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

I rise to contribute on a familiar topic: road safety. I want to put on the public record, once again, the performance—or, should I say, the lack of performance—of the federal government in this area. Just to recap: in 2014, in the 44th Parliament, the Parliamentary Friends of Road Safety group was formed. Along with the honourable Darren Chester, I formed that group. It was re-established in 2016, and it's also in operation in this parliament. The objectives are easy, simple and clear:

1. Elevate within the Federal Parliament greater awareness of road safety.

2. Inform Federal Parliamentarians of the need for continual improvement in road safety outcomes.

3. Inform Federal Parliamentarians of the national and international initiatives with potential to improve road safety outcomes.

4. Ensure the Federal Members of Parliament are aware of the enormous social and economic cost of failing to continually prioritise improved road safety outcomes.

Dare I say it, if there is an emergency besetting this parliament it's in road safety—44,000 Australians are hospitalised each year, which is 100 each day. Those are not my words. Those are the words of John Crozier, from the Royal Australasian College of Surgeons. Over the last five years the Parliamentary Friends of Road Safety has worked very closely with esteemed stakeholders like the Australian College of Road Safety— in particular, Claire Howe, Lauchlan McIntosh and new president Martin Small. Safer Australian Roads and Highways, known as SARAH, started by Peter Frazer, who lost his daughter, Sarah Frazer, due to a road a crash, have led the way in their campaign to 'drive so others survive' and have had government departments highlight the issues during National Road Safety Week. The Australian Road Safety Foundation and their partners, led by Russell White and Donna Caley, run Fatality Free Friday, where we have a pledge-signing opportunity in parliament every year. The Australian Automobile Association have worked really hard in the road safety space. Michael Bradley and Craig Newland have really stepped up with their lobbying in this place and reports for political and interested parties. Their new initiative of investment in new research is very welcome.

I go to the actual performance of the federal government. I have to put all this on the record. These are not my words. These words are from well-respected stakeholders in the community. In the Australian Automobile Association's annual report, Elizabeth Perry, a South Australian, the President of the Australian Automobile Association, stated:

The leaders of Australia's motoring clubs believe the time has come for a new federal approach to road safety management, for which there is widespread support.

…   …   …

The lessons delivered by the failures of the National Road Safety Strategy 2011-2020 were acquired at great cost: through deaths, serious injuries, lasting disabilities and immeasurable grief. Governments must not ignore these lessons.

In the executive summary, the report states:

Australia has suffered a lost decade in the management of road safety.

Failures of transparency and accountability mean about half of the targets set by the National Road Safety Strategy 2011-20 ... will be missed, and a further quarter cannot yet be measured. Many road safety measures are worse today than they were when the NRSS was agreed in 2011.

The Australian Government's own Inquiry into the National Road Safety Strategy's failings found that strong national leadership will be essential if we are to turn things around.

In response to the Inquiry's findings, the Australian Government commissioned the Review of National Road Safety Governance Arrangements, which released its final report in August 2019.

Its first key finding was that: "The Australian Government has not provided sufficiently strong leadership, coordination or advocacy on road safety to drive national trauma reductions."

Associate Professor Jeremy Woolley said:

A year has passed since the Inquiry into the National Road Safety Strategy delivered its report to parliamentarians calling for an urgent response to the national road safety crisis.

The Inquiry's recommendations were channelled through the Council of Australian Governments' Transport and Infrastructure Council ... in October 2018. To date, a Governance Review has been completed and an Office of Road Safety has been set up, although that office's remit is not yet clear.

The Governance Review concurred with the Inquiry's findings. Its completion should mean that the other recommendations are now acted upon in earnest.

…   …   …

The newly established National Office of Road Safety must be given the capacity and authority to address a key finding from the Governance Review: the "need for greater leadership, strengthened management, heighted accountability and more effective coordination."

Professor Woolley makes this very important point:

The 2018 Inquiry found that the National Road Safety Strategy was not supported by adequate data, definition, timelines, capacity, resources or accountability for actions. No wonder governments failed to implement the Safe System approach to road safety over the past decade.

We must not repeat these failures ...

Dr John Crozier, who co-chaired the inquiry into the National Road Safety Strategy, is the chair of the National Trauma Committee of the Royal Australasian College of Surgeons. He stated:

The hospitalisation of 44,000 Australian road crash victims each year is an annual tragedy to which we have become habituated.

Each day, more than 100 of us are hospitalised following a road crash—a silent epidemic.

The annual trend in these numbers is upward.

The Australian Automobile Association has found four identifiable issues that need to be addressed:

Madam Acting Deputy President, I know that you've probably heard this contribution a number of times. The stat in my home state of South Australia is that there has been a 77 per cent increase in the number of deaths. In Victoria, the number of deaths has increased by 46.6 per cent. Let's put that in people terms. In South Australia, 195 people were killed instead of 133. In Victoria, 78 people were killed instead of 45. The lower numbers are not acceptable. We have these stats appearing, and we see it on the nightly news and we hear it on the radio. We are becoming complacent about the death and injury of Australians every day.

I don't want to trivialise any of the debate that goes on in this place but to me that's an emergency. When 44,000 Australians are hospitalised each year, a hundred per day, when up to 1,200 per annum are killed—and I'm not saying we've got a magic wand here. I'm not saying that we can solve all of the errant drivers in the community and all the risk-takers will suddenly go away, but there are genuine, consistent proven methods of harm minimisation and harm reduction. We need to recognise the simple fact that human beings are frail. We're not designed to travel at speed. Anything we can do inside a car or outside a car that minimises a sudden stop is what we should be doing. That's proven and well known all over the world and we should be taking more notice of this particular space.