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

I'm pleased to make my second contribution in this 46th Parliament about the very important issue of road safety. Currently we're in the process of re-establishing the Parliamentary Friends of Road Safety under the guidelines of the parliament. Along with the member for Wide Bay, Lew O'Brien, we're looking forward to a good number of representatives both from the other chamber and senators joining that group. Next Friday, 1 August, we will host a signing ceremony in Parliament House with a dignitary, a road safety ambassador. It will be an opportunity to be seen actively supporting road safety, signing a pledge and hopefully distributing that on your Facebook pages to show your electorates and constituents your concern and support for road safety.

There have been a couple of positives since the group has been formed. We have been successful in getting the government to have an assistant minister with responsibility for road safety. The opposition has a shadow assistant for road safety—important steps, but not going far enough, in my view. We are still awaiting the government's official response to the excellent report of John Crozier and Jeremy Woolley—two fine, dedicated people in the area of road safety. One is an academic researcher and one is a surgeon who tells a chilling story of his weekend's work, if you like, in the trauma centres in his hospital. They are important steps but still do not go far enough. We are still waiting for the department to announce a review of governance which it undertook with urgency but still hasn't reported on.

We will be interested to see on how the new Office of Road Safety will contribute. The objectives are fine. The key objective is that the Office of Road Safety is to provide national leadership in eliminating road trauma in Australia. The office will operate as a primary policy adviser to federal ministers for road safety matters relating to safer roads, vehicles, speeds and people, and will draw together interdisciplinary expertise and experience to learn, share and channel efforts towards proven approaches to reducing national road trauma and, in doing so, will work collaboratively with counterpart agencies across the states and territories—all very positive stuff.

But let's get down to the nitty-gritty of the state of our roads across Australia. If we look at the statistics produced by the Bureau of Infrastructure, Transport and Regional Economics, we are not doing well. We are not doing well at all. My own state of South Australia has had an increase in deaths of 57.9 per cent in the 12 months to June—from 38 to 60. That's the number, the chilling statistical number of actual deaths. The state of Victoria has gone from 100 deaths to 158, a 58 per cent increase. Looking right across the country, we have had a 13.8 per cent increase in deaths.

As I have said so many times in this chamber, unfortunately, the actual reality of a death is quantifiable. It is quantifiable in terms of the cost to insurance, is quantifiable in terms of costs of assessment of emergency services, is quantifiable in terms of a funeral. Families get on and deal with it; they keep that with them forever but it is discreet. But if you look at these being the particulars to the actual trauma and tragedy, what about the serious injuries? The serious injuries go on for a lifetime. They affect our spending on the National Disability Insurance Scheme. They affect every jurisdiction in motor accident compensation payments. They affect every motorist in the way they pay their compulsory third-party insurance or no-fault insurance or whatever the jurisdiction within which they are covered operates.

This is a national emergency in the quantifiable amount of money spent and in the awful trauma and tragedy shared by the families who are unfortunate enough to experience this sort of thing. Mr Acting Deputy President Fawcett, you would be aware of the tragedy of a young girl killed outside a restaurant by an errant motorist in very recent times. This is happening every day. If we can do things to stop it, we should do. The federal parliament is well-placed to lead. We should act urgently, get on and do more.