The rate of major road repairs has collapsed around Victoria, despite crews plugging more potholes, as Premier Ben Carroll seeks to rehabilitate Labor’s record on the eve of the election with a new $893 million pledge for upgrades.
The latest Department of Transport and Planning annual report, released on Wednesday, reveals just 234,000 square metres of road was patched in the last financial year, down from 609,000 square metres the year before.
The decline was felt mainly on regional roads, where there was a 68 per cent drop-off in road patching, from 566,000 square metres in the 2024-25 financial year to just 181,000 square metres in 2025-26.
However, the annual report also showed there had been a significant increase in the number of potholes filled, with 252,929 repaired in the last financial year, up from 200,552.
The major decline in area patched was first hinted at in the May budget, which revealed the state government had reduced its targets.
The condition of Victoria’s roads has become a major political headache for Labor ahead of next month’s election, with motorists frequently experiencing delays and damage to their cars due to poor road quality.
Last month, motorcyclist Peter “Tiki” Mason died after he struck a pothole near Trawalla, west of Ballarat. The opposition said at the time that his death was “the saddest possible consequence to have come from the terrible state of Victorian roads”.
Opposition roads spokesman Danny O’Brien said the latest figures confirmed “Labor has failed to undertake a basic duty of government, keeping the roads in decent order, and no amount of pre-election cash splashes will change that.
“Victorians are seeing the pothole problem every day and they are fed up with driving on roads that would make a goat track blush,” he said.
Since Ben Carroll became premier, Labor has intensified its focus on improving the state of Victoria’s roads, boosting maintenance funding by $352 million to patch an additional 250,000 potholes.
Carroll is to announce on Thursday $893 million in funding to upgrade 25 more roads – largely in regional areas including Ballarat, Warragul and Kialla – on top of 25 announced earlier.
Labor has sought to capitalise on the popularity of its level crossing removal program by likening it to the road upgrades.
“Just like we removed more than 50 level crossings, Labor will upgrade 50 local roads,” Carroll said in a statement. “Labor is acting on your priorities and fixing the roads you use every day.”
The government maintains it is on track to fill 500,000 potholes this financial year, with 125,000 completed since July 1. Most repair works will take place during the warmer months.
“It’s thanks to our record $1.4 billion investment in road maintenance, this financial year – with 70 per cent directed to regional roads,” a Labor spokesperson said.
Last month, a report by the Victorian Auditor-General’s Office revealed almost half of the state’s government-managed roads were in poor or very poor condition. The report also found the decline was outpacing repairs and roads were on track to worsen unless $3 billion was spent each year on maintenance.
That is well beyond funding promised by either the government or the opposition. The Coalition has a $5 billion plan to repair and rebuild roads over four years, including filling 1 million potholes.
Labor has pledged to bring road maintenance back under government control, and deploy prisoners for basic roadside maintenance jobs such as controlling weeds and removing graffiti, freeing up skilled workers.
You have reached your maximum number of saved items.
Remove items from your saved list to add more.
You've used all of your gift articles. 3 more will become available on the 1st of every month.
