Pat Conaghan (Cowper, National Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

The priority of any government is the cultivation and the preservation of lives and livelihoods. There are few programs that truly embody this ethos more effectively than this government's Road Safety Program, with the corresponding $3 billion in record investment that has been placed towards it. I don't think it matters which side of the floor you sit on; we can agree that this investment is a worthy and necessary investment.

It's been said many times in this place—certainly many times by me, in my former role as chair of the Joint Select Committee on Road Safety—that even one death on our roads is one death too many. Previously in my life, as a police officer I personally attended many scenes of traffic fatalities and serious injuries, and I know firsthand the devastating effect that they have on not just those who are involved in the accidents but also the families and loved ones, as well as the long-lasting effects on the first responders. Can I just thank all the first responders, current and former, for the work that they have done and that they continue to do.

It's important to note that the responsibility for road safety advice lies not only with all levels of government but with each of us individually. We all need to take responsibility for our driving and for monitoring conditions. Those small decisions that we make every day on the roads have the potential to directly and significantly impact the lives of many, many others. Surprisingly and unfortunately, during COVID, with fewer people on the roads—fewer people driving—the incidence of death and serious injury on our roads didn't decline; in fact it increased, despite that expectation. Now, whether that sad fact is because drivers didn't make better choices or whether the quieter roads gave them the opportunity for increased speed and increased complacency, one might be forgiven for saying that every year we have a pandemic on our roads.

Two years ago, over 1,188 people lost their lives on Australian roads. The majority of those were in regional Australia. In my electorate, statistically, we have five times the rate of fatalities when compared with metropolitan counterparts. In this country, 55 per cent of all fatalities occur on regional roads, despite having significantly lower populations. These are statistics that the government is taking seriously, and it is investing in lives by increasing investment in road infrastructure and ensuring the effective monitoring of conditions. I should note that the monitoring is meaningfully achieved through the proviso that, to receive funding under the Road Safety Program, states and territories are required to provide road safety data and to report against road safety metrics. Through the continued statistical analysis gained from evolving initiatives, we know the infrastructure improvements that actually work.

While the provision of life-saving measures in and of themselves are their own reward, as a member of parliament for the last three years I've also seen the direct positive impact on the community and on job opportunities that addressing and improving dangerous areas has created. Investment in infrastructure projects provides consistent opportunities in my electorate of Cowper for its residents to find gainful employment via councils and private contractors alike. In fact, it's expected to support around 13,500 jobs across the country, with the bulk of works being completed in regional areas, which I know will be welcomed by many.

This government's record $110 billion, 10-year infrastructure pipeline will support and secure jobs, drive growth and help rebuild Australia's economy from the COVID-19 pandemic, and meet our national freight challenge in getting Australians home sooner and more safely. Regardless of what happens in May, I know that we agree that we need a bipartisan approach, both sides, so all our people can return home safely.

Fiona Phillips (Gilmore, Australian Labor Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

It's Valentine's Day today, and one thing's for sure: I have a whole lot of love for the people of Gilmore. Since coming to office in 2019, I have proudly delivered over $1.6 billion in community infrastructure and roads projects right across Gilmore, in the local government areas of Kiama, the Shoalhaven and Eurobodalla—from Minnamurra in the north to Tuross Head in the south, to my home town of Nowra and the bay and basin to Ulladulla. These community and roads projects are ones that I have actively advocated, with many discussions with community groups, associations and advocates, and of course I have taken up the fight for these projects.

There's the Nowra Bridge project—$155 million in federal funding for this important new bridge across the Shoalhaven River at Nowra. The Nowra Bridge is set to be across the river by the middle part of this year. So far, 1,900 workers have worked on the bridge, over more than 700,000 work hours. It's a huge boost for jobs and local spending, with 120 workers on site each day. The new Nowra Bridge is set open in the middle of 2024, depending on the weather.

I want to thank all the workers on this very necessary project. I want to thank locals who have put up with some pretty horrendous traffic conditions during construction of the new Nowra Bridge. But I have been very vocal in saying that the government needs to do much more. I said at the Nowra Bridge official sod-turning that we have to get on with the Nowra bypass. Quite honestly, I am dumbfounded that no elected representative before me—and there have been a lot of Liberal ones—has done anything about a Nowra bypass. Sure, they like to talk big on roads, but, when it comes to doing it, their complete failure to do anything about the Nowra bypass has been one of the biggest abrogations of responsibility there could be.

Is the Nowra bypass a New South Wales government priority? No, it's not. In fact, the New South Wales government's Illawarra-Shoalhaven Regional Transport Plan doesn't even include the Nowra bypass. The local council, Shoalhaven City Council, wanted it included, but it wasn't. Forgive me, but the New South Wales government has completely failed on the Nowra bypass.

