Julian Simmonds (Ryan, Liberal National Party) Share this | Hansard source

I take the interjections from Labor members, who were again just now deriding the fact he was fixing a roundabout. These are the local black spots that are so important to our community members. The roundabout in question is in fact a local black spot. There have been over 16 accidents in the last five years, 11 of which required hospitalisations, seven of which where people were very seriously injured. For Labor members opposite to simply deride it as a local roundabout just goes to show how out of touch they are with the Australian people, who are looking to the government to make sure that these kinds of black spots and safety issues are fixed within their local areas.

It's no surprise the Labor members opposite would deride something like fixing local congestion, because they don't believe in investing in roads. They don't want to do it. They've shown time and time again what they're more interested is the social engineering of forcing behavioural change and getting people out of their cars, forcing people to leave their cars, whether it's via congestion tax or simply failing to invest in the local infrastructure that enables people to use their roads in a non-congested way. They're trying to force people onto other forms of transport, or to get out of their car, whatever it is. The Labor Party is about removing choices for people, rather than investing in the local infrastructure that allows families to make the decisions that are best for them, to make the decisions that suit their families the best and allow them to enjoy a good and strong quality of life. Which is why it is so important for the Morrison government that we're investing in infrastructure, particularly in the black spots program. Not because it's an end in itself—it's no surprise that every politician loves cutting a ribbon, I won't deny that. But at the end of the day we invest in this infrastructure not because we can, not because it is there, but because we're helping everyday families. Because every bit of infrastructure that we upgrade allows them to spend more time at home with their families, allows them to do more sport or things on the weekend, allows them to get home safer so that no family has to go through the experience of getting a call late at night from the police that something has happened to a significant loved one.

The black spots program is particularly important in this regard, because it targets those bits of infrastructure which have a demonstrated record of being unsafe. As part of the local and state government Road Safety Package, announced in the 2019-20 budget, the Australian government has committed an a additional $50 million per year for the black spot program in 2019-20. I know from experience as a local councillor just how important this funding is for local councils, to be able to partner with the federal government, to achieve real outcomes on the ground.

The government has, in fact, provided a billion dollars to the Black Spot Program between 2013-14 financial year and will do into the 2023 financial year, with an ongoing commitment of $110 million for each following year. As I said, it's an important part of the National Road Safety Strategy. The strategy's vision is to challenge the perception that serious injury or death is just an inevitable cost of road travel—it is not. We can and should do better. We should ensure we are doing everything to keep our roads as safe as they can possibly be and that they're maintained to a high standard. It's important the community gets involved in nominating local intersections or bits of road that can be dangerous, where serious crashes have occurred, that can be part of this program. I'll be encouraging local Ryan residents to do exactly that.

Debate adjourned.

See this speech in context