Alex Gallacher (SA, Australian Labor Party) Share this | Hansard source

I take that interjection, Senator Farrell. It is extremely clear that coherent policy, probably bipartisan policy—not bipartisan, but multipartisan policy—that is easy and achievable has not been acted upon by a succession of ministers, not acted on by a complete section of ministers.

When I go to estimates and ask the questions, I dare say the department is quite embarrassed about this. You do need direction. The policy's great, but you need a minister to give the direction to the department that they need to act upon. You do need a clear, identifiable pathway. Yudhi Mohan-Ram is a lucky person—he's alive. He's had 15 years of injury; 15 years he's been out there. The spirit he has to give back to the community of road safety is really rewarding, especially when you see him in operation with young children, just trying to make them aware that one moment of inattention can have a lifetime of consequences.

We all know this; this is bread and butter stuff. There's no debate between us, but why, with great policy in 2013, is it that the inaction of that side of the chamber is clear and evident? It must stop; 14,275 lives ended. It needs to stop now. The government needs to be clear in its definition of who is going to be the road safety champion on that side of the chamber. They need to announce it; they need to push it out and get it done. There will be a road safety conference at the end of this year in Sydney. Dare I say it, the minister will turn up and then he'll turn up at the next one next year. We need someone working on this every day, because every day in Australia people are getting killed or seriously injured on our roads, and it affects an enormous number of people.

Mr Mohan-Ram has done a little bit of research. He worked for a company that employed 1,000 people. Everybody in that company knew that he'd been tragically and catastrophically injured. He has 38 first cousins; they all knew. His wife and 18-month-old daughter drove past the accident scene; they knew. If we can do anything to stop or reduce this, then this parliament should be united in its application and dedication to make our roads much safer. It's within our ability to do it. Dare I say it, 2013 policy is tremendously relevant today. All of those things are still relevant; they just simply need to be acted upon. The government should immediately put in place someone to act as a road safety champion for this country.