Bert Van Manen (Forde, Liberal Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

[by video link] I move:

That this House:

(1) notes the vital nature of Black Spot Program (BSP) funding in reducing death and serious injury on Australian roads;

(2) recognises that BSP projects target those road locations where crashes are occurring, which are a major cost to Australians every year;

(3) commends the Government for its extensive commitment to road safety through infrastructure investment, by providing $1.1 billion to the BSP from 2013-14 to 2023-24, with an ongoing commitment of $110 million each year following; and

(4) acknowledges research from the Bureau of Infrastructure and Transport Research Economics that the Government's BSP reduces death and serious injury from crashes by 30 per cent, on average at treated sites.

This motion speaks to the importance of the black spot road funding program and its focus on reducing death and serious injury on Australian roads. It recognises, through these projects, the target road locations where crashes are occurring, because we know there are major costs each and every year in deaths and injuries. Over the past nine months of this year in Queensland alone the death toll has climbed significantly. Almost every day you can pick up the newspaper and see a report of somebody dying on our roads.

This important program has had some outstanding results, and it continues to do so. The government, through its extensive commitment to road safety and investment infrastructure, has provided some $1.1 billion to the Black Spot Program from 2013-14 to 2023-24 and, in addition, an ongoing commitment of $110 million each year following that. This is included in our $110 billion long-term infrastructure spending plans. It also notes that the Bureau of Infrastructure and Transport Research Economics shows the government's black spot road funding program reduces death and serious injury from crashes by 30 per cent at sites where these programs have occurred.

These investments continue to show the importance of investing in our local communities. I'm pleased to note, as I look around my electorate of Forde, the number of projects that have resulted in significant upgrades and improvements to various intersections. Overall, to date, there have been some 2,739 projects over the life of the program: in New South Wales some 926, Victoria 626, Queensland 440, Western Australia 319, South Australia 201, Tasmania 147, Northern Territory 49 and ACT 31. In my electorate of Forde, over $2½ million dollars of funding was recently allocated to provide major safety upgrades at four locations. At the intersection of Mandew Street and Leda Drive at Shailer Park, $120,000 will be invested to install six-aspect right turn lights, amend the traffic signals, install CCTV for traffic management, signalise the left slip lane into Mandew Street and adjust the pedestrian ramps. At the intersection of Chambers Flat Road, Pleasant View Road and Kenny Road at Chambers Flat, $400,000 will be invested to install a new advisory 60-kilometre kerb warning sign, some new pavement, chevron markers along the curve, vehicle-activated signs, and guideposts.

Next are two really important upgrades, given these are very, very busy intersections that are only going to get busier with the residential and industrial development in these areas. The intersection of Park Ridge Road, Clarke Road and Lindenthal Road at Park Ridge will have a $955,000 upgrade to signalise that intersection to include a controlled right turn, to maintain the slip lanes and to reduce the speed limit through the intersection. That intersection now services a big new industrial estate, as well as the growing residential developments in that area, and will be of critical importance to safety. The intersection of Chambers Flat Road and School Road at Park Ridge will receive a $1.1 million investment to signalise that intersection to exclude a filter right turn from Chambers Flat Road into School Road. The use of that intersection over the last few years has grown, given the local residential developments. The upgrade of Chambers Flat Road through that area has also yet to be completed, which will make an enormous change.

These major upgrades under the Black Spot Program will help ensure that my constituents can travel safely through my electorate with a reduced risk of death or serious injury. The Black Spot Program makes an important contribution to reducing the national death toll, and I would like to commend this program to the House.

Rob Mitchell (McEwen, Australian Labor Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

Is the motion seconded?

Garth Hamilton (Groom, Liberal National Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

I second the motion and reserve my right to speak.

Graham Perrett (Moreton, Australian Labor Party, Shadow Assistant Minister for Education) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

[by video link] I'm speaking today from Sunnybank on Yuggera and Turrbal land on the motion moved by the member for Forde, noting that Black Spot funding reduces death and serious injury on Australian roads. Labor and I applaud all initiatives that make our roads safer. After all, the Black Spot Program was originally a Hawke government initiative. In 2016, under the Black Spot Program, an intersection at Blunder Road in Oxley was upgraded at a cost of $1.3 million and a section of Bowhill Road at Willawong was upgraded. In 2019, Beenleigh Road at Runcorn was upgraded at a cost of $1.7 million. Earlier this year, in fact, the intersection at Ponsonby Street and Ipswich Road was upgraded at a cost of nearly $2 million. That's about $5 million in funding from the Black Spot Program for my electorate over the eight years that the program has been running under the coalition government.

