Source: Australian Ministers for Regional Development
MINISTER FOR REGIONAL DEVELOPMENT, LOCAL GOVERNMENT & TERRITORIES, KRISTY MCBAIN: Well, it’s a pleasure to be here in Murrumbateman today to announce the Albanese Labor Government’s road Black Spot Program. We’ve got 84 locations across New South Wales where we’ll be dealing with those notorious black spots that contribute to road trauma and road deaths across our community. That total is about $42 million going into 84 black spots across New South Wales, as well as ($10million) for 20 black spots across South Australia. It is incredibly important that we listen to local communities after any road accidents, and that’s exactly what we’re doing, partnering with State Governments and working with local groups to understand where black spots are across the country. We have increased road black spot funding from $110 to $150 million a year, because we know from speaking with local communities and local councils that road trauma is still too high across the country. We know it’s important to work with local communities, which is why we have a task force dedicated to working out where these black spots are and how we can help address them. Today’s announcement builds on the Albanese Government’s commitment to road funding. We have doubled Roads to Recovery, which is a fund for every local council across the country, from $500 million to $1 billion a year, which means every local council now has more money for road maintenance than they’ve ever had before. We’ve also created our new $200 million Safer Local Roads and Infrastructure Program, again, focusing on those heavy freight routes, on bridges and culverts, to make sure that we are dealing with what communities are asking us to deal with. That includes those road black spots across the country. Black spots are incredibly important to address, as we know, and that’s exactly what we’re doing, getting on with the things that matter most to local communities. This funding goes everywhere from the south coast and north coast of New South Wales to metropolitan Sydney out to Western New South Wales. This is not concentrated in one area, because we know black spots can occur anywhere across our road network, and we’re incredibly diligent in working with local councils and with the state governments to address those where they are needed.
JOURNALIST: Is there a way if someone, whether it’s a local community, regional, rural area, is concerned about a black spot in their area, how should they go about sort of making sure that that’s fixed?
MINISTER: It is really important that we are hearing from local communities. So, we work with directly with local councils and the state government to identify road black spots across the country. So if community members do have concerns about road black spots, they should get in touch with their council in the first instance. Councils will put together a range of black spot programs so that we can work with them. We’ve just down the road from here (we’ve invested) nearly $900,000 addressing a road black spot issue on Murrumbateman Road. It’s a heavily utilised road for local tourism traffic with a number of wineries there, but it’s also a freight route, and it’s a growing regional community. So we are dealing with those black spots as identified from local communities and local councils.
JOURNALIST: We’ve got a budget coming up. Will you be asking the Treasurer for even more money for these types of projects?
MINISTER: We’ve worked really heavily in our first term to make sure that we could increase a number of road buckets. As I said, every local council will now have double Roads to Recovery funding because we’re moving that to $1 billion a year. And this isn’t a grant program where councils have to compete against each other. It’s automatically allocated to councils around the country. Because we know local communities shouldn’t have to fight for road funding. Which is one of the reasons that is done in that particular way. We created that new $200 million a year Safer Local Roads and Infrastructure Program aimed at dealing with communities that have heavy vehicle routes that need those upgrades to bridges. And as I said, we’ve increased road black spot funding because every community deserves safe local roads to drive on.
JOURNALIST: There’s some new numbers out today that shows more Australians don’t have faith that the government is able to fix or help anymore with the cost of living. Given the end to the energy rebates going forward, what do you say to those Australians who don’t feel confident that you’ll be able to help?
MINISTER: We as a government are dealing with what we’ve got in front of us. We have introduced a range of initiatives in our first term. We’ll continue that in the second term. From the first of January, only in a couple of days’ time, you’ll see PBS prescription medicines go down to $25. Twenty years ago was the last time you saw $25 PBS medications. Twenty years ago, I was working in pharmacy whilst putting myself through university, Silverchair was still a band that we that we heard on our radio. So, it’s really important that we look at the initiatives that we have in place and we can build on those. We’ve seen Urgent Care Clinics open across the country. We’ve now got over 90 of those in regional and rural locations, as well as in our cities. We need to take pressure off our hospitals, and we’re doing that by making sure we’ve got Urgent Care Clinics around the place as well. There are a range of investments that we’re putting in place to help take pressure off Australians. But there’s always more to do in this space, and I think our government’s been very clear about that, that we’ll continue to work to address cost of living as we move into our second term.
JOURNALIST: The analysis suggests bills will go up by about $2,000 a household. Key things are interest rates, rent and energy. What can the government do in its budget to relieve that pressure?
