Western Highway Promises Won’t Save Lives — We Need Shovels in the Ground Now
For communities across western Victoria, the duplication of the 12-kilometre section 2B of the Western Highway between Buangor and Ararat is not a luxury project. It’s an urgent safety priority for Australia’s third-busiest interstate freight route.
For years, local families, freight operators and tourists have been calling for this section of road to be duplicated because they understand the risks posed by an outdated and unduplicated highway carrying increasing volumes of traffic every day.
That’s why the recent additional funding announcements included by the Allan and Albanese Labor governments in the 2026/27 State and Federal Budgets have left many people frustrated rather than reassured.
This project has never lacked funding. Seven years ago, in 2019, the former Federal Liberal and Nationals Government committed $360 million to complete the duplication of the highway between Ballarat and Stawell. At the time, Victorians were told the project would be completed by 2020.
Yet here we are in 2026 and work on section 2B between Buangor and Ararat still hasn’t started.
Federal Minister for Infrastructure, Transport, Regional Development and Local Government, Catherine King, stated in her media release earlier this month that “subject to final approvals, including from the Commonwealth Department of Climate Change, Energy, the Environment and Water, construction is expected to begin before the end of this year.”
This statement raises more questions than it answers.
What approvals are still outstanding?
When will those approvals be finalised?
When will construction actually begin?
If the funding has already been approved, why can’t work start now?
People are understandably sceptical that this announcement has been made so close to the
Victorian State election, particularly when the seat of Ripon—through which section 2B of the
highway runs—is expected to be hotly contested. Their scepticism is only heightened by
simultaneous acknowledgements from the Albanese and Allan governments that key approvals
and plans have still not been completed.
Communities across western Victoria want certainty not political spin.
If this project is genuinely ready to proceed, then Minister King should clearly state when
construction will start.
Because the consequences of continued delays couldn’t be more serious.
An ABC article published on 10 October 2025 reported that between 2015 and 2024 there were
174 crashes on the Western Highway between Ballarat and Stawell, including on the
unduplicated sections, resulting in 16 fatalities and 105 serious injuries.
Those figures represent lives lost, families devastated and communities changed forever.
A fatal crash at Buangor in March last year prompted a petition for urgent upgrades. Tragically,
just two months later, a five-vehicle collision near Ararat claimed three more lives.
This is why western Victorians are tired of announcements without timelines.
Families travelling between Buangor and Ararat don’t need another media release. They need
honesty, certainty, accountability, respect and above all else, action from the Albanese and
Allan Labor Governments.
ENDS
Contact: Sandie Gustus M | 0408 564 232 E | sandie.gustus@aph.gov.au
Published in the Pyrenees Advocate