General News
27 July, 2026
Poor roads blamed on ‘half-priced funding’
CRUMBLING, cracking and pot-holed Loddon roads highlighted country Victoria being short-changed on infrastructure cash by the State Government, said the Nationals’ Ripon candidate Jo Armstrong.
CRUMBLING, cracking and pot-holed Loddon roads highlighted country Victoria being short-changed on infrastructure cash by the State Government, said the Nationals’ Ripon candidate Jo Armstrong.
Mrs Armstrong highlighted the dangerous state of local roads that should be maintained by the Government during an inspection of the Bridgewater-Newbridge Road on Tuesday.
Hours earlier in Wedderburn, residents told her Fair Share forum that roads and shoulders had been poorly maintained across the district.
“This is what happens when only half a job is done because there is only half the money there should be for country areas,” Mrs Armstrong said.
The Nationals have promised a 25 per cent share of the infrastructure budget if it wins November’s state election.
The Coalition last week also announced it would lift road funding by 25 per cent to $5 billion over four years.
“The plan will fix one million potholes over four years, restore proper preventative maintenance and establish Better Roads Victoria to bring back the road engineering expertise Labor has dismantled,” Mrs Armstrong said.
“Regional Victorians deserve safe and reliable roads, and our commitment forms part of our broader Fair Share Guarantee that will ensure 25 per cent of infrastructure spending goes to regional Victoria, up from the 12 per cent they are currently getting under Labor.”
She said country roads were “so bad they will not be fixed overnight.” Mrs Armstrong pointed to a “rough surface” sign on the Bridgewater-Newbridge road now covered by weeds and grass. “Sections of this road have not suddenly cracked or crumbled, or huge bumps quickly risen from nowhere ... the Government has known about the poor state of the road for months,” she said. “This is a major freight route through the Loddon Shire and also well used by residents travelling between towns. It has not been maintained and that’s why the Fair Share pledge is so important across all of country Victoria.”
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Funding grievances come rolling into room
RESIDENTS drilled down on real local projects that have missed out on State Government funding at a forum in Wedderburn on Monday night.
For 90 minutes, more than 30 people vented on why they believed country towns had been short changed by government decisions.
Jo Armstrong, the Nationals candidate in the marginal seat of Ripon held by Labor’s Martha Haylett, had the first of her Fair Share forums, out to convince voters they will get a better deal from the Coalition and its 25 per cent country spend pledge if elected in November.
It was not that Wedderburn district residents wanted to be seen as ungrateful but development association president Tammy Martin questioned the cost of the new child care centre she had campaigned for with the State Government taking the promised Federal Government $5 million to deduct off its bill for the centre. Money could have been spent on other child care centres in the shire or even the long-championed need for residential aged care.
Jude Raftis, a campaigner over two decades for local aged care, pushed the need to allow people to age in their own communities and invited Mrs Armstrong to a forum her group is organising in October.
Darryl Arnott wasted no time raising the treatment of the community after a promised new ambulance station was pulled from infrastructure investment.
“We’re the busiest ACO group around,” he said.
Roads were never far from the conversation, Robyn Vella and Tony Holt telling Mrs Armstrong that repairs were poor and roads a danger.
Graham Nesbit said it was not just road maintenance that had been let go but also control of wheel cactus across the region. “Agriculture Victoria troops on the ground are becoming less.” The future was a key point of discussion and Mrs Armstrong told Ken Pattison that VNI West would be stopped and agricultural land protected.
And Mrs Armstrong said: “We cannot rely only on renewable energy.” She said the renewable energy push was only “triggering more cowboy projects to be built in the state”.
Mrs Armstrong said the Nationals policies would be funded through sensible spending. “The (current Government doesn’t care about saving money ... we do.”
Time will tell whether the pitch resonates with voters.
Read More: Loddon Shire, Bridgewater, Newbridge