‘Sick of burying their mates’: Motorcyclists rev engines at parliament in road safety protest

After motorcyclist Robert “Pommy” Nicolson learnt his mate Peter “Tiki” Mason had struck a pothole on the Western Highway and died, shock later gave way to a sinking feeling: it could easily have been him.

A professional truck driver, Nicolson has memorised the location of most of the potholes on the 130-kilometre journey he takes for work each day. But he is on constant alert for any new dips that could send his road train onto the wrong side of the bitumen in a split second.

“He was a top fella,” Nicolson said of Mason, who last month lost control of his motorbike after hitting a pothole and went over the handlebars near Beaufort, about 50 kilometres from Ballarat.

“We all know the risks, but we shouldn’t have to worry about the condition of the roads,” Nicolson said.

Chants of “fix the roads” rang out in the CBD on Sunday as an estimated 3500 motorbike riders and other protesters flooded the intersection of Spring and Bourke streets to call for immediate action to improve safety for all road users. Motorcyclists made loud revs on their bikes that reverberated up the steps of State Parliament.

Gordon Parry had never been to a protest before but felt he needed to attend because “it’s life and death at the moment out there”.

“It’s not just all about motorcyclists; it’s about the whole community, people driving cars, driving trucks. It’s insane,” he said.

Ruth Hogarth said her family had been ripped to pieces following the death of her brother John Hogarth, who died in a motorcycle crash in 2024 on the Western Freeway at Ballan, near Ballarat, which a coroner found happened after he rode over asphalt repair bumps.

She told the crowd that Victorian roads had become “totally trashed”.

“Let’s get it fixed. Let’s keep the pressure up,” Hogarth said.

Rally organiser Michael White said protesters were angry at the condition of Victoria’s roads and sick of burying their mates. He said the rally was not political but about promoting accountability. State political leaders had been invited to address the crowd.

“It’s not about Labor, Liberal, left or right. What we want our politicians to do is become decent human beings and fix a problem that’s killing Victorians,” White said.

Opposition Leader Jess Wilson and Nationals leader Danny O’Brien addressed protesters and spruiked a $5 billion road maintenance pledge Wilson said would be funded through a “hiring freeze on the growth of the back office of the public service” should the Coalition win the state election.

White said Victorian One Nation leader Warren Pickering had been invited to speak but was attending a BBQ event with the party’s federal leader, Pauline Hanson, so candidate Ben Lucas attended in his place.

Lucas, a Baw Baw Shire councillor, said his party would closely examine state spending before redirecting money “if we get our feet under the desk” but did not give a direct dollar commitment for road upgrades.

Premier Ben Carroll was also invited to speak. White said the premier was unavailable but had phoned him on Saturday instead.

At a press conference before the rally, Carroll said he had delayed some level crossing removals to bring forward $352 million for rapid road resurfacing, made the “biggest investment ever in road resurfacing” at $1.4 billion and had committed to bringing road maintenance responsibility within government.

Police said about 3500 people attended Sunday’s protest and there were no incidents of note.

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