Parliament House
Melbourne
Thursday, February 22, 2018.
Wire rope barriers
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22 February 2018
| ASSEMBLY | STEPH RYAN (NAT) |  | |||
Search terms: WIRE ROPE BARRIERS
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Ms RYAN (Euroa) (11:18:43) — My question is to the Minister for Roads and Road Safety. The VicRoads roadside grass-cutting program is critical in reducing the fire risk along our freeway and highway network. Due to the placement of 
wire
rope barriers too close to the side of the road and in contravention of your own protocols, on the Hume Freeway grass-cutting tractors now do not have enough room to do this task. Minister, is it not a fact that your botched placement of these wire rope barriers
along the Hume Freeway means that kilometres of grass cutting will now have to be completed by workers pushing lawnmowers?
wire rope barriers too close to the side of the road and in contravention of your own protocols, on the Hume Freeway grass-cutting tractors now do not have enough room to do this task. Minister, is it not a fact that your botched placement of these wire rope barriers along the Hume Freeway means that kilometres of grass cutting will now have to be completed by workers pushing lawnmowers?
Wire rope barriers
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22 February 2018
| ASSEMBLY | LUKE DONNELLAN (ALP) | | |||
Search terms: WIRE ROPE BARRIERS
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Mr DONNELLAN (Minister for Roads and Road Safety) (11:19:24) — No.
Honourable members interjecting.
The SPEAKER — Order! I warn the Deputy Leader of the Opposition.
Ms Ryan — On a point of order, Speaker, I am very happy to provide photographic evidence to the minister to demonstrate that he is misleading the house.
The SPEAKER — Order! I have not called the minister to answer the question. I call the minister to answer the question.
Ms Ryan — He answered and he said no.
The SPEAKER — I apologise.
Wire rope barriers
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22 February 2018
| ASSEMBLY | STEPH RYAN (NAT) | | |||
Search terms: WIRE ROPE BARRIERS
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Ms RYAN (Euroa) (11:20:06) — On a supplementary question, page 3 of the minister's 2016 wire rope barrier guidelines states clearly that the ongoing maintenance on both sides of these barriers needs to comply with occupational health and safety requirements. Minister, before you approved the botched placement of wire rope barriers close to fast-moving traffic, did you get any advice that forcing workers to push lawnmowers alongside a major freeway in any way complies with section 28 of the Occupational Health and Safety Act 2004?
wire rope barrier guidelines states clearly that the ongoing maintenance on both sides of these barriers needs to comply with occupational health and safety requirements. Minister, before you approved the botched placement of wire rope barriers close to fast-moving traffic, did you get any advice that forcing workers to push lawnmowers alongside a major freeway in any way complies with section 28 of the Occupational Health and Safety Act 2004?
Wire rope barriers
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22 February 2018
| ASSEMBLY | LUKE DONNELLAN (ALP) | | |||
Search terms: WIRE ROPE BARRIERS
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Mr DONNELLAN (Minister for Roads and Road Safety) (11:20:46) — I thank the member for her question. But there are a couple of things. I would like to actually inform the member that they are working off an old road design note, which is from 2016. It was actually updated in 2017. What we had yesterday was the shadow minister and these other geese out there handing around a wrong, old document. In other words, they got it wrong on every count. That is the first thing.
Let me be very clear: there were updated guidelines done in 2017. I would encourage those on that other side to have a look at those guidelines, because they incorporate —
The SPEAKER — Order! The minister will resume his seat.
Honourable members interjecting.
The SPEAKER — Order! The member for Polwarth!
Ms Ryan — On a point of order, Speaker, on relevance, the question was about whether the minister's guidelines comply with section 28 of the Occupational Health and Safety Act. He is arguing that the guidelines have been updated. Is he seriously suggesting that his guidelines direct workers not to comply with the Occupational Health and Safety Act?
The SPEAKER — Order! There is no point of order. The Minister for Roads and Road Safety.
Mr DONNELLAN — Thank you very much. I again thank the member for her clarification and her road safety expertise and obviously her occupational health and safety expertise, but it would not be a bad idea to get the updated guidelines, done in 2017.
Honourable members interjecting.
The SPEAKER — Order! The member for Polwarth is warned.
Mr DONNELLAN — Let me be very clear: it would be of great benefit to the member for Polwarth as well, who also seems to be getting it wrong on so many fronts. So let us be very clear: the 2017 guidelines accommodate —
Honourable members interjecting.
The SPEAKER (11:22:41) — Order! The member for Polwarth had been warned. I ask the member for Polwarth to leave the chamber for the period of 1 hour.
