Luke Gosling (Solomon, Australian Labor Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

On behalf of the Standing Committee on Regional Development, Infrastructure and Transport, I present the committee's report, incorporating a dissenting report, entitled the Inquiry into the implications of severe weather events on the national regional, rural, and remote road network, together with the minutes of proceedings.

Report made a parliamentary paper in accordance with standing order 39(e).

by leave—From the outset I thank you, Deputy Speaker Chesters, for your valuable contribution in our committee and to this report; my friend here, the member for Makin, for his membership and valuable contribution; and also the member for Indi for her valuable contributions. I am very proud to table my first report as chair of this committee, and, as chair of the Standing Committee on Regional Development, Infrastructure and Transport, it gives me great pleasure to present the work of the committee in the form of this report into the implications of severe weather events on the national regional and rural and remote road network.

Severe weather events, including torrential downpours and floods, searing temperatures and dangerous bushfires have taken a dramatic toll on our nation and our roads in recent years. Around Christmas, freak storms killed nine people around the country, leaving 50,000 without power on the Gold Coast. Just recently, South-East Queensland was hit by flash flooding in parts of Brisbane, with roads cut on the Sunshine Coast. An additional 23,000 residents of North Queensland were without power due to Tropical Cyclone Kirrily. One recent study found that 18.1 million Australians were affected by floods in 2022. That's 93 per cent of all people in New South Wales and 97 per cent of Queenslanders. This was the largest impact of any natural disaster going back to the mid-2010s.

On top of the human cost, flooding and other disasters have a devastating impact on our roads. Flooding destroyed $3.8 billion worth of roads in 2022, ruining 10,000 kilometres in New South Wales alone, and 19,000 kilometres of roads in the 2010 Queensland floods. In the Northern Territory, a place I am proud to represent, 600 kilometres of the Stuart Highway and the train line were recently cut due to damage to the road surface caused by heavy rains and flooding for two weeks. Many of our supermarket shelves in Darwin were empty.

The committee's inquiry explored how improved road engineering and construction standards and innovative construction materials could strengthen the resilience of our road network against future severe climate events. Members of our committee heard from federal, state, territory and local government people, as well as engineers, scientists, academics and peak bodies, including in 17 public hearings and three site inspections. We heard that our national road network is in disrepair. Maintenance has fallen alarmingly behind schedule. Our road network simply cannot sustain repeated severe weather impacts. We cannot keep patching up our road assets time and time again until the next flood, the next wet season, the next bushfire. Our road infrastructure investments must maximise value for money. We heard that most of our roads were constructed 30 to 50 years ago to outdated design standards and conditions.

Australia's road network is at a critical juncture. Our design and construction standards must lift resilience on strategic freight routes to support connectivity and supply chain resilience. We need to expand our use of innovative and recycled road materials to build resilience and reduce our carbon footprint. We can't climate-proof our entire road network, obviously—it is too massive—but we can mitigate the risks. It's what Australians need to remain connected, to be safe on the roads and to access essential services and goods. We must shift our focus to resilient infrastructure, resilient roads.

Our committee made 25 recommendations, including but not limited to: collaboration across governments to develop road asset infrastructure resilience guidelines, planning and investment frameworks, addressing road asset data gaps; a review of local government funding allocation to support asset maintenance works under the Australian government's Infrastructure Investment Program; consideration of the local government Financial Assistance Grant program road component funding; an assessment of betterment access and claims approvals under the Disaster Recovery Funding Arrangements, DRFA; and embedding resilience design and construction procurement requirements under the new Federation Funding Agreements on transport infrastructure.

Our committee noted that the Australian government has announced its intention of doubling the Roads to Recovery Program funding over the next four years. The additional investment is an important step in building our roads back smarter and better. I commend this report to the House.