Deputy Speaker, it doesn't matter where you live on the coast—whether it's at Tuross Head, Gerringong, Milton or Bomaderry—one thing is for certain: if you want to go north or south through Nowra, there is only one river crossing, the Nowra Bridge. Ask residents of Nowra, North Nowra and Bomaderry what they think of the bottlenecks and of travelling at a snail's pace to get to their place of work or to school or even to get around on weekends. Locals have certainly told me. Since launching my petition I have received thousands of responses from people, and the stories of frustration with the traffic and the need for the bypass are compelling.

The Black Summer bushfires taught us many things, including that egress along our highway is paramount. We saw and felt what happened when the Princes Highway was cut off during the bushfires: how our one-road-in and one-road-out communities were cut off from access, power and communications; how tourists were stranded on our highway and camped in their cars as, thanks to the love and support of locals, they were brought food and supplies.

When councils consider development applications, good road access to properties is a condition, but our entire community on the New South Wales South Coast has a massive access problem. There is only one way north and south through Nowra, and that is over the Nowra Bridge. If the Black Summer bushfires have taught us one thing, it's that we have to be ready for the next disaster. We have to be ready and able to get people out by providing safe egress, and we have to provide safe access for our emergency services workers and volunteers. That's why the New South Wales government must make the Nowra bypass a priority. That's why the Nowra bypass must be included in the Illawarra-Shoalhaven Regional Transport Plan. Make no mistake: without it, Bomaderry and Nowra will turn into the next Albion Park bottleneck, which routinely saw traffic backed up for over five kilometres in the summer months.

For over 40 years, the bypass has been mentioned. Since 1986, land has been earmarked for the Nowra bypass. It's beyond time to get on with the Nowra bypass. My message to the New South Wales government: make the Nowra bypass a priority. Include it in the Illawarra-Shoalhaven Regional Transport Plan. Start the preplanning for the Nowra bypass now.

Darren Chester (Gippsland, National Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

It's with great pleasure that I join today's debate, and I acknowledge the member for Gilmore as representing the second most beautiful electorate in Australia—just behind Gippsland! It's great to have you here.

It's no surprise to see that the speakers on this particular motion are predominantly from regional communities, because regional MPs understand better than most the critical importance of good road networks. Roads are the arterial life of our regional communities, the critical component making sure we can stay connected, whether it's for freight or to stay connected with our families.

The member who just spoke reflected briefly on the impact of the Black Summer bushfires and what they exposed as the frailty of our road network when it comes to natural disasters. In Gippsland, the Princes Highway and several major roads linking coastal communities were badly exposed for being poorly maintained in terms of vegetation. We spent several weeks in which communities were cut off or relying on the Australian Defence Force to deliver the most basic supplies. We have to change our approach to maintaining the resilience of the road network to ensure that our communities can stay connected even in the face of natural disasters. What we saw, post bushfires, on the Princes Highway was a major tree-clearing exercise, which locals reflected on quite dryly as, 'It's about time.' They had been calling for it for decades.

I do appreciate the opportunity to speak in relation to the Road Safety Program. As the member for Riverina, who initiated this program, often reflected, too many people are killed and injured on our rural and regional roads. In fact, a disproportionate number of people continue to be killed and injured on rural and regional roads. From memory, in my time as the minister for transport, I think it was something in excess of 50 per cent of road trauma that occurred on rural and regional roads. Given the higher speeds often involved, the chances of someone being killed or injured are much higher in a crash on those rural and regional roads, in comparison to the city.

As the former minister and now a humble backbencher—or not so humble, as the member for Hunter is probably reflecting—I don't accept that we have to have any road trauma on our roads. We, as a government, have signed up to the safe system approach: safer drivers, safer vehicles and safer speeds on safer roads. The safe system approach is designed to ensure that no crashes need to occur in the future, as we move towards zero road trauma. I fear, though, that governments at state and federal level are often guilty of focusing on the driver component of the safe system. It's far easier to blame the drivers than to accept responsibility for the lack of investment in infrastructure in the road network.

The challenge for us is to work constructively, in partnership with local and state governments, to deliver the types of roads that our rural and regional communities expect. That's why the Road Safety Program, brought forward by the member for Riverina when he was the minister and continued by the member for New England in that role, is so important. It's important because it has a 'use it or lose it' component. The 'use it or lose it' component is of great importance for this particular program because it forces the state governments to develop a sense of urgency about getting the job done.

What I've seen in my electorate of Gippsland, over the past three years in particular, is a recalcitrant state government unwilling to work in a constructive way to deliver the projects that have been funded by the federal government. The federal government doesn't actually build the roads; the federal government goes into partnership with the state government to deliver projects. What I've seen in Gippsland is tens of millions of dollars allocated in the 2019 election still being held by Treasury, not ending up with black stuff on the roads in Gippsland. It's to the eternal shame of the Victorian state government that they haven't been able to reach an agreement to secure projects that would deliver road safety improvements in my electorate.

The contrast has been the Road Safety Program. The moment there was a 'use it or lose it' component to it, the Victorian state government suddenly found the capacity to improve road shoulders, to improve sight lines, to install roadside safety barriers, where appropriate, and to roll that program out in an expeditious way to improve road safety in the Gippsland electorate.