But there are other intersections and roads in my electorate of Moreton that need attention right now. Wuraga Road, where it meets Beenleigh Road at the train lines, is one. Just last week, that patch of Beenleigh Road under the Gateway Motorway—the bit that's not double-laned—flooded, as it regularly does. The other intersection that's been a problem for many years is the intersection of Ipswich Road and Venner Road in Annerley. This section desperately needs an upgrade, including some better traffic lights and more turning lanes. It's a very dangerous intersection.

I'm hoping the coalition government will add these two intersections to the Black Spot Program very soon. My Moreton electorate is a busy transport hub. The Southeast Freeway borders my electorate to the east, the Gateway Motorway also runs through the southern portion, the Ipswich Motorway runs in from the west, and I've got rail lines for goods and passenger trains and coal going through the electorate. We've got the Beenleigh line, the Ipswich line and the interstate line all sending trains through my electorate of Moreton. The Barnaby boondoggle for the Inland Rail project actually ends in my electorate at Acacia Ridge, nearly 40 kilometres from the Port of Brisbane. How will goods get to the port from Acacia Ridge? I've been asking this question for years, and I still haven't received a suitable answer from the Liberal-National government. Just last week, Deputy Prime Minister Joyce said you could book in an election commitment of coal trains to Gladstone via the Inland Rail. So the coalition government has committed $10 million to a business case to extend the line from Toowoomba to the Port of Gladstone. They're just making this up as they go along. Their plan for the Inland Rail currently has it terminating at Acacia Ridge in my electorate. They might—it's a big might—build two 16-kilometre-long tunnels from Acacia Ridge to the Port of Brisbane. That was the big new idea announced back in February this year by the member for Bonner, my next-door neighbour. Now they might extend the Toowoomba line to the Port of Gladstone. There is no considered vision with a fair dinkum business case.

I'm worried about my constituents in Moreton. They already live in a very, very busy transport hub. Will they soon have A-double road trains transporting goods through their suburban streets? Will New South Wales coal be coming soon? Will people living in Moreton soon have tunnels being drilled underneath their properties in Sunnybank, Sunnybank Hills, MacGregor and Eight Mile Plains? Tunnels will need to be twice the size of the tunnels being built right now for Cross River Rail to accommodate double-stack trains—or will the Inland Rail bypass Brisbane altogether and go to the Port of Gladstone, which is my preference? We just don't know. More importantly, the Morrison-Joyce government, now in its ninth year, doesn't know either. We've got the Deputy Prime Minister saying it's going to the Port of Gladstone and we've got LNP members in Brisbane—people from 'Team Queensland'—who are saying they're building 16-kilometre-long tunnels.

How much will this rort crossbred with a boondoggle end up costing taxpayers? The Grattan Institute estimated in 2015 that the total cost of Inland Rail would be $9.9 billion, with a worst-case scenario of $10.7 billion. The coalition government has now said the project is estimated to cost $14.9 billion. That's 46 per cent more than their original estimate, and that doesn't take into account the possibility of two 16-kilometre-long megatunnels or an extension of the line from Toowoomba to Gladstone. The Inland Rail is an important investment in national infrastructure but there has to be a plan that makes economic sense, such as the black spot programs do.

I will always encourage infrastructure that improves congestion, makes transport safer and gets product to port more efficiently, but not when there are unintended consequences that may make living in my electorate of Moreton less desirable. I want the roads in Moreton to be safer, not more congested with A-double trucks. I want all our roads to be safer. I applaud the Black Spot Program for the intersections and roads in my electorate that have been upgraded but I'll continue to progress action on the remaining dangerous intersections. (Time expired)

Bridget Archer (Bass, Liberal Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