MINISTER: Australians know that there’s an energy transition happening across the world, and we can’t stop halfway through that. Our energy grid, the last time it was renewed, those poles and wires, was in the 90s, and we saw rolling blackouts across the country. A huge proportion of our energy bills are actually poles and wires being renewed. It’s incredibly important that that continues, but that we add more electricity to our grid. We saw in the term of the Abbott-Morrison-Turnbull governments four gigawatts of energy leave our grid and only one gigawatt come on. We’ve got a job now to replace that. I think Australians know, unfortunately, our coal powered power stations are closing down, so we’ve got to replace that. We’ve got to make sure that that’s done in consultation with community. But that’s a job that we’ve already got in front of us. It’s a job that’s been there for more than 30 years, and unfortunately conservative governments failed to take heed of the advice that they were being given by not only power companies, but by AEMO that they had actually had to start doing something. So, we’ve come into power in 2022 with a big job ahead of us to renew that energy grid. It’s not something that the Labor Party decided. It’s something that has happened. As I said, the last time poles and wires were renewed was in the 90s. They actually are required to be renewed, and we want to make sure that we get more power into our grids to assist Australians with their energy.
JOURNALIST: There’s an ACCC analysis that finds that consumers that don’t switch energy companies or shop around can end up paying more than $200 a year. There’s growing calls for the government to step in and try and stop that loyalty tax from being put on consumers. Is the government doing any work in that space to make sure existing consumers are getting competitive prices?
MINISTER: I think it’s incredibly important that we all continue to look at who is offering us a fair deal. We have got energy providers that need to be mindful that in this day and age, it is easier to switch than it ever has been before, and if those companies are not keeping up with providing incentives to keep people, whether that is energy companies, insurance companies, whether it’s banks, all of them have a job to make sure that they’re actually taking into account what their customers are asking for. And I’d say to all of them loyalty is really important, but making sure that you’re providing the best incentives to keep your customers is incredibly important as well. And I’m sure the Assistant Treasurer is looking at those things.
JOURNALIST: NAB and Commonwealth banks are forecasting a rate hike in February, are you hoping that doesn’t come true?
MINISTER: Look, the banks have got their job in forecasting the markets. We’ve got our job, obviously, looking at what the Treasury forecasts are. I think it’s really important that we do our part in trying to keep interest rates low, but at the end of the day, that will be a decision for the independent Reserve Bank of Australia. The Treasurer has been out there speaking pretty broadly about the work that we’re putting in place as a government. We obviously don’t want to see interest rates rise, but that will be a decision for the independent Reserve Bank of Australia.
JOURNALIST: The opposition claims your government’s spending is causing the problem.
MINISTER: If I take the portfolio of emergency management for example, we can’t predict how many natural disasters will impact different parts of the country. This year alone, we’ve had more than 70 declared natural disasters across nearly every state and territory in the country. I don’t think the opposition would be saying we don’t spend money in response and recovery. We’ve been putting money into road maintenance, as I’ve just highlighted, doubling Roads to Recovery, increasing road black spot funding, creating a new $200 million Safer Local Roads and Infrastructure program. We’re putting money in that is absolutely required for by local communities. And if you look at our investments in Veterans Affairs, for example, you’ve had a decade where veterans weren’t having their claims dealt with in a timely manner, where claims were being continually held back. I don’t think it’s good enough to say thank you to our servicemen and women, and then when they move into the civilian workforce or into civilian life, that we say, thanks so much but now we’re going to drag our feet. We’ve had some significant investments into Veterans Affairs, and I think that’s absolutely due and owed to our servicemen and women that have protected this nation.
JOURNALIST: Are you supportive of the Prime Minister’s continued stance against a Commonwealth Royal Commission into Bondi, despite so many groups coming out calling for it, including the Rabbis Association.
MINISTER: We’re two weeks on from Bondi, and I think it’s incredibly important to acknowledge that there are still families going through that burial process. And, you know, we’ve just had Christmas, it would have been incredibly hard to spend Christmas without 15 loved ones sitting around family tables. Our condolences are still with those family and friends. We’ve still got a range of people that are in hospitals in serious and critical conditions. It’s really important that we understand what led to the radicalisation of these two men in particular. But what I want is a speedy response to the Bondi event. And I think it’s really important that we have appointed Dennis Richardson, one of Australia’s most respected public servants, former Secretary of not only Defence, but of the Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade as well, and we’ve given him a short timeline to actually come back to us with some answers on how they were radicalised, what methods were used, and how we can continue to combat antisemitism, as well as the response of our agencies, including ASIO and the AFP and how they worked with the New South Wales Police Force.