Daniel Pederson
IT was a press conference of sorts.
Roads and Road Safety Minister Ben Carroll wasn’t there long and there wasn’t much of an audience.
At the Firmins Lane Wetlands in Morwell on Wednesday September 7, Mr Carroll announced the beginning of the 2022/23 ‘road maintenance blitz’.
He said 230 kilometres of Gippsland’s road network would be rebuilt, repaired and resurfaced as part of an annual road maintenance program, compared with 220km last financial year.
The roads particularly noted were the Great Alpine Road, the South Gippsland Highway, the Monaro Highway and Paynesville Rd.
“We know more people are ordering goods online,” Mr Carroll said, and that meant a sound freight network was important in regional Victoria.
Regional roadsides will receive attention costing $3.2 million, accounting for mowing, weeding and graffiti removal.
And 20,000 road signs across the state will be replaced.
Across Victoria the state government will spend $780 million on roads.
Mr Carroll said aside from making the road network safer, regional economies would benefit because workers would be deployed in their areas and they would spend money locally.
Australian Labor Party candidate for Morwell Kate Maxfield said road maintenance was important, particularly repairing potholes that could, and have, damaged vehicles.
Asked about Gippsland’s rail services and the possibility of increasing the number of rail services beyond Traralgon, to Bairnsdale, to more than three daily, Mr Carroll – also Public Transport Minister – replied, “Can I take that question on notice?”
Given we were standing by the side of a road in Morwell, references to Spring St parliamentary protocols seemed out of place.
One of Mr Carroll’s staff handed out a printed media release saying the state government investment of $780m was double that of the “Liberal National Party when they were last in power”.
Given that was almost eight years ago and the exorbitant price increases of practically everything since then, the comparison seemed dubious.