[by video link] Last year there were 36 deaths on Tasmanian roads, the worst statistic since the terrible year of 2009 when we recorded 63 deaths. For the calendar year to date, Tasmania has seen more than 17 road deaths and more than 130 serious injuries; cold, hard statistics but the flow-on effects on family and friends can last a lifetime. For survivors, the physical, economic and emotional toll can be devastating. As we know, crashes can occur from inattention, speed, driving under the influence and tiredness, and from poor safeguards in place, such as lack of lighting, signage, traffic lights and roundabouts. This is where the government's black spot funding has made driving on our roads safer and has undoubtedly saved countless lives. From major roads in Launceston to remote and rural roads across the northern Tasmanian region, the government has contributed close to $3 million for necessary infrastructure projects across more than 25 locations, including the West Tamar Highway, north of Exeter; Hobart Road and Opossum Road in Kings Meadows; High Street, York Street and Clarence Street in Launceston; Main Road in George Town; and Dalrymple Road in Mount Direction, just to name a few.

Just recently, I was very pleased to announce $365,000 to remodel the intersection in Bridgenorth. It was the site of an extremely tragic accident last year, thought to be the result of a lack of giving way at the intersection, in which two Launceston residents sadly lost their lives. Works are underway to address this issue—which has resulted in three crashes in the past five years—thanks to the black spot funding. The funding has been warmly received by the community, who have long had concerns about the layout of the intersection and visibility. The new remodelling will address the see-through problem, where drivers on the side road approaches don't realise that there's an intersection where they're required to give way. I'm hopeful that this will save lives in this notorious spot. Additional works were also recently completed at another infamous blackspot, north of Lilydale on Golconda Road between Bacala Road and Denison Gorge Road. The project involved road widening, resealing, signage, line marking and guard rails, all improving safety for road users and has been well received by the community.

Our commitment to fixing black spots across the country, with infrastructure investment being over $1.1 billion since its inception in 2013, is seeing demonstrable results. As the member for Forde mentioned in his speech, research from the Bureau of Infrastructure and Transport Research Economics has shown that this program reduces death and serious injury from crashes by 30 per cent on average at treated sites. The proof is there, and I am proud of our continued investment in ensuring the safety of drivers in communities across the nation.

But road safety infrastructure improvements are just part of the story, and I want to take the opportunity to discuss driver behaviour, in this case fatigue and the impacts that a car crash can have on survivors. A few years ago, our local newspaper here ran a Christmas road safety campaign, and I read the story of Sam Cawthorn, which has stayed with me ever since. In October 2006, in Tasmania, Sam fell asleep at the wheel and crossed onto the wrong side of the road, crashing head on into a truck. Sam died in the crash but, incredibly, emergency crews managed to resuscitate him. Sam's right arm was amputated and his right leg was permanently damaged, and he lives with the physical pain every day. Sam has said: 'I live with phantom pain. If I close my eyes I can still feel every single one of my fingers. It's like the worst pins and needles you have ever experienced but times that by 10 and that's how my arm feels 24/7.' In the years following the accident, Sam has become a motivational speaker, working to educate and inspire others to change their behaviour on the road, telling all drivers to wake up to their behaviours on the road and save their own lives and those of others. From all levels of government to anyone who gets behind the wheel of a car, we all have a role to play to get everyone in our community home safe.

Peta Murphy (Dunkley, Australian Labor Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

While it's of course great that black spot funding is available across electorates, we know that work is needed on local roads to save lives. I was really proud to support a grassroots campaign from my community to use federal government funds with the council to build a pedestrian crossing on McCormicks Road at a nursing home, where, tragically, a local resident was killed crossing that road. But this government likes to compliment itself for doing the bare minimum. It likes to make announcements on things like infrastructure but not deliver them. I stand here as a member for Dunkley, a community that, before the 2019 election, was promised $30 million of federal funding to upgrade intersections at Ballarto Road, not far from the McCormicks Road incident that I just spoke about. It's now October 2021 and there have been no upgrades. I've written to the Prime Minister and I've written to the minister responsible, and whose fault is it? Apparently it's the state government's fault.

