Rick Wilson (O'Connor, Liberal Party) Share this | Hansard source

I rise today to support the Land Transport Infrastructure Amendment Bill 2014, which details the government's injection of $35.5 billion to infrastructure priorities. There are a number of areas that this funding will benefit—$300 million will go to the Black Spot program addressing road sites that are high risk areas for serious crashes, $300 million to the bridges renewal program to restore dilapidated local bridges, and various other major infrastructure projects across the country. But, today, I would like to endorse the commitment of $1.75 billion to the Roads to Recovery program to ensure its future for another five years, through to 30 June 2019.

On 27 November 2000, the Howard government introduced a four-year road funding package worth $1.6 billion. Of this, $1.2 billion would be spent on the Roads to Recovery program. At this time the program was available because of a strong budget position. The Howard government acknowledged road funding infrastructure would be the best investment of these surplus funds as it would be of long-term benefit to the nation. In the second reading speech it was indicated that government was serious about the renewal of local roads. It recognised they were an essential element to the economic and social infrastructure of Australia's communities—rural, regional and metropolitan. The Howard government was aware that local councils, particularly those in rural and regional Australia, were faced with significant problems of maintaining local roads from within existing funding. They also noted that the economic and social importance of local roads was increasing with the expansion and emergence of rural industries.

Having lived my whole life in Katanning, some 280 kilometres from Perth, I can tell you that local roads are an essential feeder to other parts of the transport system, especially between rural, regional and urban areas. They are vital to the sustainability and recovery of rural and regional Australia. Access to education, health care, commercial shopping and other amenities is dependent on local roads. Although the program has gone through several phases, all the key features from its introduction in 2000 are still current in the Land Transport Infrastructure Amendment Bill. As the Deputy Prime Minister and Minister for Infrastructure and Regional Development, Warren Truss, said,

We are moving to deliver the infrastructure Australia critically needs … which, over six years, will build the vital road and rail projects to improve efficiency, boost productivity and drive Australia's economy forward.

This cannot happen without funding to maintain local roads in rural and regional areas. With an electorate that covers over 900,000 square kilometres, road infrastructure is very important to the people living in O'Connor, mainly because there are very few alternatives to driving everywhere. As an example, to drive from Perth to Esperance, a tourist destination within the electorate, you must drive 715 kilometres on a single-lane highway. In travelling to Esperance, you will drive through six local council areas just in the O'Connor electorate. Those councils—Brookton, Corrigin, Kondinin, Kulin, Lake Grace and Ravensthorpe—are all responsible for the maintenance of the roads in their area.

On top of this, transport infrastructure is vital to Australian agriculture, with the industry relying on an efficient and well-connected network to move livestock and grain. The O'Connor electorate has agriculture such as cattle, sheep, wheat, canola and barley, which all require roads for transport. If we are to enhance Australia's economic growth and productivity, open up opportunities for jobs and access to markets, and improve the efficiency and safety of our transport and freight networks, then infrastructure investment is critical.

The Roads to Recovery program is an essential element in local government's ability to maintain and upgrade local roads. It is an outstanding example of a partnership between national and local governments and of providing direct funding to local communities. The cost of maintenance on local roads is immense and, although largely met by rates, requires extra funding. A number of roads are now reaching the end of their economic life and their replacement costs cannot be met by local governments alone.

Since 2000, the much needed Roads to Recovery funding has helped local government begin to address the backlog of local road maintenance, improving safety and transport efficiency and stimulating economic development across the country. Under the program, direct funding to local councils is distributed according to a formula based on population and road length set by the local government grants commission in each state. The funding through the Roads to Recovery program is untied grants, which provide the freedom for local governments to make their own decisions.

