Craig Kelly (Hughes, Liberal Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

It is only a few weeks out from Christmas, one of the most joyous times of the year, when we all enjoy family, friends, good food and a few drinks. This is also one of the most dangerous times of the year to be on the road. I call on all Australians, not just in my electorate but across the nation, to pay extra attention and to take extra care when they are driving on our roads this Christmas time. Last year, 1,225 Australians died on our roads. In addition, an extra 10,000 who were injured in crashes were taken to hospital. All up, since the end of the Second World War, 150,000 Australians have lost their lives on our roads. That's 50 per cent more than the number of Australians who were killed in World War I and World War II combined.

We have an obligation as members of this parliament to do everything that we can to ensure that the road toll continues to come down. And it has come down. In 1970, over 3,700 Australians lost their lives—in a single year. That toll's come down because of seatbelts, because of road safety programs and, mainly, because of improved technologies in motor cars. The statistics are clear: if you are driving a late model car, a car that is less than five years old, compared to a car that was made pre the year 2000, you are two to three times less likely to be involved in a fatal accident. Therefore, as parliamentarians we should be doing everything we possibly can to make it as easy as we can for citizens to get late model cars. I think it is immoral that we continue to charge import duties on late model cars that come into this country. We currently still have a five per cent import duty on cars from Europe. If we were to reduce that, get the age of our fleet in this country down and give people the opportunity to have a late model car—as well as continuing to invest in roads—we would make positive steps towards reducing the road toll, and that is something I hope this parliament considers. Our road toll is unacceptable. We must do more to get it down.