My community was promised three separate commuter car parks by this Morrison government before the 2019 election, at Seaford, Kananook and Frankston. It's October 2021 and how many commuter car parks has this government delivered? None. In fact, it took the money out of this year's budget for Seaford and Kananook because it was a promise made without consultation with the community, without consultation with the local council and without consultation with the state government, and there was nowhere to build those car parks on the existing land. Whose fault is it that those car parks at Seaford and Kananook promised solely by the federal government, and in conjunction with the state government at Frankston, haven't been delivered? According to this government, it was the state government's fault. The federal government has now had to acknowledge it couldn't do Seaford and Kananook. I've met with the former Deputy Prime Minister, I've met with the current responsible minister, I've written to the former responsible minister about delivering commuter car parks for my community. Not only does the Kananook area need car parking; the mighty Frankston & District Basketball Association needs investment, and I'm not going to stop until I see this government deliver.

Before the 2019 election, this government campaigned on delivering the extension of the Metro line to Baxter. Now it's October 2021. What's happened? Nothing. For years, they sat on a business case that the state government did. It was released more than 12 months ago now—in fact, I think it was the end of 2019. What have they done since then? Nothing. Whose fault is it? Apparently, it's the state government's fault that it hasn't done a further business case. But the federal government hasn't asked them to. There are now pushes to get this train line extended in stages, but the federal government still hasn't asked the state government to do the business case to get this done.

Since I've been elected, I've been pushing this government to deliver the infrastructure that my local community needs. I've written to the Prime Minister, the Deputy Prime Minister and the responsible ministers; I've made submissions and advocated and made speeches, before this year's budget, for the upgrading of the Emil Madsen Reserve in Mount Eliza, which desperately needs it so that it's the sporting precinct my community in Mount Eliza deserves; for investment in Nairm Marr Djambana, the local Indigenous gathering place in Frankston, so that we can have a gathering place for the growing Indigenous community and for the non-Indigenous members of my community to join with them to celebrate culture; for funding for the McClelland sculpture park and gallery, which is not just a hub for arts and culture in my community but is a tourism destination and could be a tourism mecca for the wider south-eastern Melbourne and Mornington Peninsula region but which needs support. I've mentioned the Frankston & District Basketball Association and the Mornington Peninsula Bay Trail. I will continue to push this government to provide funding.

This government talks about black spot funding. That's great for intersections and roundabouts, but where's the investment in the infrastructure for the future? Where's the investment in renewing the national energy grid so that it can take the renewable energy that we must invest in, for this country, for the economy, for jobs and to reduce emissions? Where's the investment in infrastructure for electric vehicles? Where's the investment in infrastructure for solar batteries in communities and in suburbs? There is none, because who is running things, really, in this country at the moment? It's the Deputy Prime Minister, Barnaby Joyce, and his ragtag Nationals. It's not good enough and it's failing our communities.

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

As the chair of the Western Australian Black Spot Consultative Panel, I can attest to the benefits of the Commonwealth's long-running Black Spot Program. This financial year, WA will benefit greatly from the program, with 34 dangerous crash sites to be improved at a combined cost of $14.7 million. Over the past five years at these 34 intersections a total of six crashes have caused fatalities and a further 107 have caused injury. As a member for an entirely regional electorate, I'm extremely concerned that, of the 155 people who died on Western Australian roads in 2020, 93 died in regional areas of the state. This overrepresentation of regional fatalities belies the fact that three-quarters of Western Australians live in metropolitan Perth. That's why it's heartening that 47 per cent of WA's black spot projects for 2021-22 are in regional shires and cities.

In my vast electorate of O'Connor, five projects have been funded at a combined cost to the Commonwealth of $1.7 million. These projects are widely distributed across WA's Goldfields, Great Southern, Wheatbelt and South West regions. In the Goldfields, traffic islands will be installed on Lane Street in Kalgoorlie and parking bays modified near a busy shopping centre in the city's CBD. A shared path will be installed, kerbing modified and the paving better marked. This $661,000 black spot project will improve the safety of Lane Street between Dugan Street and Kalgoorlie's best-known thoroughfare, the historic Hannan Street. In the Wheatbelt, a $552,000 black spot project will see a 29-kilometre section of the Williams Narrogin Highway upgraded. Moving onto the beautiful town of Bridgetown in the state's South West, $409,000 will be provided to install kerbing, barriers, culverts and pavement markings to improve Turner Road. Finally, in the Great Southern, Lights Road in Denmark will be made safer, as will Kuringup Road in Nyabing. All these potentially life-saving projects will be undertaken in the 2021-22 financial year. So that's what's happening right now in my electorate and in WA more broadly under the Morrison government's record $1.1 billion 10-year investment in the Black Spot Program.

