TRANSCRIPT:
I visited St John’s Primary School in Euroa last week to meet the talented young students and to hear their concerns about the unsupervised school crossing. A lack of funding support from this state government has left our kids in a dangerous position. The local council has now decided it will no longer foot the bill for this government’s responsibility. No-one can explain how dangerous the decision to remove school crossing supervisors from high-traffic state-managed roads where primary school students frequently cross better than the students themselves. I want to quote the intelligent and clever grade 6 leader, Brianna Maher, who wrote about the dangers and need to protect her friends in an article in our local paper. Brianna said:
… if we did not have crossing guards cars would not know to stop quickly, because there would be no flags, whistles and fluorescent clothing to warn them.
She said: There are so many accidents, each and every year on our roads. Without school crossing supervisors, this amount of accidents will increase dramatically …
I was also able to witness the shocking state of the region’s bridges, road infrastructure and transport issues with member for South-West Coast Roma Britnell, who visited my electorate last week.
Of particular concern are the decaying flood-impacted Chinamans and Kirwans bridges near Nagambie, which are having a considerable impact on our region’s waterways, local economy, tourism and sporting clubs.
With major sections of the Goulburn River under an exclusion zone, accessibility is limited and there are genuine safety concerns for locals who travel near these bridges.
Local community groups are continuing to advocate for updates from the government but have been ignored time and time again.