Haines' plan to plug regional potholes

INCUMBENT Indi Independent Helen Haines said she will fight for funding to help councils fix potholes and repair damaged roads. In a policy announcement last week, Dr Haines’ plan to reboot the Local Roads and Community Infrastructure Program would provide $500 million a year in untied grants to local councils. Her proposal has been costed by the Parliamentary Budget Office, which has calculated Indi would receive an additional $36.3 million over four years, to be shared between the councils, with Alpine Shire to receive $2.75 million. “This funding would enable local government to undertake the day-to-day work of fixing potholes and road erosion, while they plan for longer-term funding priorities," Dr Haines said. She said a funding shortfall was contributing to the decline of regional roads and called on the Commonwealth to boost roads funding, which has dropped in recent decades. “More than 75 per cent of Australia’s road network is owned or maintained by local governments, but regional areas struggle to fund the ongoing maintenance of local roads,” Dr Haines said. “This is one of the biggest issues people talk to me about across Indi – as drivers we need to make sure our cars are roadworthy, and we need more funding to make sure our roads are carworthy. “Federal Government support has declined as a proportion of government revenue, which means councils must compete for routine maintenance through competitive grant programs. “Regional communities battle a number of hurdles in upkeeping local roads, including small ratepayer bases, increasing cost of repairs and materials, scarcity of workforce and limited funding opportunities.” Dr Haines is also pushing for transparency and fairness in roads funding across the nation, recently signing up for the Australian Automobile Association’s My Safety Counts campaign, which calls for state governments to be required to provide safety ratings for individual sections of roads when applying for federal road funding. Dr Haines said her policy would help improve the condition of regional roads across Indi and if she is re-elected she would push both major parties to adopt her policy. She said since her election in 2019, more than $155 million in roads funding has been allocated to roads across Indi. Libs, Family First have their say INDI Liberals candidate James Trenery said Helen Haines' policy was just another unfunded announcement. "This funding is not budgeted and is not real, it's fake funding," Mr Trenery said. "Under Helen Haines, more roads funding has been pulled out of Indi than put in, the Rutherglen Heavy Vehicle Alternative Route funding and McKoy Street Overpass just to name two major projects, where since the funding has been pulled, there have been serious crashes which have resulted in serious injury and in one case, death. "Our roads are crumbling and are dangerous – it's time for change to get the investment we deserve." Family First candidate Michael White said his party wants to prioritise government spending to where it helps families most. "We all know that road repairs in the North East happen at a glacial pace," he said. "Diversions can be dangerous and time consuming. "We can't just call for more money - that is too easy. "We need to look at what government bureaucracy we can cut to give more to the services that matter. We need expenditure to go to the worker on the shovel or behind the digger. "People from outside the bureaucratic swamp - I'm a self-employed gardener - have the common sense to make sure our money is best spent."

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