House debates

Thursday, 5 March 2020

Adjournment

Road Safety

10:36 am

Photo of Pat ConaghanPat Conaghan (Cowper, National Party) Share this | | Hansard source

Last year 1,188 people were killed on our roads nationally. Over 60 per cent of those were children, pedestrians or cyclists. Just think about that figure for a moment—almost 1,200 people. Then there are the more than 36,000 people who were seriously injured on our roads, many with moderate to serious brain injuries from which they will never recover. About two-thirds of road crash deaths occur in regional and remote communities, like mine in Cowper. Over 1.3 million people are killed on the world's roads each year, with more than 30 million suffering life-changing injuries. Based on current trauma levels, an estimated 500 million people will be killed or injured between now and 2030. In Australia alone, the economic cost of these deaths and injuries is over $3 billion each year.

Almost a decade ago the federal government recognised these statistics, and in 2011 the National Road Safety Strategy was established. The current NRSS, established in 2011 by the Australian government with the states and territories, is based on safe-system principles and the vision that no-one should be killed or seriously injured on Australian roads. It sets targets to reduce the annual numbers of serious injuries and deaths by at least 30 per cent by 2020. The total for the 12 months to the end of December 2019 was a reduction of 16.7 per cent—well below that target of 30 per cent. Its strategy, however, is supported by a series of action plans. Under the National Road Safety Action Plan 2018-2020, governments are jointly progressing nine priority actions and several critical actions. These include targeted speed and infrastructure funding for regional, remote and local roads; increased roadside drug testing; improved vehicle regulations and promotion of vehicle safety technologies; and better measurement of people seriously injured in road crashes.

In 2017 the government commissioned an independent inquiry, backed by the Transport and Infrastructure Council, recognising that deaths and injuries were not decreasing fast enough. The inquiry report in September 2018 found implementation failure, a lack of focus on harm elimination, a need for stronger performance indication and monitoring insufficient scale of action. In response to one of these recommendations, the Review of National Road Safety Governance Arrangements was completed in August 2019. A further response—one which, in my opinion, draws a line in the sand—was the establishment of the Office of Road Safety in July 2019 to ensure greater Australian government leadership and coordination in road safety nationally.

So, what is next? The Transport and Infrastructure Council committed to developing the next National Road Safety Strategy, for 2021-2030, based on a target of zero fatalities. The council committed to the framework for the next National Road Safety Strategy in November 2019. It will be underpinned by safe-system principles framed around three themes—safe roads, safe vehicles and safe road use.

Safe road use focuses on the safety of all road users, including cyclists, motorcyclists and pedestrians, and discourages high-risk behaviour. Speed is to be considered within each of these three themes. It will include national targets of a reduced 50 per cent reduction in deaths and serious injuries by 2030 and a Vision Zero by 2050. It will complement and support state, territory and local government road safety strategies. Council will consider the detailed policy priorities and targets in June 2020. The final strategy and the first action plan will be considered at the final meeting of 2020.

I am honoured to have been elected as the chair of the joint committee and look forward to working with the Honourable Matt Thistlethwaite and the Office of Road Safety to achieve the targets set for 2030 and the Vision Zero by 2050.