The O'Connor electorate has 43 local governments, which were awarded a combined total of $18,952,000 in the 2013-14 Roads to Recovery funding allocations. I will take this opportunity to tell you about just a few projects that have only been made possible through Roads to Recovery funding. In the 2013-14 funding allocation, the Shire of Esperance was awarded $1.26 million in untied funding, which has allowed the council to fund six projects ranging in cost from $48,000 to $650,000. One project was the Coolinup Road upgrade, a project of $650,000, which was required as the road had reached the end of its design life. To ensure a safe road for drivers, 4.6 kilometres of the road had a full-width reconstruction completed, and the road was widened to 7.4 metres. A further $300,000 was required to upgrade two kilometres of the Gibson East Road because the existing road surface had cracked and was starting to pothole, due to it reaching the end of its design life. The road had a full-width reconstruction and was widened to 7.4 metres. Without the Roads to Recovery program, the Shire of Esperance would not be able to fund either of these projects, nor the other four projects that I have not specified. With close to $1 million spent on these two projects alone, there is no way the Shire of Esperance could fund this out of their own resources. This would mean the people living and travelling in this area would be seriously disadvantaged.

The City of Albany has used their 2013-14 funding allocation of $1.94 million on eight separate projects, including the Willyung Road upgrade. Due to expansion and development, the traffic along this 1.7 kilometre stretch of road increased, and subsequently the pavement was wearing out. The road was also of insufficient width. So, with this funding, the City of Albany was able to reconstruct the pavement and widen the road to seven metres. The total cost of the project is estimated at $600,000, with $200,000 coming from the Roads to Recovery program.

The City of Kalgoorlie-Boulder has used their Roads to Recovery allocation of $1.1 million to fund five reconstruction projects. The five projects include: the Bourke Street reconstruction; the Connolly Street reconstruction, the Cheetham Street reconstruction, the Moran Street reconstruction and the Hampden Street reconstruction. Although these five projects might not be considered glamorous, they are much-needed asset management replacement to serve the needs of the community and the city's infrastructure replacement backlog.

At the Shire of Pingelly, the $994,000 they were allocated through the 2013-14 Roads to Recovery program has

been spent on two separate projects. Funding of $697,037 went towards bridge refurbishment and maintenance works. The remaining Roads to Recovery funding was allocated to a road sealing program.

The Shire of Dundas has used their Roads to Recovery allocation to put in place a resealing program in Norseman. This program is based on resealing all the existing town streets in Norseman and Eucla over a 10-year period, to maintain the current level of service to residents and visitors in these towns. Barry Gibbs, the works manager for the Shire of Dundas has said: 'If this funding was not available for the shire, the shire would be looking at sealing one or two streets a year. The level of maintenance and reconstruction would then compound and increase, which would lead to the shire having to use more rates money on roadworks. This means less money would be available for other community projects like youth services and grants to community groups that are an important part outback life.'

The Shire of Dundas bitumen sealing works for 2013-14, made available by the Roads to Recovery program, has seen 21 projects undertaken. That is a far cry from the one or two that the shire would be able to complete on rates income alone. These projects, along with many others in the O'Connor electorate, were all funded by the Australian government through the Roads to Recovery program. The funding has been a huge help to the local councils involved. It is also a great example of how local councils are working closely with the Australian government to deliver projects that make a real difference locally.

In the 14 years that the Roads to Recovery program has been running, there have been various reviews undertaken and academic papers written on the program. The Auditor-General has also undertaken two separate

performance reviews. In the academic paper, Bang for the Buck? An Evaluation of the Roads to Recovery Program (2013), the report concluded:

Taking stock of the available evidence there is little doubt that the R2R Program provided a much needed injection of funds, which has helped to alleviate the severe financial distress facing Australia local government and therefore ameliorate the deterioration of local road infrastructure.

Separately to this, a key success factor for the Roads to Recovery Program is the simple administrative system which allows the maximum funding to go to roadworks, as determined by local councils, who know local transport needs and priorities. Without the Roads to Recovery program, the people of O'Connor would miss out on $18 million worth of road infrastructure upgrades and would be severely disadvantaged. There is already a lack of public transport and rail infrastructure in the electorate. We can alleviate this by providing the funding to ensure safer and more efficient roads.

The Roads to Recovery Program will not be able to continue without the amendments to the NBP act in this bill as the act specifies the Roads to Recovery funding period as ending on 30 June 2014. The government is committed to supporting Australia's regions and to delivering funding where it is best needed. Another five years of Roads to Recovery funding will allow local councils to continue to maintain their road infrastructure, facilitate economic growth and diversity, and enhance liveability across regional Australia. I commend this bill to the House.

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