Kay Hull (Riverina, National Party) Share this | Hansard source

It gives me great pleasure today to support the AusLink (National Land Transport) Amendment Bill 2008 and to congratulate the government for continuing this vital program, which was initiated by the coalition. In fact, it was initiated by a small group of people. As I stand here today, I refer to my notebooks of June 2007 when former Deputy Prime Minister the Hon. John Anderson asked us to set up a small task force of Nationals to determine what we believed would be an appropriate response to the issue of road funding. There was John Forrest; there was the member for Parkes, who at the time was Tony Lawler; there was Bob Katter before he became an Independent; and there was Stuart St. Clair, the former member for New England. I was also in that small group of people. As I was looking at this legislation, I came across my working out of exactly what we would require in order to put back into local roads the strength and security required particularly in rural and regional areas—and, obviously, it would be available to some metropolitan areas as well.

We all signed off. We determined what we needed. We had about $400 million which was given to local councils. The total road funding at the time was about $1.3 billion. I wanted to go down the hypothecation process whereby you would hypothecate a certain amount of excise to go into roads, because about $155 billion in total revenue was being raised, yet only limited amounts of that money were going into road works. We signed off on two proposals. One was a hypothecation of 1.8c a litre excise into a purpose-designed roads account; the other one was to provide $1.2 billion over a four-year period to be distributed on the same formula as the federal assistance grants, which at the time were going to local government.

I took our case to the former Deputy Prime Minister and Minister for Transport and Regional Development, John Anderson. It was through the representation of this small group of working people that we devised, with the department and others, a proposal that would enable us to establish the Roads to Recovery program of $1.2 billion, which was implemented in November 2000. When you come into this House, you may think, being just one of many people in such a big place, that individual members cannot make a difference, but this just shows that you most certainly can.

This was an example of how local members, passionate about road transport and local issues, were able to collectively put together a very sensible proposal which was worked through by the department and the minister in charge. They came up with what was undoubtedly the most popular funding program outside Investing in Our Schools. I think Investing in Our Schools became equally as popular, but Roads to Recovery was the most significant program. It sidestepped the state so that roads funding was actually delivered to the people who are doing the work—the states were not creaming off serious amounts of money off the top of it and leaving a small percentage of money to go into on-the-ground work. It was a perfect example of how you could have federal and local government working in close cooperation to deliver huge benefits to local communities right across the nation.

Some of those road projects funded in the Riverina electorate were quite significant. The Riverina received $1.55 billion in transport and regional services funding, including very significant roads funding. The Roads to Recovery program has been a particularly successful initiative. The continuation of the Roads to Recovery program comprised $350 million per year from 2009-10. I certainly welcomed that additional funding on top of the pledge of $1.2 billion.

The figures for councils in Riverina under the Roads to Recovery program include Carrathool Shire Council, which received $8.25 million. Carrathool Shire Council is one of those shire councils that have a significant issue, because they probably have one of the most extensive networks of roads in New South Wales. They would be comparable, I think, to anywhere in the nation, but with very few ratepayers. So there is a very, very limited rate base to do the improvements and the upgrades that are required. Carrathool Shire Council has certainly made good use of its $8.25 million. Other figures for the Riverina include: Coolamon Shire Council, $4.61 million; Cootamundra Shire Council, $2.55 million; Griffith City Council, $5.6 million; Gundagai Shire Council, $2.87 million; Junee Shire Council, $3.2 million; Leeton Shire Council, $3.65 million; Murrumbidgee Shire Council, $2.18 million; Narrandera Shire Council, $5.5 million; Temora Shire Council, $4.39 million; and Wagga Wagga City Council, $11.2 million. The total amount of revenue for these councils under the Roads to Recovery program has been $64.56 million. This is $64.56 million of funding that these local councils would have had to have found for themselves to do the extensive works that were required.

I am a past member of Wagga Wagga City Council, having been involved in that council for eight years and having been deputy mayor for some five years. As we know, there has been much cost-shifting onto local government, and they are picking up more and more costs along the way. So this was a welcome relief and extremely well received by local governments right across the nation.

Our Roads to Recovery program cuts red tape and, as I said, delivers our vital road funding right where it is needed—and that is directly to the councils. Our vital local road upgrades were needed to continue to support our local communities, who have been doing it tough over a long period of time in drought. Unfortunately, it appears that again, for many of our producers, this year, which we thought would be our get-out-of-jail-free year, is shaping up exactly the same as last year: a great start with a very, very bad ending. It has also assisted in boosting our local industries and has increased our road safety. The funding was determined independently, using those formulas, as I said, that were already in existence for the Financial Assistance Grants.

Over my time as the federal member for Riverina, I have worked extensively, I believe, to ensure that vital improvements have been made to many of our roads. One of those roads is the Hume Highway. There was a specifically difficult area of road in Coolac. The roadworks near Coolac are very difficult to traverse at the moment and have been for some time, but it was a relief for me when former Deputy Prime Minister John Anderson agreed to fund the Coolac bypass and the duplication and safety works; $136.5 million went towards that. That work is well underway on that stretch.

From January 2002 to December 2006, there were 44 significant crashes on that single carriageway section of the Hume Highway at Coolac. Just 11 kilometres of road, I think, saw five fatal crashes, 21 injury crashes and 18 tow-away crashes. They were significant crashes and many of them occurred on a three-kilometre section of road. It was appalling to be contacted time after time with the news that these major accidents had occurred. A lot of them were crashes involving heavy vehicles, with no real fault to be attributed. It was a phenomenon. We really could not understand why the crashes happened on the same section time after time.

