Meryl Swanson (Paterson, Australian Labor Party) Share this | Hansard source

I rise to speak on this motion moved by the member for Mallee and, I must say, it is disappointing to see yet another attempt by those opposite to play politics with the safety of regional Australians.

After a decade of neglect by the former coalition government, the member opposite and her colleagues are now trying to deliberately mislead the people of regional and rural Australia about what is really going on here. Let's be absolutely clear: the idea of reviewing speed limits on high-risk regional roads did not start with this government. It was, in fact, a coalition commitment.

As part of the National Road Safety Action Plan 2018-2020, the then deputy prime minister, Michael McCormack, made it priority action No. 1 to review speed limits on high-risk regional roads. So let's be clear: the coalition kicked this off. In May 2018, the former coalition government, together with state and territory transport and infrastructure ministers, released a communique explicitly calling for speed reviews as part of their forward work. So it is a bit rich for the Nationals to come in here now, feign outrage and campaign against their own policy.

The Albanese Labor government is putting their policy out for consultation, transparently, openly and with proper community engagement. No decision has been made. No speed limits have been changed. What we are doing is seeking for Australians to have their say on how we can make our roads safer.

Now, while those opposite are busy running scare campaigns, the Albanese Labor government is actually getting on with the job of investing in safer, stronger regional roads. You might say we're proceeding with purpose. After a decade of neglect by the former coalition government, we're delivering record investment in regional infrastructure, and we are making regional roads safer.

Since coming into government, we've doubled the Roads to Recovery Program from $500 million to $1 billion—with a B—per year. This isn't a one-off boost. It's baked into the budget and will remain at that higher level into the future. We've increased the Black Spots Program to $150 million per year, targeting dangerous crash sites across regional and rural Australia. And we've created the Safer Local Roads and Infrastructure Program, providing $200 million per year to help local councils deliver the bigger road and bridge projects that make real differences in our communities.

It's also worth noting that, when Labor formed government in 2022, we discovered that the former coalition government had frozen highway maintenance funding all the way back in 2013, cutting support for the basic upkeep of the very roads country people rely on. We've reversed that Liberal freeze, ensuring that state governments have the resources they need to maintain and repair our national highways, fixing potholes, resurfacing and keeping our roads safer for everyone.

In my own electorate of Paterson, I have seen this funding in action. The M1 Pacific Motorway extension to Raymond Terrace was stalled for years—dare I say, decades—by the former coalition government. A vital piece of national infrastructure, they talked about it for years, they made announcement after announcement, they tried to pave the pavement in press releases, but failed to actually get the work started. This is a project that my community has been crying out for, and finally we are fixing this bottleneck. Since coming to government, we have fast-tracked the project, we have secured the funding and we are building it right now. To those people who'll be driving that way at Christmas: I know it's still a hold-up, but by golly the infrastructure is incredible. We're spending billions. We're fixing that last choke point between Sydney and Brisbane. I've been on site. I've met the workers, the engineers and the local contractors who are seeing this project finally come to life. It's creating jobs, improving safety and delivering the modern infrastructure that the people of the Hunter—and those who travel through it—richly deserve.

Today, we've just announced another lane opening in the Hexham Straight. This is exactly what the people of Australia need: safer, better roads.

See this speech in context