Mark Vaile (Lyne, National Party, Deputy Prime Minister) Share this | Hansard source

I thank the member for Cowper for his question. He would be well aware of the roads programs that the Commonwealth operates, which deliver significant benefits and assistance to local government. In recent years almost $20 million has been delivered through the Roads to Recovery program to the four councils in the electorate of the member for Cowper. As well, a number of other road projects have been funded by the Commonwealth but are not directly the responsibility of the Commonwealth. As the member knows, that important link between Sawtell and Coffs Harbour, Hogben Drive, is an important piece of local infrastructure and is an indication of what the Commonwealth, our coalition government, is doing to assist the pressures placed upon local councils and local government.

There are 650,000 kilometres, or 80 per cent, of all Australians roads which are the responsibility of local government. They have revenue sources from their rates base, and they traditionally have had revenue streams, in both tied and untied grants, from state governments. Historically they have never had direct access to funding from the Commonwealth to look after these roads. But, increasingly, the state governments have moved away. We have heard mention today of cost-shifting. There is a massive amount of cost-shifting that takes place between state governments and local government in the area of roads. The federal government has had to step in to assist local governments in the maintenance of those roads, because road infrastructure right across Australia is vital to the Australian economy. So far, 25,000 local road projects have been funded under Roads to Recovery since we introduced the program in 2001. Almost $2 billion worth of resources has gone into local roads across Australia, not just in regional Australia. These are very important investments for the overall economy, particularly for local economies.

The other area we have been engaged in and kept going—and actually revitalised in 1996—which the member for Cowper would be well aware of, is the National Road Safety Black Spot Program, which was axed in the dying days of the Hawke-Keating government. We reconstituted it, and about $500 million since 1996 has been spent on road black spots, fixing up 4,000 of the most dangerous sections of local roads across Australia. That initiative is directly saving lives, the lives of a lot of young people, across Australia.

Last week the Australian Local Government Association had their conference in Canberra. They praised the federal government’s commitment to local road infrastructure and have pledged to continue to work with the federal government in this area because it is so important to local economies and, therefore, to the national economy. We should remember that the reason this is necessary is that so many of the state government programs are underfunded as far as assisting local governments in looking after their road networks is concerned. We have seen that need in our communities across Australia. We have stepped into the breach to assist in this area because it is vital to the national economy as well as to the local economies, and it is vital to our task of keeping the national economy strong.

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