Hoarding funds: $100m in traffic fine revenue for roads withheld

Almost $100m remains unspent in a Victorian trust established in 1993 to divert all traffic fine revenue into road repairs.

The Allan Government withheld $100 million in the Better Roads Victoria trust account in 2023-24, despite the state’s roads falling apart.

The Allan Government has hoarded $100 million in traffic camera and on-the-spot speeding fine revenue that was earmarked for road funding.

The Department of Transport and Planning’s recently released 2023-24 annual report shows that by the end of the financial year $99.7m remained unspent in Victoria’s Better Roads trust account.

The trust was established in 1993, as a means of ensuring all traffic camera and on-the-spot speeding fine revenue went back into road repair and upgrades, with a guarantee that a third of the money went to regional Victoria.

The DTP financials show an extra $127m in fines poured into the account over 2023-24, with a total take of $528.5m compared to $401.4m in 2022-23.

Yet over the same period road spending from the trust declined by $76m.

Better Roads Victoria Trust Account 2019-20 to 2023-24.

When Roads Minister Melissa Horne was asked why she and her department had left almost $100m in road repair funding unspent, her office said “the balance of the funds were allocated to projects that will be completed in 2024/25”.

However Opposition roads spokesman Danny O’Brien questioned whether the money was simply “being hoarded to prop up budget bottom line instead of making better roads”.

“If this government thinks our roads don’t need a casual $100 million then I think they need to get out more,” Mr O’Brien said.

“Our roads are in an appalling state following years of budget cuts and the lack of spending out of this Trust won’t help.”

“It’s also noteworthy that despite an additional $127 million being raised through speed camera fines, the actual spend on roads last year reduced by $76 million.”

In May The Weekly Times reported the Allan Government had cut regional road resurfacing work by more than 90 per cent, accelerating the networks’ collapse.

The cutbacks come despite the Victorian Auditor-General’s 2023-24 report into the state of Victoria’s finances finding the government drained the Traffic Accident Commission of $1.1 billion in dividends.