I'm calling on the Victorian government to be a better partner when it comes to delivering road infrastructure safety improvements in Gippsland. I'm calling on the Victorian state government to develop a greater sense of urgency and reach agreement with the Commonwealth on money that is already there. The federal government often pays up to 80 per cent of the funding for road projects in Victoria—up to 80 per cent. The state government only has to find 20 per cent to get these much-needed projects rolling out across my community. Perhaps it will take a 'use it or lose it' approach from the current federal transport minister to try and force this state government to get on board and deliver the road safety improvements that we deserve in our regional communities. Too many people are being killed and injured on roads that could be fixed. The money is available to fix them. We just need the state government to demonstrate the capacity to get on with the job.

Rowan Ramsey (Grey, Liberal Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

This is a great program, particularly if you're responsible for an electorate like Grey, with thousands and thousands of kilometres of road that needs maintenance and, in some cases, upgrading. This program alone has delivered $82.8 million to the electorate of Grey. It comes amongst—

A division having been called in the House of Representatives—

Sitting suspended from 12:54 to 13:10

As I was saying, over $1 billion in total for road infrastructure in the electorate of Grey is coming from the federal government. It's phenomenal. From this particular program, we've seen shoulder sealing, audio tactile line marking on centre-lines, kerb widening and surface improvements on the Eyre Highway, the Augusta Highway, the Barrier Highway, the Stuart Highway and the Upper Yorke Road—thousands of kilometres of roadway. We've seen a complete upgrade of the Upper Yorke Road between Maitland and Arthurton. I rated it as the roughest bitumen road in the whole electorate of Grey, so I'm very pleased to see that. We've seen shoulder sealing and surface treatment on the Todd Highway. The Todd Highway runs down the centre of Eyre Peninsula. It's what we called a 'mirror knocker': as the road got narrower, as the trailers of the semitrailers dropped off the edge and broke down the bitumen, it got to the stage where the road train drivers were clipping mirrors as they were going down the road. That was definitely not a good outcome. That road has now been reshouldered all the way through to Kynecutter. So that's been an absolute improvement for road safety.

It's the same thing for the Birdseye Highway, which cuts across from Lock to Cowell. With the establishment of T-Ports on the Eyre Peninsula, which is a barging operation that ships grain—I believe they took over 600,000 tonnes this year—we've seen a complete redirection in the way grain is moved on the Eyre Peninsula. With the closure of the railways, some people said, 'How will we get our grain to port?' Well, we've actually shifted the port for many growers for the moment. Things change, times change and we need to adapt. So the upgrading of the highways has been very important to my electorate.

We've also seen money go towards the Middleton to Maitland road. It's the same as the Arthurton to Maitland road; it just runs through town. After my 14 years in parliament, it's so gratifying to see this road being upgraded. I can remember a time when we had a different regime in South Australia. I managed to secure some federal funds, but I couldn't convince the Premier at the time, Jay Weatherill, to take the federal funds because they were required to put up 20 per cent and they thought it would so badly affect their GST receipts that they couldn't bring themselves to do it. I've got to say that the advent of the Marshall government has been an absolute revelation. We've now got a state government that is keen to do works outside the capital city and a federal government that is keen to invest in them; hence, as I said, we've got the $1 billion for this particular program and the $82 million coming back into Grey.

There's also a considerable amount of work going on with the Horrocks Highway. For those who don't know South Australia well, it runs from about the middle of the Flinders Ranges at Wilmington right down to Gawler. It runs through the beautiful Clare Valley. In running through the Clare Valley, it is a big commuter route—a tourist route, if you like. That road had become very bumpy. It's winding and quite narrow in places and, without a doubt, dangerous. While work is not yet complete there, we're certainly getting on with the job. We're down south of Auburn now. That's making a considerable difference. We've come all the way from Wilmington to Auburn with that significant upgrade, and we're continuing that work. It has been warmly met on the ground.

The Stuart Highway has been in the press a bit lately. It's been cut off for about a fortnight due to floodwaters at Glendambo, which has resulted in the isolation of Coober Pedy. Thank you very much to Senator Bridget McKenzie for bringing the national disaster relief funding arrangements into operation and to the rest of the federal cabinet in making the RAAF available to do those food drops into Coober Pedy. With the railways cut at the moment, the Stuart Highway is one of the essential feeders through to northern Australia. It's good that it's open again now and it's good that we're spending extra money on making that roadway safer—the same thing: putting the shoulders out, putting the tactile markers down the middle to keep sleepy drivers awake and to keep people safer on the roads. There is a lot of traffic going on in northern South Australia. It is the economic future of our state, in many ways. We'll see more big copper finds up there—BHP are on the trail at the moment—and the roads need to be in a suitable state to deal with those loads.

Julie Owens (Parramatta, Australian Labor Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

There being no further speakers, the debate is adjourned, and the resumption of the debate will be made an order of the day for the next sitting.