Nick Champion (Wakefield, Australian Labor Party) Share this | Hansard source

Thank you very much, Mr Deputy Speaker. I am, of course, referring to your great electorate of Barker. The graphic image of three trucks smashed to pieces, literally, on the highway in an accident that killed a female car driver and saw a truck driver airlifted to Adelaide in a serious condition just underlines, I think, the risk that having heavy vehicles on our roads poses. It does create a significant risk to drivers. Of course, these are always tragic figures. I do not think they are inevitable. We know from the reduction in road fatalities over the last 20 years that government policy can have a positive effect and that it is possible for governments to make our roads, vehicles and drivers safer. That is something I would certainly support, and I am sure that would be bipartisan.

By providing real facilities for heavy vehicle drivers to reduce the incidence of fatigue, to monitor their travel and to make roads safer, we have a real opportunity to address this problem. I did notice that in the House some members, including the member for Bradfield, had a go at the major retailers in this country, saying that they do not provide facilities and the like. But I happen to know that Woolworths in South Australia has provided facilities for drivers who have to wait to unload their trucks, so I do not think it is entirely fair to say that nothing is being provided: those companies do on occasion try to provide such facilities. I think it is important that through this bill the government can actually provide those facilities so that all drivers can use them, and that will make our roads safer.

Obviously, we are not undertaking this important work alone. Funding for the package is contingent on the passage of the heavy vehicle road user charges and that is a charge that was unanimously endorsed by the Australian Transport Council—the Commonwealth, state and territory transport ministers—in February this year. This legislation basically makes sure that the heavy vehicle industry pays its fair share of the infrastructure costs incurred by government in building and maintaining the roads and facilities that they use. I think it is disappointing that the previous 2007 heavy vehicle charges determination was blocked or disallowed in the other place. This year it is disappointing that, in effect, the coalition in opposition are opposing something that they proposed when in government. I hope that the charge is passed so that we can provide these very important facilities, because we want to see these upgrades rolled out as soon as they can be after 1 January 2009.

In a country as vast as ours, roads are always an infrastructure priority. They certainly are in my electorate of Wakefield, which links the north and the wine regions, particularly the Barossa Valley, with the metropolitan area, Adelaide, and especially the export corridor through to Port Adelaide. These roads are essential to our economic and social wellbeing, and that is why the Rudd government is funding the $564 million Northern Expressway, which runs from Gawler down to Port Wakefield Road and really does create a world-class transport corridor for heavy vehicles and also for commuter traffic moving between Gawler, the Barossa Valley, the port and Adelaide.

This bill provides an increase in funding for roads in the local council areas in Wakefield and across the country. It is a bill that addresses the needs of heavy vehicle drivers and, most importantly, improves the safety of our roads for every Australian motorist. For those reasons, I commend the bill to the House.

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