Kelly O'Dwyer (Higgins, Liberal Party) Share this | Hansard source

I rise to speak on the Road Safety Remuneration Bill 2011 and Road Safety (Consequential Amendments and Related Provisions) Bill 2011. All Australians are concerned by the significant number of fatalities on our roads and the serious injuries that result from car and truck crashes on our roads. We all drive on our nation's roads and we want to see such injuries and fatalities reduced. We can all agree that we want safer roads, but we are being asked by the government to believe that this legislation is going to achieve that objective.

The government put 'safety' in the title of the Road Safety Remuneration Bill, suggesting that somehow this bill will lead to safer roads. But simply having the word 'safety' in the bill's title does not mean that the bill is in fact substantially about road safety, or that it will achieve the objectives of greater safety on our nation's roads. If this bill was really about the safety of workers in the transport industry you would have a very realistic and reasonable expectation that the bill would be brought forward by the relevant minister—Minister Albanese, the Minister for Infrastructure and Transport. But this bill has not been brought forward by that minister. Instead, it has been brought forward by the Minister for Employment and Workplace Relations and Minister for Financial Services and Superannuation, Mr Shorten—the minister who has been dubbed by my colleague, the member for Mayo, Jamie Briggs, as the 'minister for mates'.

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