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

I rise today to speak about the Roads to Recovery program and the financial assistance grants that greatly benefit the 43 local governments in my electorate of O'Connor. Recently, we have had some welcome announcements including the successful passage of the Land Transport Infrastructure Amendment Bill 2014 through the Senate, allowing this vital $2.1 billion Roads to Recovery program to continue.

The Roads to Recovery program was first introduced in 2000 because the Howard government recognised that councils, particularly those in rural and regional areas, are faced with significant problems maintaining local roads from within their existing funding. Local roads are an essential feeder to other parts of the transport system, especially in O'Connor with farming and the resource industry being so integral to the region. Since its inception, Roads to Recovery has helped governments begin to address the backlog of local road maintenance to improve safety and transport efficiency and stimulate economic development across the country.

Shortly after the announcement was made last week, the Mayor of the City of Kalgoorlie-Boulder, Ron Yuryevich, told the Kalgoorlie Minerthat Roads to Recovery is one of the best programs that has ever come out of Canberra, and the money allocated to the city would be used for construction as well as maintenance of roads across the entire network. The 2013-14 Roads to Recovery allocation to the 43 O'Connor local governments was $18,952,000, and I hope to see this number grow in the 2014-15 allocation. The City of Albany spent their $1.9 million on eight separate projects, and the Shire of Esperance was awarded $1.26 million in untied funding, allowing the council to fund six projects ranging from $48,000 to $650,000.

A few weeks ago we had the first quarterly distribution of the financial assistance grants. The recently released 2014-15 allocations saw O'Connor receive a 1.8 per cent increase on last year's figures. A total of $75,509,000 was allocated across the 43 local governments in O'Connor. Like Roads to Recovery, the financial assistance grants are untied grants allowing councils to use funds according to local priorities. The big winners from this year's financial assistance grants were the Shire of Cranbrook, with a 36.5 per cent increase from last year; the Shire of Wandering, with a 15.4 per cent increase; and the Shire of Yilgarn, with a 7.2 per cent increase. In fact, 37 of the 43 local governments received an increase in their financial assistance grants this year.

On 1 October 2014 the program guidelines for the $1 billion National Stronger Regions Fund will be released. The fund aims to promote economic development through investment in infrastructure projects at a local level. I know a lot of local governments are eagerly awaiting the program guidelines. Along with the release of the program guidelines on 1 October 2014 is the opening of the first round of applications. I am looking forward to seeing my local governments target local priorities with Roads to Recovery and the financial assistance grants, and I urge all O'Connor local governments to apply for all funding available to them.