Turning to the future: what the increased funding and long-term funding stability allows parliamentarians to do is to advocate on behalf of constituents who have raised serious concerns about other black spots. To this end, I'm working closely with the residents of the small Great Southern town of Narrikup to see what we can do about a notorious stretch of the Albany Highway. The highway links the Great Southern and western Wheatbelt to Perth, and is one of WA's main tourist routes. Unfortunately, between Spencer and Jackson roads at Narrikup the Albany Highway is an absolute shocker. In the past five years this 700-metre stretch of road has seen three fatal crashes. Another crash resulted in hospitalisation and three more crashes saw property damaged.

Of course, these crashes are just the ones that have been reported. Concerned members of the Narrikup community tell me that there have been several more unreported crashes that don't show up in official statistics and that there have been many more near misses. These crashes, especially the fatal ones, take a tremendous toll on the people involved and their families and friends. They also affect residents in places such as Narrikup, where the local first responders are called upon to attend the crash scenes. That's why I'm doing everything I can to raise awareness of the horror stretch of highway at Narrikup in order to have this black spot fixed.

To that end, the Black Spot Program follows a clear process that engages local communities and state road authorities in the development of a business case for priority projects. What's also good is that the program dovetails very nicely with other safety initiatives of the Morrison government with, dare I say it, last month's announcement of some big-ticket roadworks around my electorate under the federal Road Safety Program. Firstly, there was $2.7 million of works on the South Coast Highway either side of the small town of Munglinup, which is between Esperance and Ravensthorpe. Then there was $7.1 million provided to improve safety along the Great Southern Highway, which links Kalgoorlie, Coolgardie and Merredin to Perth. And there was $3.5 million to go towards improving various sections of the Donnybrook-Kojonup road; the Coolgardie-Esperance Highway will benefit from $8.6 million of investment; and, finally, but certainly not least, $1.7 million has been provided to make the Lower Denmark Road much less dangerous.

That's an impressive list, but it's not exhaustive. So while it's early days yet in advocating an end to the black spot at Narrikup, the residents there can take heart that the Morrison government takes road safety seriously. With the right combination of analysis and advocacy, worthy road safety projects have been conceived, advanced and completed under the road Black Spot Program.

Matt Thistlethwaite (Kingsford Smith, Australian Labor Party, Shadow Assistant Minister for the Republic) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

I congratulate Mr van Manen for moving this motion because we don't talk enough about road safety in this parliament. It's important, because Australia is not getting the results that we should be in reducing road deaths and trauma, and the statistics bear that out. In the 12 months to September 2021, 1,142 Australians died on our roads. Over the 12 months in the preceding year, to September 2020, it was 1,087, so that's an increase. In 2019 it was 1,164 and in 2018 it was 1,200. The statistics tell the same story about serious injury from crashes. The data is not so up-to-date but hospitalisations in 2018-19 were 39,755 and in 2017-18 there were 39,404. And if we go back to 2012 it was a similar picture then.

We have a National Road Safety Strategy. It's a decade-long plan that the country puts together to try to reduce the incidence of road trauma. The last plan ran from 2011 to 2020 and they're currently writing the 2021 to 2030 plan. The 10-year plan from 2011 to 2020 had a target of reducing annual deaths and serious injury on Australian roads by 30 per cent and we're failing that. We aren't going to meet that: we've failed. That plan set out a number of directions and interventions: improved standards of road design and construction; speed limits that better reflect the balance of safety and mobility; safety design features mandated in vehicles; graduated licensing systems; and penalties against irresponsible driving.

In 2018, an independent inquiry into the effectiveness of the National Road Safety Strategy was conducted by Associate Professor Jeremy Woolley from the Centre for Automotive Research and Dr John Crozier, the chair of the Royal Australasian College of Surgeons Trauma Committee. These two gentlemen, who appear regularly before the Road Safety Committee, have released their findings. They found that 'Australia's road safety performance has stalled,' that 'the scale of the personal and financial cost of road trauma is unacceptable,' that 'current actions and investments are not achieving the desired results' and that 'a dramatic change in road safety management is required in Australia'.

