Darren Chester (Gippsland, National Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

If you fix country roads, you save country lives. Think about that. If we invest in our regional roads, we'll actually save lives and reduce trauma in our regional communities. I accept that road safety is a shared responsibility—it's a safe system approach: safe drivers, safe cars, safe roads and safe speeds—but I'm concerned about governments at the state and federal levels blaming the drivers all the time, without taking responsibility for their key part of the equation, which is the road network itself.

As motorists we have to have roadworthy cars, but in Gippsland and right throughout regional Victoria and regional Australia the roads aren't carworthy. Right across Australia right now in regional communities our roads are falling apart. I give governments a bit of an out when it comes to natural disasters and the impact they've had. That's fair enough. When you've had major flood events and roads degraded by these catastrophic events, it's only reasonable that it takes time for all levels of government to work together to fix those country roads. But I'm talking about roads that have been falling apart for years, long before the floods. We had roads falling apart during droughts.

If you fix country roads, you will save country lives. The Roads to Recovery Program has been around for more than 20 years. It was a program that I think John Anderson brought in when he was the minister for transport. When I had the chance as minister I increased funding for it. The Australian Local Government Association is asking this Labor government to continue to support the Roads to Recovery Program and give additional funding going forward, recognising the escalation in costs that are incurred in doing roadworks. They are asking for an extra $300 million per year. I call on the minister to take this request seriously. This is not local government turning up cap in hand begging for more money because they can't manage their budget. This is stuff that makes a difference on the ground in our regional communities and will save lives, because we know that a disproportionate number of people are killed and are injured on rural and regional roads. It's staggering that most car crashes occur close to a person's home on a road they know well, within five kilometres of their own home. So if we fix country roads we will save country lives and reduce the burden of trauma on families and on the federal budget, so it makes sense economically as well.

The other point I wish to make in the time I have left is in relation to one road in my electorate—the Great Alpine Road. This road is in worse condition now than it was when I got my P plates about 40 years ago. This road is falling apart and we are in the lead-up to the peak tourism season for snow skiers. I call on state and federal governments to work in partnership and make it a road of strategic importance, which is the only way we'll get a systemwide approach to improving the Great Alpine Road for future generations.