Sam Rae (Hawke, Australian Labor Party) Share this | Hansard source

Road safety impacts all Australians. In May 2023, my electorate, Hawke, was shaken by an alarming road traffic accident, a collision between a truck and a primary school bus in Eynesbury. This incident, which resulted in a number of serious injuries to the children on board the school bus, served as a harsh reminder of the importance of road safety across our entire community. This tragedy affected our whole community—the children, their families, the first responders who attended the crash. There are no words to express how terrifying the crash must have been and the pain these children had to go through, as well as the broader impact that this has had on our community.

These roads are used every day to help people commute to and from work and school. Each one of these commuters deserves to be safe on the road, to know that the government is committed to ensuring them a safer trip home to their loved ones. The Eynesbury crash underscored the necessity for us to prioritise road safety, not as a political issue, as those opposite seek to do, but as a matter of public safety.

Road traffic incidents are more than just statistics. These are peoples' families, friends and loved ones. That is why, as part of the Black Spot Program, the Albanese Labor government is funding safety improvements for roads in Eynesbury, an important contribution towards reducing serious injuries for all road users. The treatment will include better shielding for roadside hazards, upgrades to create dedicated left- and right-turn lanes, realignment of line markings and the installation of kerbs and channels. By progressively increasing the Black Spot program's funding to $150 million a year, the Australian government, the Albanese Labor government, is taking action to reduce the road toll. The range of safety measures included in the program seek to ensure that the chance of another serious crash on Hawke's roads is significantly reduced.

Road safety is a shared responsibility for us all, one that the Albanese Labor government shares with our communities. It's a responsibility that we take very seriously. Our Labor government is committed to taking clear and decisive action to enhance road safety measures. That's why we're doubling the Roads to Recovery funding, bringing it up to a billion dollars a year. This will support the construction and maintenance of local road infrastructure, creating better accessibility and safety for our communities. Additionally, the Labor government is working with the National Road Safety Data Hub to find more interventions and strategies that help keep our roads safe. Our goal is simple: to make our roads safer for everyone so that no child, no commuter and no worker is unreasonably put at risk on our roads.

Earlier this year, the Albanese Labor government passed our closing loopholes legislation. Following a years-long campaign from the Transport Workers Union, this legislation introduced a suite of changes designed to protect not only transport workers but all road users. The legislation has empowered the Fair Work Commission to set minimum standards for the road transport industry to ensure that safety isn't compromised by cost cutting and tight margins. These changes have made our trucking industry sustainable, viable and, more importantly, safer. The closing loopholes legislation also empowered the Fair Work Commission to set minimum standards for our gig workers. We know that there is a direct link between low rates of pay and safety. It leads to a situation where workers take risks so they can get more work because they're struggling to make ends meet. That's why the Albanese Labor government changed the law to better protect Australian gig workers' rights to fair pay.

I want to thank the Transport Workers Union for their unwavering advocacy in pursuing these changes that will make our roads safer for everyone. I also want to thank them for the work they do each and every day to protect the pay and conditions of transport workers right across the country. I'd like to give a special shout-out to my dear friend the TWU Vic/Tas Branch Secretary, Mem Suleyman, for his years of dedication to supporting transport workers as well as Michael Kaine and the TWU national office for their extraordinary leadership in this space. By making the transport workers safer, by making the transport industry safer, the TWU is making every road in Australia safer.

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