They made 12 recommendations, including a cabinet minister for road safety and a national road safety entity. Thankfully, the government has established the National Office of Road Safety. They suggested $3 billion a year to a road safety fund. The government's put $3 billion but it is over three years—okay, it's a start—and t is an important investment. Other recommendations include speed management initiatives and an accelerated uptake of vehicle road safety technology. Recommendation No. 5 is an important recommendation—that is, the establishment of key performance indicators in the next strategy to measure and report on how harm can be eliminated in the system and to be published annually. To be published annually is really important. The strategy sets ambitions and a plan but there has never been a look at whether anyone is achieving it. The Commonwealth, the states and territories, and local government are not held to account for the decisions that they made around road safety under that strategy.

I will give you a couple of examples of how we can set key performance indicators that will make a difference. On the element of the strategy around reducing speed, we know point-to-point speed cameras work. If a point-to-point speed camera is on a road, it will reduce the fatalities and accidents because people slow down. It has been implemented for trucks. There is a recommendation that has been sitting there for years, to turn on point-to-point speed cameras for all road users in all states. Some states, to their credit, have done it. But in the largest state, in New South Wales, the government refuses to do it, traditionally because the National Party and their members don't like the fact that they would be caught for speeding on roads, so they have obstructed and stopped it. That is completely unacceptable. People are dying on our roads. We have technology that will target speeding to stop it and reduce road deaths but it is not switched on for all road users. That is a key performance indicator that we should have in the next national strategy to say 'states have got until this time to switch it on for all road users or will lose their funding'. That is something that would make a difference. There are plenty more where we can make a difference on road safety if we do a bit more and put our minds to key performance indicators under the strategy.

Michael McCormack (Riverina, National Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

The Black Spot Program is one of the best programs being implemented by the government. The vital nature of Black Spot funding in reducing death and serious injuries on Australian roads cannot be, in any way, understated. The government is providing $1.2 billion to the Black Spot Program from 2013-14 to 2024-25. I have to say, there is a lot of discussion at the moment about net zero 2050, as there should be. But if there is one zero towards 2050 we should be working towards valiantly, if there is one priority area, it is vision zero, which is making sure that we don't have any deaths on the road by 2050. This government is working diligently towards that. Part of the government's record $110 billion 10-year infrastructure rollout that is supporting and securing jobs, obviously, driving growth and helping rebuild Australia's economy from the COVID-19 pandemic is the Black Spot Program. No matter where you live, the federal government is investing in road infrastructure to get Australians home to their families sooner and safer. It's a noble cause.

I drove to Temora on the weekend. As I drove there, I saw that the line in the middle of the road, which former Nationals leader, former Deputy Prime Minister John Andersen, once described as that 'corridor of uncertainty'. What we are doing is a simple thing. By putting two lines, side-by-side in the middle of the road, it creates a bit more division between vehicles going opposite directions and just gives you that safety and security on those country roads. Not only that but there are audiotactile lines up the middle of that division and certainly on the sides of the roads. It's that line which, if you actually get your wheels on it, goes 'thump, thump, thump' the faster you go—'thump, thump, thump'. I look forward to seeing how Hansard records that! It's only a small measure, but it saves lives.

The Mayor of Bland Shire, Councillor Brian Monaghan, said to me the other day that in 30 years he had not seen the amount of money being spent in local government areas such as we are investing now. Much of that funding is through the Black Spot Program, state governments as well as the Local Roads and Community Infrastructure Program. It is providing record spending in local government areas. Councils know because they are at the coal face, so to speak. They are talking to people every day as good local members like you, Deputy Speaker Bird, me and others in this room. We are all speaking to our local constituents, knowing where funding is needed. Of course we know where Black Spot funding is needed because, sadly, tragically, unfortunately, there are people losing their lives on those roads and on those streets. We know because the data is there. We know because the statistics tell us the all-too-stark story.

No matter where you live, the government is investing in road infrastructure to ensure that we do get people where they need to be no matter what they're doing. Given COVID-19, it has been an ideal time to upgrade those roads, because there haven't been as many people travelling as would like to be travelling. Sadly, the road toll continues to be far too high. One death on the road is one too many. By specifically targeting road locations with a history of crashes for safety upgrades, the money is going where it needs to be.