Honourable member for Polwarth withdrew from chamber.
Honourable members interjecting.
The SPEAKER — The member for Gembrook will come to order. The minister has concluded his ministers statement.
Ovens Valley electorate roads
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21 February 2018
| ASSEMBLY | TIM McCURDY (NAT) | | |||
Search terms: WIRE ROPE BARRIERS
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Mr McCURDY — The Minister for Roads and Road Safety, who refuses to come to the Ovens Valley electorate to discuss the bridge, has again shown a lack of respect to regional people in the wake of his latest embarrassing blunder. I request that the minister apologise to regional Victorians for thumbing his nose at the state of our roads and for trying to cover up the lack of investment with wire rope barriers. While the minister ignores the state of country roads, lives are being lost. Premier, show some leadership and remove him from this portfolio.
wire rope barriers. While the minister ignores the state of country roads, lives are being lost. Premier, show some leadership and remove him from this portfolio.
Wire rope barriers
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21 February 2018
| ASSEMBLY | PETER WALSH (NAT) | | ||
Search terms: WIRE ROPE BARRIERS
*** DAILY HANSARD PROOF ONLY - DO NOT QUOTE ***
Mr WALSH (Murray Plains) (11:11:45) — My question is to the Minister for Roads and Road Safety. Yesterday in question time you repeated the line that wire rope barriers were being rolled out according to protocols set in 2014. You accused country people of being 'banjo-playing conspiracy theorists' when they were simply quoting the latest VicRoads protocols that were actually set by you in September 2016.
wire rope barriers were being rolled out according to protocols set in 2014. You accused country people of being 'banjo-playing conspiracy theorists' when they were simply quoting the latest VicRoads protocols that were actually set by you in September 2016.
Honourable members interjecting.
The SPEAKER — Order! When the house comes to order, the Leader of The Nationals has the call.
Honourable members interjecting.
The SPEAKER — Order! The member for Frankston is warned. The Attorney-General will assist in the running of the house, and I ask both the Premier and the Leader of the Opposition to assist in the smooth running of the house. The Leader of The Nationals has the call.
Mr WALSH — Minister, how many wire rope barriers across the state breach your 2016 protocols, particularly the minimum offset of 3 metres?
wire rope barriers across the state breach your 2016 protocols, particularly the minimum offset of 3 metres?
Wire rope barriers
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21 February 2018
| ASSEMBLY | LUKE DONNELLAN (ALP) | | ||
Search terms: WIRE ROPE BARRIERS
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Mr DONNELLAN (Minister for Roads and Road Safety) (11:13:09) — I thank the Leader of the National Party for his 'ooh-ah' question, to be honest. The protocols actually allow a setback of between 2 and 4 metres, and were developed in 2014 by the Country Fire Authority and VicRoads. I do note that I just had a look at these statistics this morning: of the 31 people who have lost their lives on our roads this year, 20 of those were drivers, and unfortunately 14 of those were in country Victoria. We know that the likelihood of country Victorians having an accident on our roads is four times more likely than it is for suburban drivers. So let me be very clear: I make no apology for rolling out —
Honourable members interjecting.
The SPEAKER — Order! The minister will resume his seat. The member for South-West Coast and the Minister for Police are both warned.
Mr Guy — On a point of order, Speaker, on relevance, the question was very clearly around the wire rope barrier protocols that were set in 2016 and how many of them breached those guidelines of a minimum of 3 metres. It was a very straightforward question to the roads minister.
wire rope barrier protocols that were set in 2016 and how many of them breached those guidelines of a minimum of 3 metres. It was a very straightforward question to the roads minister.
The SPEAKER — I note the minister has only been answering the question for 40 seconds. I do ask the minister to now come back to answering the question.
Honourable members interjecting.
The SPEAKER — I warn the member for Eltham. The member for South-West Coast has already been warned.
Mr DONNELLAN — As I indicated, the protocols indicate between 2 and 4 metres. Let us be very clear: my concern is that I want to save country lives. I want to ensure that the 109 out of 155 accidents which happened in country Victoria last year do not occur again.
Mr R. Smith — On a point of order, Speaker, the minister has been directed by you to return to the question.
Mr Pakula interjected.
The SPEAKER — Without the assistance of the Attorney-General.
Mr R. Smith — He disrespected what you said by continuing in the vein of answering that he started with. The question is: according to the 2016 guidelines that he himself set, how many of those wire rope barriers are in breach of his own guidelines? That is the question. You have already asked him to come back to that question, and I ask you to direct him to do so again.
wire rope barriers are in breach of his own guidelines? That is the question. You have already asked him to come back to that question, and I ask you to direct him to do so again.
