Regional Roads Victoria, touted as the solution to fix the crumbling rural road network, spent $1.47 million on promotion in its first six months of operation, documents released under Freedom of Information show.
Launched in September 2018, the documents show that between April 2018 and January 2019 – just six months — RRV spent:
This spend on merchandise and advertising comes as the State Budget details that the Andrews Labor Government has:
Comments attributable to Shadow Minister for Rural Roads, Roma Britnell:
“The Andrews Labor Government is using Regional Roads Victoria as a propaganda machine to tell Victorians what a great job it is doing fixing our roads – but we know that’s not the case.
“How many potholes could have been filled or roads resurfaced with the money RRV spent on promoting itself?
“When RRV was announced I said I was worried it was just creating another cumbersome bureaucracy that would chew up important road maintenance dollars in staff costs and endless branding – so far that’s all we are seeing.
“People in rural and regional Victoria want their roads fixed; they don’t want their taxpayer dollars being spent on high-vis vests, drink bottles and pens.
“Rather than expensive campaigns telling people it is doing a good job, RRV should focus on doing the work and letting results speak for themselves.”
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