By DAVID BRAITHWAITE
THE Victorian Auditor-General’s Office has confirmed what many people already know – our roads need to be fixed.
The Auditor-General’s Maintaining State Roads report, tabled in state parliament last week, revealed almost half of Victoria’s state road network was rated to be in poor or very poor condition in 2024.
Among the key findings from the report include 48 per cent of roads were in poor or very poor condition in 2024, up from 39 per cent in 2021, and government funding was insufficient to maintain or improve the condition of Victorian roads.
The report also found the gap between the number of road defects recorded and those repaired doubled between January 2025 and June 2026, and there was a substantial and growing maintenance backlog which was accumulating faster than it could be addressed.
The government has meaningful data on road maintenance performance but refuses to release it publicly, it was found.
Shadow Roads and Road Safety Minister, and Member for Gippsland South, Danny O’Brien said the report was a devastating indictment of more than a decade of Labor government neglect.
“Victorians already know our roads are an appalling mess but the Auditor-General has now revealed why,” he said.
“Labor hasn’t provided enough funding, plans to cut it again next year after the election, and has failed to deliver the preventative maintenance that will stop potholes forming in the first place.
“Ben Carroll cut $214 million from the roads maintenance budget over two years while he was roads minister and his election-eve promises to fix the roads won’t be believed by Victorians who are sick of his potholes.
“Only the Liberals and Nationals have a plan to get maintenance back on track with our $5 billion plan over four years. This is a 25 per cent annual increase on the current spend, and we’ll take action to get more accountability from contractors and ensure value-for-money for taxpayers.”
Victorian Farmers Federation (VFF) President Ryan Milgate said the findings further reinforced the fact the state of Victoria’s roads was in crisis.
“This is a damning report, but it won’t come as a surprise to anyone living in regional Victoria. We have been telling the government for years that our roads are crumbling and the current approach is simply not keeping up,” he said.
“Farmers are driving these roads every day. We see the potholes, the crumbling road edges and the endless temporary patches. The road network is deteriorating faster than the government is repairing it.”
The report also found a third of Victoria’s roads had just five years of usable life remaining and the Department of Transport has warned it needs at least $3 billion a year to maintain them.
Mr Milgate said the figures demonstrated Victoria’s current level of road investment was not sustainable.
“You cannot keep underfunding road maintenance and expect the network not to deteriorate. The numbers are now telling us exactly what farmers and regional Victorians have been telling us for years,” he said.
“We’re all paying for these roads to be maintained, so it is not good enough for repairs to be delayed, or for taxpayers to then pay again when poor-quality work has to be redone.
“We need to rebuild roads that are fit for purpose and last. That is better for farmers, better for regional communities and ultimately better value for Victorian taxpayers.”
Mr Milgate said the upcoming election was an opportunity for all sides of politics to put forward their plan to fix Victoria’s roads mess.
“Rural Victoria keeps this state moving and our roads deserve real investment. It’s at crisis point now and there’s now no option but to front up the investment and get our roads fixed,” Mr Milgate said.
Roads Minister Paul Hamer said the government had recognised that the condition of roads needed to be improved, having recently announced a $352 million boost to road maintenance funding in this financial year.
“I think the report makes it very clear that the approach that is currently being taken to road maintenance is not working, and that we need to do better,” he said.
The government will use the funding to double the number of potholes fixed this year – from 250,000 to 500,000. According to the government, that is double the number of potholes the Coalition claimed it would fix in a given year.
