Lisa Chesters (Bendigo, Australian Labor Party) Share this | Hansard source

Yesterday, there was another accident on the Calder Freeway, which is the main road connecting Bendigo to Melbourne. Four people in a vehicle heading southbound sustained non-life-threatening injuries and were taken to Bendigo Health. However, the driver of the second vehicle was flown to Melbourne with serious injuries, and the passenger in his vehicle also sustained non-life-threatening injuries.

However, tragically, it is not the same story for a fatal accident that occurred in almost the exact same spot on the Calder less than two weeks ago. Yesterday, an 83-year-old woman died nine days after this accident. She was the passenger, and her sister, who died at the scene, was the driver. This accident was at Fogertys Gap on the Calder Highway intersection. It is one of the notorious spots on this stretch of highway from Bendigo to Melbourne.

The incident came after a horror Labour Day weekend, where deaths in my local area hit seven. That is seven in one weekend. Police, the CFA, ambos and SES personnel attended all these scenes. I thank our emergency services in central Victoria, who are always quick to respond when these accidents occur. They are some of our finest local heroes.

The Calder Freeway—the Calder Highway in some sections—runs through the heart of the Bendigo electorate, and sadly almost every week there is another accident. Sadly, there are lots of accidents on many roads in the electorate—not just on the Calder. Whether it be a country road, street, highway or freeway, I am concerned that in the Bendigo electorate there are too many hot spots and too many road accidents. Road safety is a major issue that is quite often raised with me, when I am out and about in the community. That is why we cannot underestimate the importance of the former Labor government's Nation Building Program and how it has helped increase safety in regional communities like my own.

Ensuring that we have safe roads is not something that you can do overnight. It requires long-term sustained investment from local, state and federal governments. I am relieved that these amendments will continue the funding for the Roads to Recovery and Black Spot programs. In the Bendigo electorate, over $10.5 million has already been spent in recent years to fund the Black Spot and Roads to Recovery programs.

Roads to Recovery has provided funding to local governments for roads that are in much need of an upgrade. In a meeting with the Macedon Ranges council, the CEO said, 'It would take 10 years to fix the roads from our own budget that we have been able to fix with Roads to Recovery funding. Thank you.' Small regional councils like the three that I have in in the Bendigo electorate have a small rate base, but large country areas and roads. Mount Alexander actually has more bridges than any other council area in Australia. Ensuring that they have budgets to maintain roads and bridges is a continual struggle. That is why it is important that our federal government partner with local governments to tackle this issue.

Black Spot Program funding is targeted at identified roads where there have been more accidents than is normal. Recent Black Spot funding in the Bendigo electorate included the Bendigo-Redesdale Road in Strathdale, Hargraves Street in Castlemaine and Bayne Street in North Bendigo. I can remember talking to some of the residents who live near these black spots, when I have been out doorknocking, and some of the comments they have are quite frightening. There is quite often relief, 'Finally! Thank you! It's great to hear they are working on the road.' One resident, in fact, said, 'You know, I'm sick of getting out there and picking up bodies off this road. I'm so relieved that something is finally being done about it.'

However, what concerns me about this bill is that the minister will require ongoing power to determine the Roads to Recovery list. The question has to be asked: how can one person know every road in the country? How can he not only know every road in the country but also work out the order of most need? How can the minister know that the intersection between Edgecombe Street and Epping Street in Kyneton is dangerous? That is why it was listed by the council and the department for a $200,000 construction and upgrade. How can the minister know that Axe Creek Road is dangerous? That is why the council and the department listed it for a $300,000 upgrade to seal the shoulders, install edge lines and widen the left turning lane. The minister's having control over the list only serves one purpose—that is to change the list. The reason we have departments and councils to set the priority list is so that they can have direct say over what is of urgency. The only reason that the minister would need this kind of control is to change the list. That worries me and it will worry my community.

Getting the right advice on priorities for Roads to Recovery funding is essential to ensure that we do not only have road safety, but have value for public investment. That is why I support the amendment that has been put forward by Labor to require consultation with Infrastructure Australia projects before approval. It is important that we have transparency around decision making. Many stakeholders in the infrastructure debate have called for greater transparency and accountability over how the Commonwealth spends its infrastructure funds. Only just recently, the Macedon Ranges Residents' Association, which is one stakeholder in my community, raised the issue and called for greater transparency and accountability. It is worried about black-spot funding and making sure that the roads in its area continue to remain high on the priority list. In responding to these growing calls, the first amendment that has been put forward requires the minister to seek the views of the government infrastructure expert adviser, Infrastructure Australia, before funding for projects is approved. This amendment will also require full evaluation by Infrastructure Australia for any project over $100 million in value, this is where the Calder comes back into play. Finally, in approving of funds for the project the minister must make public the Infrastructure Australia findings on the priority of the project and its cost-benefit evaluation.

