Hansard debates

Mrs McARTHUR (Western Victoria) (17:30): I am pleased to be able to make a statement on a petition I submitted today, which was about building roads, not barriers. In 1972 prime farming land along the Princes Highway was compulsorily acquired and unwillingly sold to enable the construction of a dual highway between Allansford and Panmure. Now, half a century later, the Transport Accident Commission has informed property owners that instead wire rope barriers will be installed on the Princes Highway over two sections: in the median strip of the dual-carriageway section between Deakin University and Allansford, and in the centre of a single-carriageway road between Allansford and Panmure.

This petition was launched opposing this installation following a meeting with over 50 concerned Allansford residents led by local dairy farmer Mick Mahony. Mick has been an indispensable warrior for his local community, driving this meeting and distributing this petition in recent weeks, and I thank him greatly for his hard work on behalf of his community. Mick’s local community, particularly farmers and transport operators, are extremely angry about the planned installation of wire rope barriers, especially down the centre of a single carriageway. Everyone agreed the only solution to ensure safety on this section of the Princes Highway is the duplication of this road, as was originally promised when land was compulsorily acquired in 1972.

The installation of wire rope barriers will have an adverse effect on the safe operation of milk collection services, which in many circumstances occur twice daily. Any major alterations to the transit of produce could pose a serious hazard to tanker drivers and other road users. Residents do not want hardworking taxpayers’ dollars wasted on a stop-gap, short-term measure which will cause considerable inconvenience to local farmers, transport operators and indeed all motorists. The resounding plea to the Andrews government from the local community is to build roads, not barriers. This is indicative of the concerns of community across rural and regional Victoria, demonstrated in almost 4500 signatures on this petition from people across the state.

The Labor government’s curious insistence on installing wire rope barriers across our state’s highways should be treated with suspicion, particularly when local communities oppose them and foreign countries are removing them over safety concerns. There are a plethora of reasons why wire rope barriers are a bad idea: ongoing repair costs are extremely burdensome to the taxpayer; they prevent motorists from being able to pull over in cases of emergency; they make highways difficult for transport operators to drive on; the barriers down the centre of a single carriageway significantly hinder the mobility of larger vehicles; and motorcyclists are seriously endangered, to say nothing of the wildlife that gets caught up in them.

Dairy farmers are already struggling with dilapidated, inadequately funded roads in western Victoria. The government’s addiction to wire rope barriers is just another obstacle to rural lives and family farms. Regional Roads Victoria’s pathetic excuse for community consultation was setting up a stall opposite the kiosk at a night market in Warrnambool. A pop-up drop-in stall is no substitute for a fully-fledged public meeting.

This installation is just another example of bad decisions being made by bureaucrats in ministerial offices a few minutes walk from the Yarra and inside these tram tracks without properly consulting rural communities who have to live with them. The petitioners therefore requested that the Legislative Council call on the Minister for Roads to abandon this proposed barrier installation and instead duplicate the highway in accordance with the justification provided in the 1972 compulsory land acquisition.