Victorians deserve safe roads, not temporary patches

September 16, 2026 — 5:00am

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Last Wednesday, the Victorian Auditor-General’s Office released its report into the condition of this state’s roads. Its findings were damning. Almost half of state roads were in poor or very poor condition in 2024. This was a rise from 39 per cent in 2021. Most were in regional Victoria, and bore most of the state’s traffic and freight vehicles. Worryingly, a third had only five years of usefulness before they crumbled so badly they could not be driven on safely without limits on speed and loads; another 10 per cent had between five and 15 years left.

On Sunday, motorcyclist Peter Mason, 71, known as “Tiki”, was riding on the Western Highway near Trawalla. His bike hit a pothole, causing him to lose control. He fell over the handlebars and died. Close friend Barrie Trubie remembered “Tiki” as someone “giving to anyone who needed it”. His death makes tragically real the nexus between words and actions. For potholes and Victorians, it is now not an exaggeration to say, it is a........

© The Age