Potholes, Climate and Who Picks Up the Bill?
You don’t have to drive far around our region at the moment before you hit a pothole. Or swerve around one. Or, increasingly, end up with a damaged wheel rim.
Last Friday I had to call RACV roadside assistance and was warned of a four-hour wait because of increased incidents on the Western Freeway associated with potholes. Thankfully my wait was much shorter, but it made the scale of the problem pretty obvious.
And here’s the thing: this isn’t just about potholes.
Victoria’s Parliamentary Inquiry into Climate Resilience warned that our infrastructure is increasingly exposed to floods, storms, fires and extreme weather, with local councils facing particular challenges finding the money to adapt.
Infrastructure Victoria has since put some alarming numbers around that. More than $57 billion of Victorian infrastructure is already at risk from extreme weather, including $20.2 billion worth of roads.
Yet too often we’re still patching things up, crossing our fingers and waiting for the next event.
We need to start building back better and designing infrastructure for the climate we’re heading into, not the climate we used to have.
And there’s another pressure coming down those same roads.
Victoria’s renewable energy transition means major transmission and renewable projects will increasingly be built across regional Victoria. I strongly support that transition. We need it.
But regional communities hosting infrastructure of statewide importance shouldn’t also be left carrying its costs, and that is what we are hearing loud and clear. That’s why I proposed a motion to Council calling on the Municipal Association of Victoria to push for a statewide framework requiring major energy project proponents to meet the reasonable costs of their impacts on council infrastructure, including where several projects hammer the same roads. It was voted down 3 to 4.
But this is part of a bigger conversation.
If we are serious about climate resilience, governments need to properly fund the infrastructure that will allow rural and regional communities to adapt and thrive: resilient roads and bridges, drainage, energy, transport, communications and community infrastructure.
Regional Victoria shouldn’t be left behind, expected to host much of the infrastructure needed for the energy transition while small councils and their ratepayers struggle to fund adaptation to a changing climate.
We need investment that leaves our communities stronger than it found them.
Build for the climate that’s coming. Fund the communities doing the heavy lifting. Make those creating additional impacts pay their fair share.
And stop pretending another truckload of cold mix is a long-term infrastructure strategy.
