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

I move:

That this House:

(1) notes that 1,300 lives were lost on Australian roads in 2024;

(2) recognises that:

(a) this is the highest road toll since 2012; and

(b) the national road toll has risen each of the past four years, a situation not seen since 1966, or before the introduction of compulsory seat belts;

(3) acknowledges that the annual fatality rate per 100,000 head of population is now 4.8, well over double the National Road Safety target of 2.0; and

(4) calls on the Government to take action on the road safety crisis that is now killing more than 100 Australians every month and hospitalising 100 Australians every day.

This is now a full-blown crisis. To have the most dangerous roads and commensurate statistics since 1966 tells you that last year was the most deadly year on our roads since 1966. The Australian road toll continues to track in the wrong direction. As you've just heard, the annual fatality rate per 100,000 head of population is 4.8. Our national bipartisan target—a national target we've all subscribed to—is 2.0. At the end of 2024, Australia's 12-month road toll was 18.5 per cent higher than when the strategy began in 2021. That's higher than when we as a nation committed to putting this statistic on a downward trajectory, close to 20 per cent higher.

The continual rise in road fatalities reiterates the need for national leadership on road safety and the crisis facing the nation. But, sadly, Labor is failing Australians on efficiency, on productivity and, most tragically, on the safety of our roads. We need better insight into the safety issues on our roads to ensure that road safety initiatives and infrastructure funding are being directed where needed and to address the road safety crisis, not the political crisis unfolding with those opposite. The Albanese government cut, cancelled or delayed more than $27.9 billion—it bears repeating: $27.9 billion—in infrastructure funding in its first 2½ years of government. Of course, we don't need to go over the 90-day review process, which felt like 90 months, but, in any event, it caused significant delays and resulted in lifesaving projects being cut, cancelled or delayed. The result of the review cancelled important infrastructure projects and diverted funding from those projects to Labor's pet projects in marginal seats.

I'll leave others in this chamber to talk about their experience in their jurisdictions but let me take you to South Australia. South Australia has a road network of 23,000 kilometres, but Labor only seems concerned about those roads that fall within the very tight boundary of the electorate of Boothby, which is 115 square kilometres. The federal and state Labor governments recently announced a $30 million infrastructure investment in Brighton Road. The investment follows $200 million to remove the tram level crossing at Morphett Road. Unfortunately for South Australian road users, federal and state Labor government infrastructure investment decisions don't seem to be based on the science or the data around road safety but rather on the political needs of Louise Miller-Frost. When there exists a $3 billion road maintenance backlog in South Australia—not to mention the funding needed for pivotal future-proofing infrastructure projects, such as the Greater Adelaide Freight Bypass and the duplication of major freight routes, such as the Augusta, Sturt and Dukes Highways—we need leadership that thinks beyond saving the political skin of the current member for Boothby.

The South Australian Minister for Infrastructure and Transport refuses to release the outcomes of the Australian road safety program, AusRAP, the five-star rating system, through the FOI process, despite state and territory governments agreeing in 2024 to end years of secrecy by publishing a range of data, including AusRAP data, on the federal government's National Road Safety Data Hub. The program uses assessment tools used in around 130 countries to target investment and reduce death and injury.

It beggars belief that, at a time when this country is experiencing the worst road safety statistics since 1966, we've got an Albanese-led Labor government more focused on holding onto key seats—and indeed his keys to the Lodge—than investing in infrastructure projects that will save lives. The government infrastructure investment decision is short sighted and based on politics rather than evidence; Australia's productivity has been put on hold and community safety compromised as a result. In contrast, the former coalition government set us on the trajectory of increased investment in road infrastructure. We were building what was needed for the safe and productive movement of goods and to ensure people got home to their loved ones safely. We need to take the politics out of road investment decisions and focus instead on evidence and transparency. It's time to get Australia's roads back on track.

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