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

I want to make a contribution in senators' statements about my work in the electorate of Grey, which is my duty seat. It's in relation to road funding and a pressing issue which is arising on the Eyre Peninsula. Just by way of preamble, the financial assistance grants which were handed out to councils around Australia were frozen by the Hon. Tony Abbott's budget in 2014. This cost councils around Australia about $600 million. In South Australia in particular, it had an effect of about $40 million. That financial assistance grant has been restored, but there has been a shortfall in funding for, particularly, regional roads. The continuation of that grant is up for speculation, so to speak, at the end of the 2019-20 budget. It's well known that South Australia's local government manages 11 per cent of the nation's roads, has around 7.2 per cent of the nation's population and receives an unfair allocation. The Commonwealth Grants Commission recommended that South Australia should receive about 8.9 per cent of road funding. That didn't happen. The Howard government did increase it to 7.9 per cent.

Just to set the scene, there is a shortfall in funding for regional roads. And I'm sure, Mr Acting Deputy President O'Sullivan, you would have a good knowledge of the shortfall in the various electorates in Queensland. What that has done is put immense pressure on regional councils to maintain roads to a reasonable standard. Unfortunately, the evidence is that we do not have that reasonable standard. We have no separation. The proper standard should be a metre and a half of separation between traffic on a two-way highway. We don't have that. In addition to that, we should have appropriate treatments on the shoulders of those roads, and we do not have that, so we have no separation and poor-to-non-existent treatments on the side of the road.

What we have on top of this already parlous situation is perhaps a closure of a regional rail service which is taking 800,000 tonnes of grain on the Eyre Peninsula to the loading facility at Port Lincoln. We are told that there is perhaps going to be a closure as early as 31 May this year. That will result in the loss of some jobs, and people in that area are extremely concerned about those 70 local jobs which may be in jeopardy. We were also told the South Australian transport minister and the operator of the rail, Genesee & Wyoming, did a study which was due to be released in the latter half of last year, 2018—it still hasn't seen the light of day—that would investigate what is necessary to continue the enormous economic benefit that agriculture has in the Eyre Peninsula region.

I've written to the minister, the Hon. Stephan Knoll, and I haven't received anything other than an automated response. I accept that ministers are busy and the like, but the simple fact is this: 503 South Australians have lost their lives on regional roads in South Australia in the last eight years. That's double the number of South Australians who have lost their lives in the city. That is just abundant, clear evidence that it is much more dangerous on poorly maintained, less-than-high-standard regional roads. That is without question. If you ask the RAA, if you ask any competent authority in the region, there is concern being expressed here.

If this rail does not continue to cart 800,000 tonnes of grain successfully through to the Port Lincoln loading facility, it would mean there would be 30,000 additional B-double trucks on the roads per annum. That's 30,000 additional B-double trips to carry 800,000 tonnes of grain. This is a situation which is almost akin to catastrophic. For those who have been to the beautiful city of Port Lincoln and who have travelled along the coastline to Ceduna, there are a lot of tourists on that road. There are grey nomads on that road all the time. All forms of caravans, trailers and recreational activity vehicles are frequently moving along at their pace. If you were to throw 30,000 additional truck movements into that area—I'm a trucking person and I'm a supporter of road transport—it would be almost catastrophic.

It is akin to negligence in this area that there is no clear communication with Regional Development Australia, Port Lincoln council, Elliston council or any of the regional councils on the Eyre Peninsula. They are crying out for information about what the minister is going to do in this space, but it is, 'I will consider it and make a decision whenever I get around to it.' The reality is that people are thinking the closure may be as imminent—as early as 31 May. This is not a situation that can go unreported. The local media is asking the minister for a decision. The issues are well known. The local councils do not have the funds to do the road improvements that are necessary to make this sort of transport safe. If you are to add 30,000 truck movements to already failing, poorly maintained and low-standard roads, you are imposing an unacceptable risk in an area where people are already paying a really high price for this lack of investment. The obvious answer would be to deal with Genesee & Wyoming and make sure the rail continues as it should, until such time as the road improvements are made or there's a proper definitive safety audit of what risks you are going to impact this community with.

It isn't a Labor stronghold—trust me, Mr Acting Deputy President. I have lots of acquaintances in the area but probably not too many electoral supporters. They are all very, very anxious about this situation. They are smart people. They grow the produce of this nation, they own trucks, they're on the road, they partake in their local areas by participating as chairs of their local area associations and/or as mayors of their local councils. They are at a loss to understand how this level of movement of 800,000 tonnes from rail to road would be a prudent, safe thing to do. They have called on their minister, Stephan Knoll, to make an early decision. Most of the commentators are saying that a sensible minister would continue with an arrangement that supported the rail. If that doesn't happen, the area could be a very difficult place to move around.

I know the department has taken proactive steps in this. They are doing chain-of-responsibility workshops in all of the areas around the Eyre Peninsula. That is really to say that the person who owns the truck or the person who consigns the freight will be ultimately responsible. But where is the responsibility being taken by the relevant minister and, indeed, the federal government into making sure that the funding is there so these roads are safe to travel on? In my view, it's not there.

In this place today, the road transport industry is advocating for a safe rates regime to apply federally across this country. This is the reason why we are so in need of a safe rates regime in this federal parliament. It is clear the local government can't meet its responsibilities because there's been a combination of a lack of leadership at the state level and a lack of funding from the federal level. All of this is compounding into an unsafe workplace for a truck driver and an unsafe road for a person going about their normal business. It could be the school bus that has to do 60 kilometres from the farm gate to the local school and dodge a B-double truck on its way to and from school. I've advocated for people in this area to reduce 100 or 110 down to 80 past their local communities. We have been successful in that.

Adding 30,000 additional truck movements on poorly maintained road with an incorrect separation on a two-way highway in regional Australia that contributes $25 billion to the South Australian economy is absolutely reprehensible and incorrect, and minister should be castigated.