I know in the Riverina and Central West, the funding includes Calarie Road between Wyndham Avenue and Daroobalgie Road at Forbes, improving curved shoulders, widening shoulders, marking the road edge lines and installing guide posts with reflectors, curve markers and reflective pavement markers. That's $685,000 that will save lives in the Central West. Middle Trundle Road, east of The Bogan Way intersection at Trundle has a similar sort of thing. Kurrajong Road near Cord Street—I could go on and on. The object of the exercise is to make sure the funding goes where it needs to be, which is identified by data, identified by families who have lost love ones, identified all too often on country roads by those markers and flowers. We don't want to see a continuation of that. We want to see these issues addressed, and we are.

Helen Haines (Indi, Independent) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

The Black Spot Program is vitally important in any electorate, supporting many much-needed upgrades to our local roads. My electorate of Indi is no exception to that. In recent funding rounds we have seen three projects funded under the Black Spot Program: a new flashing warning sign and intersection signage at Lake Road and the Murray Valley Highway near Old Tallangatta; new safety barriers and guide posts, as well as sealed shoulders on the stretch of Lake Road near Bethanga between the Murray River Road to the north and the Kurrajong Gap Road to the south; and new guide posts, curve warning signs and new markings along the Skyline Road near Eildon between Taylor Bay Road and Fraser Park Road.

Since I was elected, Indi has done very well to secure over $65 million for much-needed upgrades to our local roads. This includes $5 million for the Great River Road, another $5 million for the Dargo High Plains Road through the bushfire recovery program, $17 million through the Local Roads and Community Infrastructure Program, and $29 million through the Roads to Recovery Program. There are many party politicians on both sides who would say you could only deliver for your electorate if you're a member of a major party. The fact Indi has seen an extraordinary level of investment in our roads under an Independent puts paid to that idea. We can and do deliver. Importantly, on an area as vital as road safety we are seeing great investment.

It is true that despite this enormous level of investment there is still substantial need in Indi for upgrades to our roads. On 21 October 2019, almost two years ago to the day, I stood to speak about an almost identical motion to this in the exact same chamber we are in today. At that time, two years ago, I spoke about the fact that the Black Spur section of the Maroondah Highway, despite a long and distressing history of both fatal and other serious car crashes, is still struggling to attract the safety upgrades it needs. Maroondah Highway is the only direct major road from the Yarra Valley town of Healesville, up towards Narbethong and through to Buxton or across to Marysville. It then goes north to Taggerty. From there it heads on to Alexandra, while another arterial road branches from it at Taggerty to carry traffic to and from Eildon. The highway is critical for business and tourism between Murrindindi communities and Melbourne's east. It's also a spectacular drive, described to me as the range's version of the Great Ocean Road. But the Black Spur remains a serious challenge for people and communities on the highway because, for much of its winding length of about 10 kilometres, it's impossible and illegal to overtake. It's a road that needs better signage, more slow vehicle turn-outs, better sealing, bicycle lanes and active management of old roadside trees, because the road passes through a wonderful forest of ancient mountain ash.

Two years ago, I spoke about how, when trees fall during storms, the road is often closed for hours or days. And, in the middle of June 2021, just a few months ago, a big storm ripped through, and this is exactly what happened. Fifty trees were felled, there was substantial landslide activity, and the road was closed for days. The community has been calling for upgrades to the Black Spur road for 20 years now, and it's time the government listened. Let's make this road, this stretch of road, this important road, as safe as it is iconic. The people and communities of Murrindindi want a safe and reliable highway. The Black Spot Program can help to deliver one, and I'm calling on the government to step up with the funding and finally fix this problem.

The member for Riverina spoke a spoke a few moments ago about the importance of road safety. I want to add to his comments. It's crucial that we make sure we do everything in this place to eliminate avoidable accidents. More than 30 years ago, I worked in the emergency department at St Vincent's Hospital in Melbourne, and I saw with my own eyes the devastation of a road toll which, in those days, was over 1,000 people. We've come a long way since then—seatbelts, driver education, drink driving laws, but also better roads. So I really commend any government in this place to maintain the funding on the Black Spot Program and to address issues such as the Black Spur in Murrindindi, which already has claimed many lives. I don't want to see another life lost there. I call on the government to fund that road and fix that problem once and for all.

Sharon Bird (Cunningham, Australian Labor Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

The time allotted for this debate has expired.