Ms Allan — On the point of order, Speaker, under many, many rulings from the Chair, the precedent has been set that the preamble forms part of the question. The preamble that accompanied the question from the Leader of the National Party included reference to the 2014 protocols and 2016 protocols. The minister for roads was being entirely relevant to the question that was asked, because he was just talking before he was interrupted by the member for Warrandyte about the 2014 protocols.
The SPEAKER — I do ask the minister to come back to answering the question.
Mr DONNELLAN — As I indicated quite specifically, the protocols indicate between 2 and 4 metres. The wire rope barriers which were rolled out on the Calder Highway are approximately 2 metres. I have asked VicRoads to actually check to make sure of that, but the protocols indicate between 2 and 4 metres.
wire rope barriers which were rolled out on the Calder Highway are approximately 2 metres. I have asked VicRoads to actually check to make sure of that, but the protocols indicate between 2 and 4 metres.
Ms Britnell interjected.
The SPEAKER — Order! The member for South-West Coast has been warned for the final time.
Questions without notice and ministers statements
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21 February 2018
| ASSEMBLY | MATTHEW GUY (LIB) | | ||
Search terms: WIRE ROPE BARRIERS
*** DAILY HANSARD PROOF ONLY - DO NOT QUOTE ***
Mr Guy — On a point of order, Speaker, on relevance, the question was very clearly around the wire rope barrier protocols that were set in 2016 and how many of them breached those guidelines of a minimum of 3 metres. It was a very straightforward question to the roads minister.
wire rope barrier protocols that were set in 2016 and how many of them breached those guidelines of a minimum of 3 metres. It was a very straightforward question to the roads minister.
Questions without notice and ministers statements
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21 February 2018
| ASSEMBLY | RYAN SMITH (LIB) | | ||
Search terms: WIRE ROPE BARRIERS
*** DAILY HANSARD PROOF ONLY - DO NOT QUOTE ***
Mr R. Smith — On a point of order, Speaker, the minister has been directed by you to return to the question.
Mr Pakula interjected.
The SPEAKER — Without the assistance of the Attorney-General.
Mr R. Smith — He disrespected what you said by continuing in the vein of answering that he started with. The question is: according to the 2016 guidelines that he himself set, how many of those wire rope barriers are in breach of his own guidelines? That is the question. You have already asked him to come back to that question, and I ask you to direct him to do so again.
wire rope barriers are in breach of his own guidelines? That is the question. You have already asked him to come back to that question, and I ask you to direct him to do so again.
Wire rope barriers
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20 February 2018
| ASSEMBLY | LUKE DONNELLAN (ALP) | | ||
Search terms: WIRE ROPE BARRIERS
*** DAILY HANSARD PROOF ONLY - DO NOT QUOTE ***
Mr DONNELLAN (Minister for Roads and Road Safety) (12:13:57) — I thank the member for his question. Let us be very clear: the comments, as I have indicated previously, were very much directed at members, and I very much thank the CFA for the work they do in relation to saving lives. These rollouts were set up by a set of protocols signed in 2014 under the previous government, under I think it was Terry Mulder, and these protocols indicated — and I believe these have met the protocols — that they need to be —
Mr Walsh — On a point of order, Speaker, on the issue of relevance, the question was very clear: will the minister now apologise to Captain Chapman for calling him a 'banjo-playing dingbat?'. I ask you to bring him back to actually answering that question.
The SPEAKER — Order! The minister in his answer indicated that his comments were directed not at the person mentioned in the question. The minister is being relevant to the question that has been asked.
Mr DONNELLAN — This is not the first time the coalition has called into question the efficacy of the wire rope barriers. If I can remember, the last time was in 2010 that we had this two-bob stunt — and I might add, a two-bob stunt — by the coalition in relation to wire rope barriers. These have been rolled out for approximately 27 years. In 2014 the coalition government themselves at the time signed a set of protocols, which is what we are working under. But let me be very clear: the comments were directed directly at those in the coalition who ignore the science of wire rope barriers.
wire rope barriers. If I can remember, the last time was in 2010 that we had this two-bob stunt — and I might add, a two-bob stunt — by the coalition in relation to wire rope barriers. These have been rolled out for approximately 27 years. In 2014 the coalition government themselves at the time signed a set of protocols, which is what we are working under. But let me be very clear: the comments were directed directly at those in the coalition who ignore the science of wire rope barriers.