General News
20 March, 2025
Call for action following highway death
The Federal opposition says it will redraw cultural heritage legislation to prevent it from being used to delay projects like the duplication of the Western Highway.
The duplication of the road between Buangor and Stawell has been mothballed in recent years due to ongoing legal disputes regarding areas of claimed cultural significance, including a birthing tree.
The duplication between Buangor and Ararat was supposed to be completed in 2018.
On Saturday, March 8, the single-lane highway claimed another life after a head-on collision
Two vehicles collided on the Western Highway at about 5.10pm; a Dobie woman died at the scene while a Horsham man airlifted to hospital with life-threatening injuries.
The highway was closed for several hours with traffic being diverted at Beaufort and Ararat via either the Sunraysia or Glenelg Highways.
On Wednesday, March 12, deputy Liberal leader Susan Lay joined Wannon MP Dan Tehan along the highway promising action to restart the duplication process.
“If we get into government, we will reform the cultural heritage approvals process at a federal level and we will insist that the state governments align with us," she said.
“It is a disgrace that Main Roads Victoria (sic) and their state government have not done more to fix this.
“It is not good enough to come to Ararat again and have people in the community so distressed, so angry, so upset about something that should happened in 2018."
Ms Lay said it was ridiculous that cultural heritage claims were delaying a significant road upgrade.
“It’s not good enough when you see the deaths on this road for ridiculous claims that these trees and apparent cultural heritage mean you can’t duplicate the road and save lives,” she said.
“There are many processes we need to sort out if we get back into federal government that actually changes the laws so this activist litigation ceases,” Ms Lay said.
Former Northern Grampians Shire mayor Kevin Erwin said the highway has been one of the most frustrating issues he has dealt with.
Mr Erwin, who was also the Chair of the Western Highway Action Committee, said something has to be done to have the road duplicated through to Stawell.
“It is very disappointing. There has been a significant loss of life along this section," he said.
“It’s probably one of the most frustrating projects I have been involved with in the last 20 years.
"It’s fully funded but it has come to a grinding halt. I can’t put my frustrations into words.
“It needs to be completed. It has been a long time since cultural heritage held this project up so it’s about time it started again, get it done."
Member for Lowan Emma Kealy has also expressed her concerns following the recent death.
“We’ve been waiting ten long years for the Western Highway to be fixed, with countless accidents and too many lives lost, yet Labor’s recent election commitment to roads ended at the Westgate Bridge," she said.
“How many more lives must be lost before state and federal governments fix this deadly road?"
An online petition calling for work to commence on the road was launched at the weekend and has already attracted close to 2500 signatures.
The petition was initiated by Laura Gardner and calls for “immediate action to upgrade the road between Buangor and Ararat to a double-lane road in order to prevent further loss of life.”
The petition can be signed at www.change.org/p/improve-road-safety-between-buangor-and-ararat.
