots to see and do in South-West Coast, and dodging potholes is only part of the fun.
“By driving on these 10 roads you will be able to see some of the best and worst parts of the roads in the south-west at the same time.
“How many people have to die on South West Coast roads before this government will take responsibility and fix our roads?”
