By Corey Everitt
Two years after $200 million was cut from a road sealing program, residents of the Dandenong Ranges are organising a renewed case to see their dusty roads eliminated after the upcoming Federal Election.
Last week, Prime Minister Albanese announced a $1.2 billion road blitz across Victoria to “seal and upgrade roads that are slowing communities down.”
Only three projects have been announced with more to be decided in the future.
Within the first year of the current Government, funding was ceased toward the local Roads for the Community program initiated by the Morrison Government.
Widely known as “Sealing the Hills”, the $300 million program sought to seal much of the network across Yarra Ranges and Cardinia Shire.
Just under $100 million was received by the councils before the money was cut from the budget in 2022, leaving many locals in the dust of their now busy roads.
With the next Federal Election around the corner, the question is live as to whether the hills will share in the $1.2 billion blitz from Albanese or whether a Dutton-led Government will reinstate what was formerly their policy.
Shadow Minister for Infrastructure, Transport and Regional Development, Bridget McKenzie said she has had meetings with mayors and senior staff of both shires on the matter and that there will be “a lot more to say” soon.
“This is an innovative program involving a partnership between landholders, councils and the Commonwealth and these communities should not have been specifically targeted by Labor for the axe,” McKenzie said.
“The Coalition will have a lot more to say about Labor’s potholes and the need to fix roads during the election campaign.”
Minister for Infrastructure, Transport, Regional Development and Local Government, Catherine King said the previous Coalition Government had “froze” and “chronically underfunded” infrastructure.
“The Australian and Victorian governments’ $1.2 billion new Suburban Road Blitz will deliver an initial tranche of projects to increase capacity and improve efficiency in growth areas surrounding Melbourne, with works to begin later this year. Additional projects will be decided in consultation with the Victorian Government,” King said.
A total $88.7 million has been allocated to Cardinia Shire and Yarra Ranges Shire to seal roads, King said.
As parties tussle in the lead up to the election, residents are not simply demanding the money that was once owed.
Associations like Gembrook Community Group have initiated their own road action group who are providing a comprehensive case to the State and Federal Governments.
The group includes Derek Jones, a local with a consulting and asset management background. With his help they have presented a report that lists not only the severity of traffic on these unsealed roads but the estimated cost to have them sealed.
“He has experience in this field and helped us formulate a plan,” action group member Garry McGough said.
“How to prioritise the roads properly, not just say, I think this road should be done, it’s all based on facts and figures.”
The report orders each street in terms of priority with the top being the most important in such matters as safety, network connectivity and the level of occupants.
If funding were to be approved, the most important roads would get done first rather than a slow crawl across areas like in “Sealing the Hills.”
“Part of the rationale for this is the severe angst in the community, people are eating the dirt in their water tanks,” Jones said.
“Yes, we elect to live in a peri-urban environment but we just want to be able to access it without our cars and houses being damaged.”
Many residents from their own experience believe traffic levels are higher than recorded and that many accidents go unreported.
The reason the road action group was created was to focus this frustration into something productive.
“There’s the analysis, but when you get the report, you’ll see everything’s itemised, there’s the name of the roads, the different factors what we looked at, they have points scored and at the end you come out with a tally,” Jones explained.
Gembrook is not alone in this campaign with many other communities set to conduct similar work for their roads.
The community has the backing of Cardinia Shire Council who have set the reinstating of the $109 million that was cut as one of four major advocacy targets this election.
The council was contacted for comment.
