Darren Chester (Gippsland, National Party, Shadow Minister for Veterans’ Affairs) Share this | Hansard source

Residents in Mallacoota are angry, disappointed and frustrated, and it's all because of the bureaucratic incompetence within the state and federal transport departments. In May 2021, I secured $10 million to upgrade the Mallacoota-Genoa Road. It's the only access road to the community, which was severely impacted by the Black Summer bushfires. For more than four years, I've been urging the state and federal ministers and their departments to just get on with the job, but work still hasn't started on the ground on this project. All we've received so far is excuses and bureaucratic bulldust about studies, reviews and consultation. The community is sick of the endless talking and paperwork. They just want a better road, and the money is actually there to improve safety now for residents and visitors to the Mallacoota region.

The world can hold the Olympics every four years, and you can finish a university degree in four years, but the Labor governments in Victoria and here in Canberra can't fix the Mallacoota-Genoa Road in four years. Once again, I urge the federal minister to get involved in this project and start to prioritise human life over a few gum trees along the side of the road in East Gippsland. If the Treasurer wants to boost productivity through his roundtable, he could start by cutting the green tape and the red tape, which are used by transport departments as excuses for their own incompetence.

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