Brian Mitchell (Lyons, Australian Labor Party) Share this | Hansard source

You wouldn't believe it. Apparently, the roads in Australia and country Australia were perfect up until 20 months ago, when the Labor government came to office! Apparently, after 10 years of coalition government, the roads were perfect and it's only been in the last 20 months that they've all deteriorated and started to fall apart. What a joke. Those opposite had 10 years to deal with this issue, and what we saw in those 10 years was a deterioration in Australia's road network. This government is putting more money into Australia's road network to address the issue.

I actually thank the member for Barker for offering the opportunity to speak on this matter. I'm very proud, as a member of the Albanese government, to be speaking on it, because the issue of severe weather and roads is, unfortunately, one close to my heart and my electorate. Just last Wednesday, my constituents were at the mercy of a very severe thunderstorm—the cell over the townships of St Helens and Scamander over the east coast, with 145 millilitres of rain recorded in the space of just a few hours. The heavy rains and lightning strikes flooded homes, knocked out power and cut roads on Tasmania's east coast, including the state government's Tasman Highway, which is the main entry and exit point to the area. All the while, the rest of the state, particularly in the south, spent most of Wednesday and Thursday in temperatures of 30 to 35 degrees. It may not sound hot to much of mainland Australia, but in Tasmania that's a heatwave, with the SES and fireys fighting bushfires through the central highlands of my electorate. Just today I've heard that there's another watch-and-act in that area, with conditions pretty dicey as well. I'd like to put on the record my thanks for the remarkable work of the SES, fireys and volunteers, as well as members of the public, who do so much to help others and protect properties, whether from flooding or fire.

The severity and frequency of heatwaves and flooding increasing due to climate change—that's no secret. We are a government that will work alongside state governments and councils to ensure that the funding is there to keep our roads prepared and safe when these events occur. The Albanese government is strengthening its commitment to regional roads, with significant increases in funding and changes to programs to reduce the administrative burden on local councils. Fifty-seven per cent of major projects we are investing in under the Infrastructure Investment Program are in regional areas, which include the $629 million for the new Bridgewater Bridge in my electorate. Our Roads to Recovery funding will rise from $500 million to $1 billion per year over the decade and black spot funding will increase from the current annual commitment of $110 million per year to $150 million per year. Funding is going up.

Financial assistance grants to local governments have increased at each budget under this government. They were $2.8 billion in 2022-23 and are now increasing to $3.1 billion in 2023-24. In my electorate, the government has committed to significant increases in road funding for my local councils. In May last year we announced additional funding for country roads in all 12 councils in my electorate. They were set to receive $6.4 million, and they're now receiving an additional $3.7 million in funding as part of our commitment to the regions. In June $1.8 million in funding was matched by the Tasmanian government as part of the Disaster Ready Fund arrangements to prepare the Northern Midlands LGA for flooding.

Opposite, there are cries that we are apparently scrapping the Heavy Vehicle Safety and Productivity Program and the Bridges Renewal Program. They are merely headline-grabbing cries from those opposite, as they ignore the fact we are simply merging those programs into a new, safer Local Roads and Infrastructure Program, and not a single dollar is being cut. We will, in fact, gradually increase the funding from $150 million to $200 million. We are well aware of the pressures facing local governments in the face of weather events across the country and will continue to work with them to ensure the safety of everyone using our roads.

Finally, the member for Barker mentioned wages and the link to productivity. He's got to understand that over the last two decades productivity has been on a steep increase across the Western world, but wages have largely flatlined. It's great to get more productivity, but we are unashamedly a government that backs higher wages. We want Australian workers to earn more and keep more of what they earn.

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