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

I rise to speak in favour of the amendment moved by the member for Ballarat. I have a regional electorate that neighbours the member for Ballarat's. Like her, I have witnessed and met with far too many grieving families who have lost a loved one to road trauma. It is true that, whilst we had some years of decline in road trauma and road death, unfortunately we are going through another spike. This government's delay on these reforms could not come at a worse time, urgently demonstrating why we need the government to act and to implement these standards as quickly as possible.

Before I speak further about the experiences on our roads today, I want to support the comments made by the member for Ballarat about the need for road vehicle safety standards as soon as possible. Apart from a family home, a car or a caravan is the most expensive item that many of us have. For many young people, the first loan that they take out is for their car. The pressure on our dealerships and on our manufacturers—we no longer manufacture cars in this country, but we do manufacture caravans—is increasing. It is a significant investment that many individuals undertake, and that is why making sure that we get these road vehicle safety standards right and enacted as quickly as possible is necessary.

It's tough times for car dealerships; it's tough times for the car industry. My local dealers say to me, 'With delays and more uncertainty, we just don't know where we stand from day to day.' In the country, in regions, you cannot get around if you don't have a car; it's a fact of life. It is very hard, because we just don't have the population to support good transport routes, and that is only going to get worse under this government because of its delay in bringing forward infrastructure spending—particularly in our regions and particularly on public transport.

We have more cars, more car users and more people taking out loans to invest in cars. Whilst we know that Australian cars are safe, to make sure that we meet appropriate safety, anti-theft and environmental standards we need to continue to improve. Whilst we have some of the safest cars in the world, we also have some of the dirtiest cars in the world. It's something where our car purchasers, our car drivers and our car dealerships are actually moving ahead at a much quicker pace than our government. Did you know, for example, that there's at least a six-month wait if you want an electric Hilux ute in this country? There is a delay on the rollout of electric cars and hybrid technology in our country because the demand from people wanting to purchase those vehicles has increased. For all the scaremongering and the fear campaign that was run by those opposite in the lead-up to the last federal election, car users are embracing cleaner cars and the technology that goes with them: (1) it is more fuel efficient, and car users see that they save at the bowser; and (2) they want to do their bit for the environment. They can have their ute and have a clean car at the same time. The technology is here. Ensuring that those safety and environmental standards are rolled out across the industry is vital.

From time to time we have the debate about parallel imports. Again, this is a vexed area within our communities, because it does ask the question: do those overseas cars meet the same standards as our own cars? We've lost the opportunity in this country to really control our cars through the way we manufacture them. Because of this government, the car industry manufacturers shut down and left. Since then, legislation like this, the Road Vehicle Standards Legislation Amendment Bill 2019, is now one of the only ways we can ensure that we have the best safety standards.

Why do we care? Why do we care about the safety of our vehicles that are on our roads? Because, unfortunately, the road toll continues to rise. It is higher now than it was four years ago. We've had more than 1,200 people die on Australian roads in the 12 months leading up to 30 June 2019. There's been a spike in my state of Victoria. A majority of these deaths, unfortunately, have occurred on country roads. It is the triple effect in our regions of population growth, deteriorating roads and the mixed use of roads—that is, someone driving a family car on a road where there is also high usage by industry vehicles and truckies. We are seeing far too many lose their lives or be victims of road trauma, and, whilst there is significant investment from the Victorian state government into country roads, they don't have a partner in the federal government to ensure that that funding is matched.

Just as the previous speaker recognised that the government has adopted one of Labor's proposals about a road safety office, one proposal they have not adopted, which was put forward at the last election, was to contribute towards establishing a rural road trauma research hub at La Trobe University. It was to be based at the Bendigo campus. Labor made this commitment because we acknowledged that, whilst you have to have a safety office, you also have to ensure that you are funding research to ensure that we are meeting best practice and that we are working out and working through the challenges that are occurring. Every fatality that we have on our roads, every serious injury, is somebody's loved one. They're somebody's mother, son or daughter. They are connected to our community. This rural road trauma research hub would have combined research expertise from across the La Trobe University Bendigo campus in rural health, psychology, pharmacy, engineering, planning, education and law to tackle those questions. There is a road trauma research hub that does exist, but it's based at Monash, and in the past it has largely focused on metro road trauma, not on rural road trauma.

As Bendigo Health told me during the campaign that whilst we have lost lives on our roads there has also been an increase in trauma and injury. As our cars have become safer and as more people survive severe accidents, their recovery, unfortunately, is longer. That is where we have a gap and where we need to start the research and ensure that we are funding and supporting the work that goes on. For many, recovery from road trauma can be long, whether it be from a physical injury where they are learning to walk again or whether they have a severe disability through a mental injury where they are literally learning to speak, recovering their motor skills and so on and so forth.

