The Bendigo-Pyramid HIll Road, between Eaglehawk and Raywood, has more holes in it than a business case for the recently announced plan to build a railway station in Raywood. 

Previously, roadwork signs were put up indicating that the road would be fixed imminently. However, as time went on these signs were simply replaced with permanent speed reduction signs and no fix was in sight. 

When a complaint was made to Bendigo Council about the appalling condition of this road, I was swiftly informed that the responsibilities lay with VicRoads.

VicRoads informed me that in March they had identified a section of the Bendigo-Pyramid Hill Rd nearly 1.4km long where the road pavement has started to fail badly and needs to be reconstructed due to its “deteriorating condition”. 

Read more: Residents fear for safety on stretch of road

VicRoads stated: “Unfortunately this section of road wasn’t able to be included to our 2018/19 road rehabilitation program due to funding limitations. It will be reconsidered for the 2019/20 program but this means the required major works will not be undertaken for at least 12-18 months.” 

If Jacinta Allan and Labor hadn’t scrapped the $160m Country Roads and Bridges Program this road might not have fallen into the state of disrepair that it currently is in and local residents wouldn’t be travelling at a permanently reduced speed on a dangerous road. Or maybe there wouldn’t be “funding limitations” and this road could be fixed sooner. 

For locals the waiting game has commenced. Will soil be turned on a new Raywood train station before the main road to Bendigo is resealed? Or can Jacinta Allan get her priorities back on track? 

The World Health Organisation (WHO, 2006, P9) defines child abuse as all forms of physical and/or emotional ill-treatment, sexual abuse, neglect or negligent treatment or commercial or other exploitation, resulting in actual or potential harm to the child’s health, survival, development or dignity in the context of a relationship of responsibility, trust or power.

Recently 6000 Australian doctors petitioned the government to bring children to Australia because of the deteriorating medical state they are in. We have had other independent doctors, psychologists, Médecins Sans Frontières, the former Australian Human Rights Commissioner and the United Nations Human Rights Council all call for children to be removed from detention on Nauru.

Yet our government, who supposedly represents Australians, consistently ignores all this advice. So according to the WHO definition our government is clearly guilty of child abuse. You be the judge.

Read more: ‘We wouldn’t do this to our own children’

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