Victorian Nationals: Labor Ministers have no idea on roadside vegetation risks

Roads Minister, Ben Carroll’s announcement today that Labor is investing more funds into removing grass and weeds on roadsides is laughable when he has ignored the major issues of roadside vegetation for so long, according to local Nationals State MP, Tim Bull.

“This is the Minister who, post fires, has left piles of 2019/20 bushfire debris in the road reserves in front of homes and allowed black wattle infestation to get completely out of control on our roadsides, despite the Government being asked to act on nine occasions in Parliament.

“I asked either the Minister for Roads or Environment to address the roadside clearing issues in: April 2020, November 2020, December 2020, June 2021, September 2021, October 2021, December 2021, May 2022 and then most recently, August 2022,” said Mr Bull.

“On most of these occasions, I used the Sarsfield situation as the example.

“That is nine times it has fallen on deaf ears and, on top of this, a number of local residents have raised their concerns directly with the Minister.

“Ministers Carroll and D’Ambrosio are either uninterested in the problem, or simply unwilling to fix it. However, we are now asked to applaud them because they have announced the Government is going to mow some of the roadside long grass, predominantly in metropolitan areas.

“It’s a laughable announcement and infuriating that these city-based Ministers just have no idea at all and fail to recognise where the major threats lie,” said Mr Bull.

“Fortunately, we look like having a wet spring that may reduce the fire risk, but we all know late in the summer it can dry off in a matter of days and that is why we need to control these roadsides.”

Mr Bull said it was the last week of Parliament this week before the election and he would use it to raise – for the 10^th and final time in this term – the need for roadside vegetation to be kept under control.