Luke Gosling (Solomon, Australian Labor Party) Share this | Hansard source

On behalf of the Standing Committee on Regional Development, Infrastructure and Transport, I present the committee's report, incorporating a dissenting report, entitled the Inquiry into the implications of severe weather events on the national regional, rural, and remote road network, together with the minutes of proceedings.

Report made a parliamentary paper in accordance with standing order 39(e).

by leave—From the outset I thank you, Deputy Speaker Chesters, for your valuable contribution in our committee and to this report; my friend here, the member for Makin, for his membership and valuable contribution; and also the member for Indi for her valuable contributions. I am very proud to table my first report as chair of this committee, and, as chair of the Standing Committee on Regional Development, Infrastructure and Transport, it gives me great pleasure to present the work of the committee in the form of this report into the implications of severe weather events on the national regional and rural and remote road network.

Severe weather events, including torrential downpours and floods, searing temperatures and dangerous bushfires have taken a dramatic toll on our nation and our roads in recent years. Around Christmas, freak storms killed nine people around the country, leaving 50,000 without power on the Gold Coast. Just recently, South-East Queensland was hit by flash flooding in parts of Brisbane, with roads cut on the Sunshine Coast. An additional 23,000 residents of North Queensland were without power due to Tropical Cyclone Kirrily. One recent study found that 18.1 million Australians were affected by floods in 2022. That's 93 per cent of all people in New South Wales and 97 per cent of Queenslanders. This was the largest impact of any natural disaster going back to the mid-2010s.

On top of the human cost, flooding and other disasters have a devastating impact on our roads. Flooding destroyed $3.8 billion worth of roads in 2022, ruining 10,000 kilometres in New South Wales alone, and 19,000 kilometres of roads in the 2010 Queensland floods. In the Northern Territory, a place I am proud to represent, 600 kilometres of the Stuart Highway and the train line were recently cut due to damage to the road surface caused by heavy rains and flooding for two weeks. Many of our supermarket shelves in Darwin were empty.

The committee's inquiry explored how improved road engineering and construction standards and innovative construction materials could strengthen the resilience of our road network against future severe climate events. Members of our committee heard from federal, state, territory and local government people, as well as engineers, scientists, academics and peak bodies, including in 17 public hearings and three site inspections. We heard that our national road network is in disrepair. Maintenance has fallen alarmingly behind schedule. Our road network simply cannot sustain repeated severe weather impacts. We cannot keep patching up our road assets time and time again until the next flood, the next wet season, the next bushfire. Our road infrastructure investments must maximise value for money. We heard that most of our roads were constructed 30 to 50 years ago to outdated design standards and conditions.

Australia's road network is at a critical juncture. Our design and construction standards must lift resilience on strategic freight routes to support connectivity and supply chain resilience. We need to expand our use of innovative and recycled road materials to build resilience and reduce our carbon footprint. We can't climate-proof our entire road network, obviously—it is too massive—but we can mitigate the risks. It's what Australians need to remain connected, to be safe on the roads and to access essential services and goods. We must shift our focus to resilient infrastructure, resilient roads.

Our committee made 25 recommendations, including but not limited to: collaboration across governments to develop road asset infrastructure resilience guidelines, planning and investment frameworks, addressing road asset data gaps; a review of local government funding allocation to support asset maintenance works under the Australian government's Infrastructure Investment Program; consideration of the local government Financial Assistance Grant program road component funding; an assessment of betterment access and claims approvals under the Disaster Recovery Funding Arrangements, DRFA; and embedding resilience design and construction procurement requirements under the new Federation Funding Agreements on transport infrastructure.

Our committee noted that the Australian government has announced its intention of doubling the Roads to Recovery Program funding over the next four years. The additional investment is an important step in building our roads back smarter and better. I commend this report to the House.

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