Labor's road maintenance plan includes prisoner work crews
Victorian Premier Ben Carroll has outlined a plan to use supervised, minimum-security prisoners for roadside maintenance as part of Labor's broader strategy to address the state's road conditions, should the party win the November election.
The announcement on Monday followed a Sunday commitment to increase the road maintenance budget by $352 million to fix 500,000 potholes by the end of January. According to The Guardian, this funding is on top of more than $1 billion budgeted for road maintenance in May and is partially offset by delaying planned level-crossing removals in Melbourne's south-east, including two in Highett and one in Mentone.
Carroll said that if Labor wins the election, his government would work with Corrections Victoria to develop a pilot program putting inmates to work on tasks such as mowing lawns, controlling weeds, removing graffiti, and picking up rubbish. He argued this would free up skilled roadside maintenance crews to focus on fixing potholes.
"Low-level prisoners want to be doing something that will benefit the whole of the state," Carroll told reporters, as quoted by The Guardian. "We've seen the work that they do on graffiti removal. We've seen the work that they do on weeding and supporting our road network more broadly. But working with our crews and really increasing the labour capacity does mean we can fix up more potholes sooner, faster and better."
Government says prisoner work will supplement, not replace, paid jobs
The government said the work performed by inmates would not replace paid jobs but would "supplement the workforce where there are skill and capacity shortages," as reported by both ABC Australia and The Guardian.
Carroll, who served as roads minister between 2020 and 2022, also said the government would bring road maintenance programs "back in-house," reducing reliance on private contractors. Additionally, Labor plans to set up a website where Victorians can upload photos of potholes, request repairs, and monitor progress, according to both outlets.
Criticism from legal advocates and opposition
The plan has drawn criticism. Australian Lawyers Alliance criminal justice spokesperson and barrister Greg Barns SC described it as a "cynical short-term solution to a political problem for the government," as reported by The Guardian. Barns said that while it is pleasing to see prisoners given work opportunities, unless they are paid an appropriate wage, the arrangement "simply amounts to cheap labour and, in this case, for a political purpose."
According to The Guardian, Corrections Victoria pays people in prison between 15 and 80 per day depending on the complexity of their work, and the government compulsorily sets aside 20% of earnings as savings available only upon release. Factoring in that set-aside, prisoners make less than $40 per week to spend while incarcerated, the report said. Barns argued prisoners involved in this work should be paid the award rate, with some funds set aside for their release.
Separately, Shadow Roads Minister Danny O'Brien described Labor's commitment to double the number of potholes fixed this year as "a con job," as reported by ABC Australia. Last month, the state opposition pledged to invest $5 billion to repair and rebuild the state's roads and patch 1 million potholes if it wins in November, according to both ABC Australia and The Guardian.