THE State Government announced $101 million in regional road upgrades in the budget on Tuesday night, however the opposition claimed it wasn’t enough to address the needs of rural communities.

The works will include intersection upgrades, new overtaking lanes and new roundabouts on key regional roads and highways in major towns across the state, including Portland, but no mention of Hamilton.

Also announced was a $780 million spend in 2022/23 on road maintenance works across the metropolitan and regional road network, but what proportion of that would be allocated to regional areas was unclear.

There was also $21.5 million to fund licensing reform, a move the Victorian Transport Association (VTA) welcomed.

“We applaud the government for recognising and acting on the supply chain headwinds our industry is facing, particularly the need to reform our licensing system to be able to attract and retain new and highly skilled and qualified people to the industry,” VTA chief executive, Peter Anderson said.

But Lowan MP, Emma Kealy and the Victorian Farmers Federation (VFF) said the money allocated to the regional road network was inadequate.

After cutting the state’s road asset management funding by 23 per cent last year, Ms Kealy said the government had again slashed its budget and road asset management investment would drop from $616.9 million to $592.7 million.

“So many of our roads are in desperate need of repair to make them safe and usable so that people in our region can safely to get school, work, healthcare appointments and other vital activities,” Ms Kealy said.

“But instead of fixing the gaping potholes and crumbling edges we are forced to endure every day, Labor’s answer is to put up speed reduction signs.”

VFF president, Emma Germano said she was bitterly disappointed in the budget’s failure to address regional Victoria’s crumbling road network.

“This is yet another budget that fails to address the chronic underfunding of Victoria’s regional road network,” she said.

“Western Victoria has particularly missed out on funding for upgrades to critical freight routes so farmers can get food and fibre to market.”