Legislative Council, Thursday 12 September 

Ms FORREST (Murchison) - Mr President, I rise on adjournment to raise an urgent matter and to make a bit of a complaint and ask the government what response they are going to provide.

Members will be aware that the north west of the state, many in the north and some areas in the south, I am also sure, have suffered significant road damage in recent times. Sadly, this is not unusual. However, what is particularly frustrating is that the north west coast and the areas particularly impacted have not had overly heavy rains. Yes, we have all had rains, but we have not had floods, we have not had flood damage. We have had, which is good, a lot of new road works done. I instance areas along the Bass Highway west of Wynyard, in particular, and down the west coast.

I will read a short email from a constituent which highlights a couple of areas and is reflective of many complaints I have received in the last few days:

State Growth need to be made to listen to the locals and be informed that whatever materials they are using to repair and make their roads are not good enough. Every time it rains the roads are not just standing up at all and with the high volumes of heavy vehicles on our roads these days, which is essential, it is a matter of weeks before the roads develop potholes, which right now on the Murchison and Ridgley Highway is diabolical.

We travelled to Launceston on Friday and then back on Monday with the trailer, there was not just one deep pothole but up to three of them across one lane in certain parts, and I have heard of a lot of damages being done to cars as well.

That is the Murchison and Ridgley Highway. There is a lot of heavy traffic on that by its very nature. Along the Bass Highway both east and west of Wynyard we had new roads constructed. I have seen photos and it is a disgrace to think that a brand new road could literally fall apart so quickly with what has not been extraordinarily heavy rains or unusually heavy rains. Of course it rains. On the west coast it rains a lot, but that is always the case.

This constituent, on behalf of many others goes on:

I have also heard of a lot of damages being done to cars as well as trailers and heavy vehicles. Certainly, here on the west coast we are frustrated and fed up with the denial that State Growth are in and that clearly what they are doing is not working. I would hope the government will take note and get on the front foot and put pressure on State Growth to fix the issues.

I know as Premier Rockliff said the other day, Tasmania has the best roads in Australia. What a joke that is. Maybe in some parts.

Anyway, it goes on along these particular matters. I would have waited until Budget Estimates to raise this with Infrastructure but Committee A no longer has Infrastructure. It has changed to Committee B. I asked the government to look at how they are contracting out these works. We are not getting value for money. Some of these new roads, like the Tollymore Road intersection, the Doctors Rd intersection, and parts of the Murchison Highway and Ridgley Highway, would still be under the warranty period I would imagine, and would have to be repaired by the contractors.

The damage to vehicles - I have tried to follow this up in other instances when that Doctors Rd section fell within literally days of opening. People have had significant damage to their cars; tyre companies are so flat out trying to replace tyres on cars and other vehicles that they cannot keep up. The government should step in here to and find out what is going on. Even if it is covered under warranty, the damage to people's cars is probably not. People are not being covered under insurance. It is not okay.