Tony Pasin (Barker, Liberal Party, Shadow Assistant Minister for Infrastructure and Transport) Share this | Hansard source

I move:

That this House:

(1) notes that:

(a) 677 lives were lost on Australian roads in the six months to 31 December 2023; and

(b) the second half of 2023 was the deadliest six months on Australian roads since 2010;

(2) recognises that the data needed to understand Australia's worsening road toll is being collected by state and territory governments but is not consistent and not being shared;

(3) further notes that:

(a) before the 2022 election, the federal Labor Party committed 'to cooperate with the states and territories to improve the timeliness and quality of road trauma data and look for opportunities to extract better quality road safety data from states and territories in return for funding of road projects'; and

(b) the Government has failed to deliver on that promise; and

(4) calls on the Government to compel the states and territories to collect and share data relating to the quality of Australian roads, the causes of crashes, and the effectiveness of road safety measures as a condition of the $50 billion in federal road funding allocated over the next five years under the National Partnership Agreement on Land Transport Infrastructure Projects.

Six-hundred and seventy-seven lives were lost on Australian roads in the six months to 31 December 2023. In fact, since lodging this motion 114 people have lost their lives on roads in Australia to April 2024. That's a 24.7 per cent increase over the average for April for the preceding five years. We are heading in the wrong direction. In the year to 30 April 1,310 people died on Australian roads, up from 1,178 a year earlier. Again, we are headed in the wrong direction.

What, then, can we do about that? For some considerable time, I, together with the AAA, the peak motorist body in this country, have been calling on those opposite to collect and release data regarding those tragedies, with a view to guiding policy decision-making and, of course, to compelling state governments to collect that data, which they do, but also to provide it. After all, the federal government provides more funding than you can fly a rocket ship over to state and territory governments to invest in their infrastructure network, including the land transport network in this country, which comprises a tick over 800,000 kilometres and where these lives are lost. I am grateful that those opposite, belatedly and after a consistent campaign stretching for more than two years, have announced that they will meet the request to collect that data and force states to release that information.

But there is little more that we do know. We still don't know how often states and territories will be compelled to report the data or how government will ensure the data is consistent; which data will be included, and how quickly it will be made publicly accessible. This data needs to cover the quality of Australian roads, the causes of crashes, the effectiveness of each state's road rules and enforcement regimes as it's crucial for understanding the nation's road trauma problems and for developing effective responses. Data sharing would reveal which state's road safety measures are most effective and the safety interventions that are most needed. That would not only save lives, but it would also end the politicisation of road funding because it will reveal where the funding is most needed and it will ensure funding goes to the areas of most need.

Now, in the past I've been accused of being a little cynical, but I'd respectfully suggest to this place that one of the reasons why the states and territories are disinclined to share that data is because they want to continue to fund projects that are politically popular, that tick the electoral need box, but that's not what road safety should be about. Road safety should be about driving down the statistics I spoke about at the beginning of this contribution. We should be on the right pathway, not the wrong pathway. And whilst I congratulate those opposite for finally heeding the call, there's so much more to do. Give us the detail so that we can assess whether you'll be good on making that commitment.

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