We were also able to implement the construction of a 140-metre single-lane flyover of the Hume Highway at West Street in Gundagai. Twenty years prior to the construction of this, Gundagai was the first town that was bypassed by the Hume Highway; it was the first of the bypasses. I do not know what happened. A road and section were built for a flyover across the Hume Highway. All of the works banked up and stopped and then it went no further. There were lots of stories. You can imagine how many stories were floating around as to who stopped it, who got the advantage or the disadvantage of it, why it stopped and where it stopped. Most definitely, for 20 years nobody was able to rectify this very dangerous area. I had photographs taken in fog of school buses coming out of West Street when the visibility distance was down to almost a few metres, and they had to deal with that over many, many fog-bound mornings.

It was not a question of if there might be a major catastrophe but when. I was not sure how it had not happened in the 20 years prior to me becoming the member for Riverina. As I said, it was not a question of if it would happen but of when. I took it upon myself to drive, harass and intimidate and be belligerent about this area, because I did not want a busload of children being killed on my watch as a federal member. I needed to be able to say, ‘I have given my all to rectify this situation.’

The area was not even on a black spot program for the RTA; they did not even have it listed. We had accident after accident on this very small section of road, where West Street met the highway. You had to go across four lanes of absolutely flying traffic to get children to and from school. It was a ridiculous scenario, yet the RTA, for some reason, had never listed fixing it as one of their priority works. It was not even on their list. I could not believe it when we were able to elevate it through the federal department so that it would be addressed. It was a sensational outcome for the people of Gundagai—of great benefit over the past few years, since it was put in place, and also for the future. As I said, there were significant problems with that area, and I was very happy to achieve that outcome when Gundagai came into the Riverina electorate in 2001.

We also have the construction of a second Sheahan Bridge at Gundagai. That is currently taking place, following approval by the former government, which made the plans and provided the funding to build the second bridge. It has been a bit of a problem spot for some time. It is, of course, named after a very strong local member, Billy Sheahan, and the Sheahan family of Gundagai. So now we will have a second Sheahan Bridge. It would have been great to have a Hull Bridge on one side and a Sheahan Bridge on the other, for the two good members for Gundagai, but Mr Sheehan was there before me, so I will gracefully step to the side! I am really pleased that that is going ahead at the moment. That two-lane bridge is being built beside the existing one.

We also contributed, as a result of very strong lobbying, $3 million—and the states were to match that $3 million but they did not, unfortunately—towards the cost of a truck stop at Tarcutta. We had all of the transports merging in Tarcutta at night. When you went there, there might have been 140 transports that would be uncabling and changing over their rigs and loads in very dangerous conditions. There were two deaths that I know of where drivers were unfortunately killed as a result of this very unsafe practice at Tarcutta. We were able to provide a parking bay there for 40 prime movers and their accompanying trailers. That is about the number you would have coming in at any given time, when they would take off their trailers, swap over and do their return travel. It is a great area because it is about halfway between Melbourne and Sydney.

Other works on the Hume Highway have included the realignment at Kyeamba Hill, south of Tarcutta, where we saw a significant accident that killed a Canberra couple and their family, which was absolutely tragic. It is sad that on many occasions urgent works take place after these accidents. Sometimes you cannot achieve that, but we were able to achieve some works to take significant danger out of that area. We have had upgrades on the Ladysmith Road at Kyeamba Hill and the Olympic Highway. There will now be bypasses. I notice that the Minister for Transport and Regional Services, Minister Albanese, just announced, in my local paper yesterday, the actual routes of the bypasses at Tarcutta, Holbrook and Woomargama. That is fantastic. That will actually give security to the people who for some 20 years have been in discussions with the RTA as to how that is going to happen. We would look at construction of these projects starting beyond 2009. I think the funding has been in the bank for some time, so it will be great to see the AusLink objective of a four-lane highway being met by 2012.

Since I was elected in the Riverina electorate, the total amount of funding under the AusLink national network program since it was implemented stands at just over $1 billion. That has been extraordinarily beneficial to the many tourist operators, the many community members and indeed the heavy vehicle transport industry. It is no secret here that I am enormously supportive of the trucking industry. I think that they do an enormous job. Without these people our country would be at a standstill. I do not think the country would be at a standstill without politicians but, on most occasions, it would be without truck drivers. They certainly do not get the credit that they are due. They are entitled to leave for work and come home to their families safely. In Tarcutta we have a memorial for all of the truck drivers who lose their lives whilst in pursuit of their duties of driving trucks, crisscrossing the nation and delivering our daily needs. It is a sad indictment that many of them have been lost on our inadequate roads. The AusLink strategic program, the AusLink national network program, is most definitely one of the better programs that have ever been implemented in my time in this parliament.

We have had other road projects in the Riverina, Griffith, Adjungbilly and many of those areas. We had $723,565 allocated to Griffith to go towards the sealing of a 2.6 kilometre gravel section of the Murrumbidgee River Road at Darlington Point from Kidman Way. I thank the former minister for that project, because it was something that was holding Griffith industries back from reaching their full potential. It provided an all-weather transport link for our primary producers, processing plants and transport depots in the region. And our Adjungbilly Creek bridge construction was made possible with the announcement of the funding of $950,000 for the project when that took place.

It is always fabulous to stand here and talk about great initiatives that have taken place in the electorate. There is still one to be delivered, and that is the Gocup Road, between Gundagai and Tumut. I am sure that the member for Eden-Monaro is working his hardest to restore some funding for that road to ensure that this vital link enhances the Visy upgrade and also provides a safety standard for all the people who utilise the Gocup Road to perform their work duties and also those who utilise it as their general school road. (Time expired)

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