Janet Rice (Victoria, Australian Greens) Share this | Hansard source

The Greens recognise the vital importance of making our regional roads safer, but we will not be supporting this motion because we do not believe that the full Commonwealth commitment to the East West Link should go to rural roads. The East West Link was a debacle and it is one that we are glad to have behind us. The Greens are committed to road safety and we acknowledge the trauma that regional and rural communities suffer as the road toll disproportionately affects those who live outside our major cities.

We want to see a strong Commonwealth commitment to rural and regional roads so that we can bring down the road toll in regional Australia. However, we do not support the proposal that the full lot of Commonwealth funding for the dead and buried East West Link should go entirely to rural roads. The Commonwealth money should be redirected to cost-effective infrastructure that is built in the public interest. The $3 billion commitment should be returned to the Melbourne Metro Rail project to begin to unclog our congested city and reduce our car dependence. We commend Senator Muir's commitment to rural road safety and look forward to working further with him on this issue.