As I mentioned, at the time that we made the announcement, 90 lives had already been lost on Victorian roads that year. That was from January to April. It was 50 per cent higher than the same time the previous year, and, unfortunately, it continues to increase. Road safety messages aren't getting through, and that is another reason why this research hub should be supported by the government. I urge them, like they did with Labor's proposal on the road safety office, to consider the proposal, put forward by La Trobe, to fund a rural road trauma research hub so that we can really drill down into what's happening on our regional roads and provide policymakers, this place and our state governments with the best advice on how to tackle this growing crisis in our regions.

This is all part of the discussion about road safety and the amendment that was moved by the member for Ballarat. It is another example of how the government have completely dropped the ball. As outlined, this bill has been delayed again and again. Perhaps it's because of the turnover of ministers in this portfolio. Every time somebody new comes to this portfolio, we're hit with another delay. Meanwhile, people on our roads are dying. Meanwhile, people involved in the industry are getting frustrated by delays. As we've heard, the Caravan Industry Association strongly supported the original package of legislative changes. They got on with the job—they implemented and are ready. The largest manufacturer of caravans and recreational vehicles in this country is Jayco. They're based in Dandenong. Unfortunately, they're now our largest vehicle manufacturer in many ways because we have lost our car industry. But many may not know that they started out in Bendigo—they are a proud Bendigo family, and these days they have two manufacturing bases. Their largest is in Dandenong and the other is in a town in regional Victoria where they support at least 50 jobs. They are under immense pressure because they proceeded with the changes. They support the changes, but, like many within the industry, they are frustrated that the changes have again been delayed. The changes have been delayed and delayed, and here we are again talking about them. They are going to be hit with further delays.

Also highlighted in this bill, and something of which we need to remind the government, is it's failure to respond to the inquiry into the National Road Safety Strategy. The road toll is higher now, yet of the 33 indicators in the National Road Safety Strategy that have been in place since 2011 only nine are on track to be met—only nine out of 33. That's a terrible failure rate from the government. On its watch it has allowed us to fall behind. This is a collaboration, absolutely. Road safety is the responsibility of all of us, but it takes national leadership to really help drive these changes through. Road crashes is one of those areas that are the bread and butter of regional journalists. It is terrible to hear from journalists in regional areas that crime and road crashes are what they respond to. Unfortunately, we've had so many crashes in the Bendigo electorate that they've had to employ more journalists. Basically, two or three people will get allocated to that area of responsibility each day because crashes are becoming so frequent.

The major road in and out of the Bendigo electorate is the Calder Freeway. It runs through Bendigo, through my electorate—in fact, through the electorates of many Labor MPs—into Melbourne. Far too many lives have been lost and far too many accidents have occurred on this road. We also have, to our north, the Calder Alternate Highway, where again there have been far too many accidents and far too many lives lost. That runs from my electorate through to Mildura, cutting through other electorates. Then there is the Midland Highway, where we have challenges as well. All of these roads have mixed road users. We are reminded daily about the importance of safety. That is why the delay in progress on road standards that this bill will cause is frustrating so many and is so disappointing.

I call on the government to reintroduce safe rates. The Safe Rates campaign has been organised and run by the Transport Workers Union. With great fanfare and politics this government removed the Road Safety Remuneration Tribunal. Our roads have not become safer because of the removal. Transport and trucking costs have not reduced because the government got rid of the tribunal. Instead, we've seen the opposite occur. Our roads are unsafe. We have seen more deaths involving trucks than ever before. That is disappointing. When I say 'ever before', I mean that with the introduction of safe rates we started to see a decline. Now we're seeing an increase again. Wealthy companies at the top of the supply chain squeeze contracts. They force drivers and trucking companies to cut corners on safety. There is an issue about racing against the clock and time. A safe rates system would set standards for all transport workers. It would see the same pay for the same job. It would ensure that those working in the industry would have safe time and safe rates to complete their jobs.

I urge the government to drop the politics on this issue and to meet with the union, with the workers and families affected and with those involved in the trucking industry to consider reintroducing a safe rates scheme to ensure that all those involved in the trucking industry are safe and can get to and from work safely. We forget that for truck drivers the road system in Australia is their workplace. Every single day that they go onto the road, that is their workplace. I urge the government not to delay further when it comes to this legislation. Road safety is paramount.

See this speech in context