The fate of the south-west's state-managed roads is shrouded in mystery as the government declines to say how much of Victoria's newly budgeted road funding will flow to the regions.
Tuesday's state budget committed $441.6 million to road asset management in 2023-24, plus a portion of the additional $2.8 billion the government pledged towards road maintenance over the next decade.
A government spokesperson confirmed the true maintenance figure for 2023-24 was $770 million, an increase compared with the past two years, but well down on the $823 million average annual spend since the 2018 election.
South West Coast Liberal MP Roma Britnell said the government was deliberately obfuscating in order to cut funding.
"I believe that as I look at the budget papers there are quite clearly cuts that are made to look like they don't exist by making it almost impossible to calculate anything. Why make it hard if you've got nothing to hide?" Ms Britnell said.
"There's quite clearly in the asset line item (the $441 million) a 25 per cent cut."
But the government said Labor's spending far exceeded the average Coalition investment of $493 million when it was in government. The government said the Coalition cut road funding by 40 per cent between 2012 and 2014, slashing regional road maintenance spending and sacking 450 VicRoads staff.
Regional road funding was siloed as a separate line item in recent budgets, but the latest budget lumps all road funding together. The Standard asked the Premier's office whether it could confirm how much of the $770 million pledged for 2023-24 would be spent in regional Victoria, but it declined to respond.
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While road maintenance spending is projected to be up nearly $100 million this year compared with 2021-22, road repair in the regions is on track to drop significantly.
The total area of road resurfaced or rehabilitated in regional Victoria is expected to be 8.6 million square metres in 2022-23, well down on the target of 12.1 million and the previous year's 11.5 million. The budget attributes the 29 per cent shortfall to heavy rainfall and the rising cost of materials and labour.
Complicating matters further, the government hasn't set a repair target for the coming financial year, with the Department of Transport saying it was still finalising the modelling behind its work plan. The Standard asked the Premier's office when the target would be released, but it declined to respond.
About 75 per cent of the Victoria's 25,000 kilometres of state-managed roads are in regional areas. Data in the budget said only 2 per cent of country roads failed cracking and rutting standards, and just 4 per cent failed roughness standards, well above metropolitan levels of 12 per cent, 4 per cent and 7 per cent.
Ms Britnell said those figures were hard to believe.
"The truth is what we see when we drive on them," she said.
Ben Silvester
Reporter covering politics, environment and health
Reporter covering politics, environment and health
