Rick Wilson (O'Connor, Liberal Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

Madam Speaker, my question is to the Deputy Prime Minister and Minister for Infrastructure and Regional Development. Will the minister update the House on what support is available to assist councils with local road upgrades and maintenance, particularly in my electorate of O'Connor? Is the minister aware of any impediments to this assistance being delivered?

Warren Truss (Wide Bay, National Party, Leader of the Nationals) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

I thank the honourable member for his question. He represents an electorate almost the size of New South Wales. I was there over the weekend and appreciated how important it is to have a road network that is able to deliver the services and take away the exports from that highly productive region.

In particular, the local roads are very, very important to electorates like Kalgoorlie. Indeed, the Roads to Recovery program has been one of the most popular programs, particularly amongst all local governments, since it was instituted by the Howard-Anderson government. It was a program that was carried through the Rudd, Gillard and Rudd governments—one of the few programs that was carried through. And now the coalition government is committed to funding a further $1.75 billion for the Roads to Recovery program to help local councils with their roads and streets right across the nation. It is a popular program, and I have heard Labor members saying how valuable it is and how they support it.

I was amazed, therefore, that yesterday in the House of Representatives the Labor Party voted against the legislation to continue the Roads to Recovery program for another five years. They voted against the legislation that will enable the vital road and local street works to continue. What we have to remember is that if this particular legislation is not passed through the Senate then the Roads to Recovery program will end. Labor and Greens combined: they voted against it in the House of Representatives and certainly have indicated their intention to also vote against it in the Senate.

What the people of O'Connor need to realise—and the people of Western Australia, which will receive about $55 million every year for local roads and streets under this program—is that if they vote in senators who are not prepared to support the land transport bill that went through the House of Representatives yesterday, if they are not prepared to support that bill, then this much-loved program right across the nation will end. Without the Greens and the Labor Party voting for this in the Senate—unless there are senators there who will support the Roads to Recovery program—this program will come to an end.

And so there is a very clear message again: Labor candidates, Labor members and Labor senators say one thing in Western Australia, say one thing when they are visiting regional councils—when they had the opportunity yesterday to declare their support for the Roads to Recovery program, they actually voted to terminate the program. They voted that it should not proceed. What is essential for regional Australians, people who live in the suburbs of Australia, is that they elect senators who will vote this legislation in.