Auditor-General’s report finds potholes in WA’s regional road maintenance, including Greater Geraldton

Cracks in the maintenance of regional WA roads have been exposed in an Auditor General’s report, including that the City of Greater Geraldton has not updated its plan in 15 years. The report from WA Auditor General Caroline Spencer, tabled in Parliament on Wednesday, found local governments across regional WA often lacked the data, resources and skilled staff needed to maintain more than 113,000km of roads that spanned one-third of Australia’s landmass. The City of Greater Geraldton has welcomed a State audit that calls for an overhaul of how regional roads are maintained — backing calls for fairer funding — saying current systems fail to reflect the real costs and challenges WA’s local governments face. The Maintaining Regional Local Roads audit examined five regional councils — the city of Greater Geraldton, and the shires of Derby-West Kimberley, Dumbleyung, East Pilbara, and Manjimup alongside Main Roads WA and the Department of Local Government, Industry Regulation and Safety. According to the report, the city of Greater Geraldton’s road maintenance plan was last updated 15 years ago, increasing the risk of reliance on reactive maintenance, which may be more expensive and less effective in the long term. It concluded the overall condition of the WA local government road network was not known, warning outdated funding models and inconsistent data collection were leaving regional communities at risk of deteriorating roads, rising maintenance costs, and restricted access to essential services. “We welcome the findings . . . and acknowledge the challenges as well as opportunities it highlights,” Geraldton mayor Jerry Clune said. “Significant progress in improving road condition data and asset management has already been made, enabling us to plan more strategically. “Importantly, we have recently appointed a dedicated asset manager to strengthen this work.” Funding arrangements under the Local Government Agreement currently split vehicle licence fee revenue, with 80 per cent going to State roads and 20 per cent to local roads. This formula has been in place since 1990, with an estimated $338 million shortfall between what councils need to preserve their road assets and what they currently spend. The audit revealed regional councils were responsible for maintaining about 90 per cent of WA’s local roads, with the City of Greater Geraldton taking care of a total road network of 2085km, with gravel and unsealed roads making up 1262km of surfaces in the region. “Local governments are already struggling to maintain roads that are under increasing pressure from heavy haulage, freight, and tourism,” shadow local government minister and Geraldton MLA Kirrilee Warr said, calling on the ministers for transport and local government to immediately restore transparency and fairness to the road funding model and ensure regional councils received their fair share. A lack of reliable condition data meant no one — not even the State Government — could quantify the backlog of road maintenance or how much it would cost to bring all regional roads up to standard with differences in capacity and capability. “Roadworks are inconsistent across the network, with some roads in good condition and well maintained and others not,” Ms Spencer said.