General News
23 July, 2026
$5B pothole fix fund a start to better roads - lobby groups
KEY rural groups have backed an initial $5 billion fund unveiled by the state Coalition to start repairing Victoria’s crumbling country road network.
KEY rural groups have backed an initial $5 billion fund unveiled by the state Coalition to start repairing Victoria’s crumbling country road network.
Rural Councils Victoria and Victorian Farmers’ Federation said Monday’s announcement was welcomed but the poor condition of roads would need a bigger investment.
The Coalition said it would spend $5 billion over four years to fix roads if it wins November’s state election.
Nationals candidate for Ripon Jo Armstrong said the road maintenance fund would drastically improve road construction standards and deliver real relief for local drivers sick of dodging potholes on roads and highways.
She said residents in Ripon had been left to put up with roads that had been patched up rather than properly constructed.
“Ripon’s roads have crumbled to goat tracks while Labor pours billions into underused, corruption-plagued Big Build projects. If elected in November, The Nationals will stop the waste and end the corruption so we can build better and safer regional roads.”
The fund will re-establish Better Roads Victoria as a standalone agency, rebuilding the engineering and technical expertise stripped when the Government axed Regional Roads Victoria. A full audit of the state’s roads would be conducted within six months, Mrs Armstrong said.
She said the announcement was part of the Nationals broader commitment to regional Victoria through the Fair Share Guarantee, which will direct 25 per cent of the state’s infrastructure spending to the regions.
“Under Labor, regional Victoria gets less than 12 per cent of infrastructure spending despite making up a quarter of the state’s population. That’s not fair, and it’s why our roads keep falling further behind. The Nationals in government will bring that number up to 25 per cent,” Jo Armstrong said.
“People should have confidence their hard-earned taxes are reinvested into a safe, well-maintained regional road network across Ripon.
VFF president Ryan Milgate said the commitment recognised the deplorable state of the road network and the urgent need for substantial investment to get them fixed.
“Any commitment to increase funding for road maintenance and rebuilding is sorely needed and very welcome. Farmers, transport operators and regional communities rely on safe, reliable roads every single day, and we’ve been calling for governments of all persuasions to reverse a generation of neglect and make fixing our road network a priority,” Mr Milgate said.
The pledge was still short of the $6 million the VFF and Rural Councils Victoria wanted.
“This plan appears to be on the right track,” said RCV deputy chair Kate Makin.
“We don’t need tinkering or top-ups. We need a real and sustained increase in roads spending.”
Read More: Loddon Shire