Mike Freelander (Macarthur, Australian Labor Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

Roads and complacency are a deadly mixture. Over 1,200 Australians still die annually on our roads. Alarmingly, the number of lives lost actually rose by 6.9 per cent in the year to August 2016. When Australians feel let down by government it is often because the tangible problems they face every day of their lives never seem to get addressed. Last election, after years of campaigning from people from all walks of life and all sides of politics, bipartisan commitments were given to allocate $50 million of federal funds to begin the upgrade of one of Australia's most infamous death traps, the Appin Road in my electorate. Appin Road is the 37 kilometre single carriageway that connects south-west Sydney to Wollongong and to the Hume and Princess highways. No one disputes that the road suffers from major and chronic design flaws along much of its length and that it is no longer fit for purpose.

Appin Road has taken 23 lives in the last six years alone. Melissa Bond was one member of the Macarthur community taken too early, a PDHPE teacher from John Therry high school in Rosemeadow. Melissa was young, wonderful and clever, and she was loved by our community. We cannot wait for another bunch of flowers to appear on the side of the Appin Road. We cannot wait for our community to lose another mother, father, brother, sister or child. I request the government to urgently provide the $50 million required. (Time expired)