Allan to sell road maintenance arm after dismantling Regional Roads Victoria

The Weekly Times can reveal the Allan Government has dismantled Regional Roads Victoria as it prepares to sell its road maintenance business.

The state government has quietly buried its flagship Regional Roads Victoria agency, as it prepares to sell off its road maintenance business - SprayLine - to the highest bidder.

The Weekly Times can reveal that RRV, which was established as a dedicated country roads body by former Premier Daniel Andrews in the lead-up to the 2018 state election, was wiped from the internet in August this year and its call centre number 1300 RRV (778) has gone dead.

The news follows confirmation that SprayLine Road Services, which was established by the former Kennett government in 1997 as a government-owned entity and currently holds contracts to maintain roads across Melbourne, the Grampians and Loddon-Mallee regions, is being readied for sale.

Municipal Association of Victoria president David Clark and the state Opposition said they had heard rumours of a potential SprayLine sale, which have since been confirmed by road contractors who say the government has launched a pre-sale review. “They’re doing an internal review to sell it, (to be) completed in the next three or so months,” said one major road contractor, who did not wish to be named.

He said SprayLine’s most-valuable assets were its depots at Dandenong, Ardeer, Lilydale, Bendigo and Ballarat, as well as others across the state’s west, which employ about 200 workers. But just how much the debt-ridden government can get for the state’s road maintenance business will depend on whether it is willing to offer potential buyers long-term maintenance contracts.

Roads Minister Melissa Horne’s office refused to give details of the review, stating it was about ensuring its roads’ investment “delivers the best possible result for Victorians”.

Opposition roads spokesman Danny O’Brien said Labor was “scraping the bottom of the barrel looking for every cent they can find to cover their financial waste and mismanagement and the government’s own road builder is on the chopping block.

“The government needs to explain how selling off SprayLine will do anything to improve the appalling state of our roads,” he said.

In March The Weekly Times reported that a National Transport Research Organisation survey, which the government had tried to keep secret, found the proportion of regional roads classed as “fair” or better plummeted from 70 per cent during 2022 to 9 per cent last year.

The Allan Government has shrouded its road maintenance spending in secrecy, making it almost impossible for Victorians to work out how much is being spent.

But now the government is making it even more difficult for the public to scrutinise how much and where funding is being spent, after closing down Regional Roads Victoria. In the 2018 state budget Treasurer Tim Pallas allocated $17.5 million to establish RRV, in what government media releases described as a “dedicated country roads body to make sure regional communities have the safe and reliable roads they deserve”.

At the time, then roads minister Luke Donnellan said RRV would be “based in Ballarat, with a presence in regional centres across the state, giving regional Victorians roads they can rely on.”

“Regional Roads Victoria will solely focus on repairing and maintaining roads in regional communities,” he said.

RRV’s headquarters were set up in Ballarat, with 24 staff, just before the 2018 election.

The government also established a dedicated website, which Mr Donnellan said allowed Victorians to “view and keep track of the annual program of maintenance works and projects”, as well as reporting hazards and maintenance problems to a dedicated RRV call centre.

The regionalroads.vic. gov.au website, showing the five RRV regions – Loddon-Mallee, the Grampians, Barwon South West, Hume and Gippsland – was live until June 12 this year. But by July the website had been cut back to a site map and then in August the URL was redirected to Transport Victoria’s news and resources website, with no mention of RRV.

RRV’s former chief regional roads officer Paul Northey is now working at Lower Murray Water and the agency’s last Facebook page post was in August last year.

Former Regional Roads Victoria boss Paul Northey, pictured here at his Ballarat headquarters, is now working for Lower Murray Water. Picture: Andy Rogers

Mr O’Brien said “the quiet dismantling of RRV just highlights it was always a sham effort to make it seem like Labor cared about regional roads.

“Like most things the government does, this was just more spin and now that it’s been abolished, the lie is laid bare,” he said. “Sadly Jacinta Allan’s government is more about spin than substance.

“Victorian motorists are paying the price through the disgraceful state of our roads.”