Friday, 28 August 2026

 Evan MULHOLLAND (Northern Metropolitan) (15:53): (2769) My adjournment matter is for the Minister for Roads and Road Safety, and the action I seek refers to the Hume Freeway and, in particular, the lack of lighting along the Hume Freeway in my electorate. Residents across our community have raised significant concerns with me regarding the dangerous lack of lighting along the Hume Freeway, specifically the corridor of the Hume Freeway between the Metropolitan Ring Road and Donnybrook Road, which is frequently without adequate lighting, in many cases due to faulty lights along the road. This ongoing failure poses a significant safety risk for residents driving along the Hume Freeway at night. It is not acceptable that residents are forced to drive in such conditions on a major freeway, all because of inadequate and faulty lighting.

As we know, many residents use the Hume as a local road because of the lack of investment into other north–south connecting roads in the area. Something needs to be done immediately about the Hume. It is a huge problem in my electorate. I particularly want to acknowledge Hume City Council’s advocacy on this and my friend the deputy mayor Ally Watson, who has written to the government seeking answers on why large chunks of the Hume remain largely unlit. Unfortunately, this issue is not isolated. It is part of a much broader issue on the lack of transport infrastructure in Victoria under this Labor government. Time and time again we see Labor neglecting our basic infrastructure, particularly in my electorate in the northern suburbs, so they can spend tens of billions of dollars, probably up to $60 billion, on a rail tunnel from Cheltenham to Box Hill. That is not much use to my constituents in the northern suburbs, who definitely want safer roads and a safer Hume to travel on.

I seek the action of the minister to explain why much of the Hume Freeway remains unlit and seek the action of the minister to urgently fix the issue to ensure our major roads are properly lit for the safety of every driver and every constituent. While Pothole Paul is at it, he could fix the potholes on the Hume. I travel up to New South Wales every now and then. You can tell the difference between the Victorian side of the Hume and the New South Wales side of the Hume by the amount of potholes. It is absolutely ridiculous along the Hume. It is unsafe to drive on. Potholes are consistently opening up. This government cannot keep blaming weather when they have not done the resurfacing works, which is why a Wilson government will invest $5 billion into our roads over the next four years to eliminate 1 million potholes and to do the resurfacing works.