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

by leave—As a member of the Standing Committee on Regional Development, Infrastructure and Transport, I also rise to speak on this important report. Everywhere I travel across my electorate of Indi, people talk to me about the state of our local roads, and with good reason. Local roads in regional and rural Victoria are in desperate need of repair. Rural and regional people deserve to drive on safe, well-maintained roads—roads that are built to withstand severe weather events and natural disasters.

Flooding events over the past summer and in October 2022 have left Indi's roads potholed and washed away. In some places, temporary bridges and closed lanes have been in place for almost a year following such damage. Significant damage following floods and other disasters is not just restricted to my electorate of Indi. This is a problem that regional Australians all over the country understand. They drive on these roads every day to get to school, to work, to look after their mum and dad, and to take their kids to sport on the weekends.

More than 75 per cent of Australia's road network is owned or maintained by local governments, but with small ratepayer bases, inflation increasing the cost of repairs and materials, scarcity of the necessary workforce and minimal funding opportunities for state and Commonwealth government support, regional councils are struggling to fund the ongoing roadworks needed to keep our communities safe and connected. When I meet with the nine local governments in Indi, they consistently tell me that current funding arrangements for roads, including Commonwealth funding arrangements, are inadequate. Too frequently they only just cover damage caused by natural disasters, with no capacity to build back better.

As a member of the Standing Committee on Regional Development, Infrastructure and Transport, I welcomed this inquiry. I knew then, and I know now, that this work is absolutely vital for improving the day-to-day lives of people in my electorate—improving roads that will have an impact every time people get in their cars. I thank my committee colleagues—particularly the committee chair, the member for Solomon; and the deputy chair, the member for Barker—for their engagement, interest and understanding of the issues facing regional communities like mine, and for their hard work in putting together this comprehensive report. Thank you also to the secretariat for their guidance, hard work and logistical support. The 12-month inquiry saw the committee travel across the country to hear from local governments, engineers, emergency management organisations, climate scientists and weather experts. Thank you to everyone that gave evidence and made written submissions.

I brought the committee to Indi, holding a hearing in Wodonga on 17 July last year, to ensure the voices and perspectives of my constituents were heard directly. It's important that local people have a say in the planning of how we build resilience and recover from natural disasters. Indi local councils, including the City of Wodonga, the Rural City of Wangaratta, Murrindindi Shire Council, Strathbogie Shire Council, Mansfield Shire Council, Towong Shire Council, Indigo Shire Council and Benalla Rural City made submissions to the inquiry and gave evidence at the hearing, which the committee found incredibly compelling. I thank them for their contributions.

All members of this committee have worked so hard to ensure that the key issues raised by witnesses were given due consideration. As a regional Independent MP, I'm proud to have been a member of this committee and to have helped produce such a comprehensive report on a big and critical issue for regional Australia. The report made 26 recommendations, including recommendations that the Commonwealth: establish consultation with local governments to consider road infrastructure priorities at the local level; review the financial assistance grants for roads funding and funding for road maintenance works under the Infrastructure Investment Program; and provide greater flexibility for betterment funding for resilient infrastructure builds through disaster recovery funding arrangements following natural disasters. I back these recommendations, and I call on the government now to implement them in full. Severe weather events in regional areas, floods, fires and storms, aren't going away. One-in-100-year events are certainly not one in 100 years anymore. This is such a critical report to build resilience in these changing times, and we must not let this report sit on the shelf and gather dust. This must result in action that addresses the problems that we are driving over every single day.

I will continue to work collaboratively with the minister and the department to see this report acted upon for the benefit of my communities and for all regional Australians, who rely so heavily on the safety and accessibility of country roads.

Luke Gosling (Solomon, Australian Labor Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

I want to thank the member for Indi for her contribution, and I thank the secretariat staff—in particular Joel Bateman, Leeann Galloway and Paul Zinkel. And I thank the member for Wright for his good company on a delegation to do with the important work of this committee. By leave—I move:

That the House take note of the report.

Lisa Chesters (Bendigo, Australian Labor Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

The debate is adjourned and the resumption of the debate will be made an order of the day for the next sitting day.