The Liberal-National governments have form in this area. We have seen that at a state government level and previously at a federal government level, as they prioritise their pet projects before the community and national interest. I am nervous not just about the minister's having control over what projects are on the list but about election promises that they made when in opposition and now in government, particularly about one in my own area. During the federal election campaign, both sides of politics committed an investment of $45 million to upgrade the Calder Highway-Calder Alternate interchange at Ravenswood. Oddly, however, it was not the then shadow minister responsible for infrastructure, who was there for the announcement. It was not the then shadow minister for regional development; it was not the then shadow minister for finance or even the then opposition leader who was there. It was in fact somebody who had nothing to do with infrastructure, roads, expenditure or regional Australia. It was the then opposition spokesperson for employment and industrial relations who made the announcement. It raises the question: how serious is the coalition, in opposition and now in government, about keeping their election promise to fund the upgrade to the Ravenswood interchange?

During the minister's second reading speech, he listed 11 priority projects for vital funding for upgrades. However, Ravenswood—the Calder interchange—was not on the list. Again, people in my community are asking, 'Is the minister really committed to this project?'

This project—the Calder Ravenswood interchange upgrade—has moved from being a key priority to being an urgent priority. The number of accidents that are occurring on this stretch of highway is unacceptable. Only last month VicRoads announced urgent safety measures to be introduced at this dangerous intersection. The Calder Highway speed limits have been lowered at the interchange. VicRoads have reduced the speed limit from 100 kilometres per hour to 80 kilometres per hour. This is the last remaining option available to them to improve road safety on this very bad stretch of road. Hopefully, applying the new limit will allow the trucks that are coming from the north to get across the Calder safely.

There is growing concern about the pattern of crashes and near misses at this site. The chair of the Calder Highway Improvement Committee, David Pollard, has said that the interchange at Ravenswood is critical, as are a number of other areas on the Calder. We have already seen 11 accidents involving serious injury and 21 involving casualty in the past couple of decades. In July there was another serious collision, which fortunately resulted in only minor injuries, but it did close the stretch of highway again. Every time there is a closure, it hits productivity and slows cars down. So it is not just an issue of road safety; it is also an issue of productivity. CFA Captain Jamie Tatt said:

I have been a member of the CFA for 35 years and I have been to my fair share of fatalities on the crossroads of the Calder. There are a lot of near misses as well …

That is why we need urgent action on the Calder. According to Bendigo police there have been six accidents involving injury on this particular stretch of the road in the last five years, as well as several up and down the Calder, including those I listed earlier. The Ravenswood interchange is a key intersection and carries a high volume of not only cars but also heavy vehicles, which is why we need this vital upgrade. Upgrading this interchange will make it safer for the thousands of motorists and truck drivers who travel from Bendigo to Melbourne or to Mildura every day.

Like many, I have been waiting for the state coalition government to start the planning that is required for the federal government and Infrastructure Australia to complete the project, and that is one of the key problems we have. To ensure that we have road safety, we need local, state and federal government to work together to ensure that the planning is done so that the funding can then be provided for these projects. What we saw in the state of Victoria, in Bendigo in particular, was that the state Liberal-National government dragged their feet on this issue for three years in not getting the planning done so this road could be upgraded. I have been told—and it has been said in the media—that the state government is now doing this planning so that we can see this upgrade happen. But the planning cannot stop at Ravenswood; it needs to continue up and down the Calder. It is so important that for all of the hotspot areas—Kyneton, Fogartys Gap and Harcourt, or Ravenswood—we see the planning done at state government level and then the funding from federal government level.

Fogartys Gap, which I just mentioned, is a major problem area. A paramedic said that there have been a number of incidents since Fogartys Gap opened up 15 months ago. It is one of those areas where you are supposed to slow down to 100 as cars turn on and off a busy freeway. This paramedic said that it is just an accident waiting to happen. And sadly, as we have heard over the past fortnight, those accidents have started to happen. I am calling on both the Victorian state government and the federal government to continue the planning for these dangerous spots on the Calder and to continue the funding investment. Planning and funding is needed now up and down the Calder—and not just on the Calder but also on the on- and off-ramps associated with it. Some parts of the Calder are freeway standard, but others are well below standard. That is why it is so important that our local, state and federal governments work together. It is really simple stuff.

Last night another family sat at a hospital bedside hoping that their loved one would pull through. There was another tragic accident on the Calder yesterday. And governments need to do everything they can to reduce the risk of road incidents on our regional roads. Governments need to do whatever they can to ensure that fewer families spend their nights at the bedside of their loved ones in our hospitals.

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