Claims of a roads maintenance funding boost by the Baillieu government are nothing more than a smokescreen. The reality is the government has drastically cut its road resurfacing budgets for the 2012-13 financial year.
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The $45 million announced is not a funding boost, as the government’s spin machine suggests.
The fact is that Roads Minister Terry Mulder and the Baillieu government have cut the roads resurfacing budget by 50 per cent in metropolitan Melbourne and 60 per cent in regional Victoria.
These cuts are damaging for communities across the state, especially regional centres that require well-maintained roads to keep their economies going.
Many communities are now wondering where the funding that was promised last month is and whether their local roads will be fixed or remain potholed.
Mr Mulder may like to make funding announcements, but the devil is always in the detail, and the Baillieu government is failing to provide such detail for communities across Victoria.
Until this happens, Victorian communities will be left wondering if their ruined roads will ever be fixed.
Luke Donnellan MP,
opposition spokesman for Roads, Road Safety and the TAC
