With floods affecting most of the east coast, the temptation of governments is always to do a quick cash handout to give people relief.
That’s absolutely appropriate when you’re talking about people having lost their homes; but if you’re dealing with farmers who have just lost hundreds of thousands of dollars in crops, $1000 bucks isn’t worth the paperwork. It is far, far more important to fix the roads.
Country roads are variable by council region, but on the whole, are simply pathetic. There’s never a question about major roads in the cities being kept up to scratch, but there is an expectation country people will just put up with potholes, patch fixes, rough surfaces, regularly flooding causeways, and far, far too often… dirt.
The recent announcement by the NSW Government of $50m to help local councils fix potholes is a really good example of how much our city leaders don’t get it. $50m might fix the potholes in Armidale Regional Council area – it won’t get the causeways done, or the significant road upgrades needed for our notorious problem areas like Donnelly St or the nightmare that is Bundarra Road, but it would probably cover the potholes. ARC is good at making the roads look like a patchwork quilt, so why not do it some more…
Sustained wet weather across the Armidale region continues to cause major issues with potholes and damage to road… Posted by Armidale Regional Council on Wednesday, September 28, 2022
Even more disturbing, NSW government grants of up to $100,000 for flood affected farmers – which would actually help – aren’t available to farmers in Moree or Wagga, but are available to farmers (?) in Parramatta and the Northern Beaches of Sydney. No, not kidding.
The level of criticism when Barnaby Joyce negotiated a $150m trial program to seal unsealed roads, part of the deal for the Nats to support net zero, similarly underscored the out-of-touch nature of any discussion on roads. There was a level of disbelief that there were in fact roads that were unsealed, and multiple claims it was some kind of pork barrelling. Anyone who lives out here of course knows different. It probably wasn’t helpful to link something as essential as roads to any discussion of climate change, but whatever it takes to get the roads fixed.
Roads needed serious attention long before the floods, long before Laura Jayes was amazed that there are in fact dirt roads in Australia, and long before the pandemic. There has been absolutely no movement from governments of any levels nor any colour to address the impact of rural town populations exploding thanks to the Covid exodus. All kinds of neglected infrastructure from roads to hospitals are under significant stress, and our rural communities need to finally get our fair share of investment. Instead of actual leadership and embracing the new shape of Australia, we got Katy Gallagher banging on about rorts and waste, and cutting most, if not all, of money previously announced for rural communities, including axing the Building Better Regions infrastructure fund.
The vast majority of the $9.6b in infrastructure spending from the last budget went to city roads and public transport too. There was $1.5b for major highways in SA, and a $250m local roads project, which again will go mostly to city councils but perhaps a few pennies will get beyond the range. You’d like to think there is a thought bubble at some level that if it’s going to cost $1.5b to fix a couple of neglected highways in SA, perhaps $250m for local roads might be insufficient?
Surely, somewhere inside our city-based and city-centric governments, there must be some recognition that they have failed to keep country roads up to scratch?
That was before the floods washed so many of them away.
It isn’t good enough for country areas to have sub-standard roads at the best of times. This isn’t the best of times, and people will die if the flood damage is not addressed quickly.
One likes to think that there will be a flood relief package of some sort on the way, so here’s hoping they keep the cash, and fix the roads.