Darren Chester (Gippsland, National Party, Assistant Minister for Defence) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

I take the opportunity this morning, as we approach the festive season and the extended holiday period, to encourage Australians to consider the opportunities to explore regional Australia over the summer months. Regional tourism is obviously a very important industry for many communities right throughout Australia, but none more so than for the community of Gippsland, where we have an extraordinary range of natural attractions. I am sure you, Deputy Speaker, have had the opportunity to travel through Gippsland and experience the mighty Gippsland Lakes, Ninety Mile Beach and the high country. One of your colleagues, the member for Gellibrand, has already accepted my invitation to visit Gippsland over the holiday period and enjoy everything we have to offer.

Having raised the issue of regional tourism and the vast distances involved in travelling throughout regional Australia, I need to make another important point, and that is in relation to road safety. I encourage people who are taking breaks in regional Australia over the summer period to make sure they consider their own personal safety and the safety of their family. The festive season is a times for sharing with loved ones and family members, for getting together at family reunions and experiencing everything Christmas has to offer. It is also a time of significant increases in road fatalities and serious injuries. Our region, as I indicated, has many attractions which bring people from right across Australia to visit. Unfortunately, summer is also a peak period for accidents on our roads. People travelling longer distances than perhaps they are used to leads to fatigue, which is one of the major factors contributing to road trauma. I call on Gippslanders and the people visiting our region to aim for a zero road toll over the holiday period.

Unfortunately, the statistics are quite alarming in relation to the rural road toll. People are more likely to die on a rural or regional road than on a metropolitan road. The five-year average for rural road fatalities in Victoria is 148 people. I have great concerns about that, and I am working with the police and my community on initiatives to reduce the rural road toll. I reflect on the comments made by Superintendent Michael Grainger, of the Victorian Police Road Policing and Strategy Division, last year. Commenting on a study of all road deaths in 2014, he said 57 per cent were in rural areas and 51 per cent involved single vehicle accidents in 100 kilometre zones—and that means the accident is more likely to be traumatic for the people involved. We have higher speed accidents and we have more severe injuries as a result of those collisions.

There is a misconception that only city drivers or visitors to our regions die on country roads. That is simply not the fact. The majority of people killed or injured on rural roads are local people. I appeal to people in my community of Gippsland and also those travelling through the region over the summer period to take care on our roads, drive to the conditions and make sure they enjoy a well earned summer break in the Gippsland community.