❓ The Minister for Road Safety provides an update on road safety initiatives, including investments in technology, increased enforcement, and infrastructure upgrades. He also refutes claims of budget cuts, highlighting increased funding for road safety.
AnsweredQoN 434Legislative Assembly
QuestionView source ↗
Road safety—Initiatives
434. Mr David Scaife to
the Minister for Road Safety:
I refer to the Cook
Labor government's commitment to keeping Western Australia's growing community
safe on our roads.
(1) Can the minister update the house regarding
the government's investment in cutting edge road safety technology?
(2) Can the minister advise of any significant
milestones that are approaching?
434. Mr David Scaife to
the Minister for Road Safety:
I refer to the Cook
Labor government's commitment to keeping Western Australia's growing community
safe on our roads.
(1) Can the minister update the house regarding
the government's investment in cutting edge road safety technology?
(2) Can the minister advise of any significant
milestones that are approaching?
AnswerView source ↗
(1)–(2) I can rise on this serious issue
and I thank member for Cockburn for the question. I want to make it clear that
every life lost on Western Australian roads is a tragedy. No-one will argue
with that. Our government is making targeted, significant investments to make
our roads safer. We are funding new breath and drug testing buses in the
regions. We are increasing high-visibility police enforcement. We have new
signalised pedestrian crossings making it safer for kids to get to and from
school, and we have invested about $1 billion to upgrade thousands of
kilometres of regional roads. Importantly, our government has rolled out new
state-of-the-art safety cameras. I would like to wholeheartedly agree with the
member for Geraldton, who is not here, unfortunately, who has said that these
cameras are being released by the Cook Labor government to "help deter
dangerous driving, which is an important step in reducing the road toll." Thank
you, member for Geraldton, for that vote of confidence.
The cameras have been operating
under a caution notice period for the past seven months, and in that time we
have captured well over 200,000 Western Australian drivers who are either not
wearing their seatbelts properly or not wearing them at all, or had mobile
phone devices in their hand or on their lap. Of those, more than 20,300 people
were not wearing a seatbelt, more than 66,000 were not wearing a seatbelt correctly, over 76,000 had a mobile phone in their hand, and
about 50,000 were resting that phone somewhere on their body. We have been
issuing cautions letting people know the changes are coming and that fines will
start to arrive; the change is coming. From 8 October, we are going live with
infringement notices. Instead of a caution, offenders will start receiving
fines and demerits. I urge everyone to do the right thing.
Seatbelts save lives, but they
must be worn, and worn correctly, to work. Ninety-nine per cent of people are
doing the right thing, but the fact is that 15% of motorist fatalities in 2024
were from people not wearing a seatbelt. That is pretty incredible. The fact
that we can roll out all these initiatives, pay for safety cameras, do things
with police and new initiatives, and do the things we are doing on the road
safety front is because we are increasing our spend in Road Trauma Trust Account
funding. In 2024–25, we spent a little over $135 million on road
safety, which, compared with the five-year average for the previous five years,
was an increase of 33%.
In this budget, the funding
announced for 2025–26, approved in the budget, is $158.7 million—a
record amount to be spent from the Road Trauma Trust Account fund on road
funding. It is a 17% increase on the previous year. So imagine my surprise when
I saw a press release issued by Nationals WA member Hon Julie Freeman.
Mr Lachlan Hunter: A
good member.
Mr Reece Whitby: A good
member, is she? She is not good at her numbers. She said in a press statement
issued to the media, misleading the people of Western Australia, that:
In the 2025–26 State Budget,
the Cook Government cut road safety funding to just a third of what was spent
in the previous year …
We have gone up 17%
on the previous year and she is saying it is back to a third. I wondered what
on earth was going on. How could she get this so wrong? I tracked it down, members,
to the recent upper house estimates hearings, when she asked not in the road
safety division, but in the transport division, why funding for roads had
changed between budget years. The reason was pretty simple.
Mr Lachlan Hunter interjected.
The Speaker: Member for Central Wheatbelt!
Mr Reece Whitby: The reason was pretty simple, folks,
because when you fund a road and build it, you do not fund it again. When you build
a road, you fund it. When you come to the next year, you do not immediately
fund it again. It is built; it is done. It is a pretty simple concept, but it did
not seem to get through. Hon Samantha Rowe, as Deputy Chair, was polite. It was
explained to Hon Julie Freeman by a member of the Department of Transport and
Major Infrastructure that you do not pay for roads or anything else more than
once. You do not pay year after year. To reinforce the explanation, Hon Samantha
Rowe said:
… some of those large road
projects which have now come to an end, so that has an effect on that figure.
It is pretty simple.
Hon Julie Freeman replied, "Right. Thank you for that explanation."
She got the explanation. What did she do? Did she accept it? Did she understand
it or did she deliberately mislead the people of Western Australia with this
statement that went out across the state, claiming that we had slashed road
safety funding down to a third when clearly we had not? Absolutely, this is an
example of the dishonesty and double standards of those opposite. They just
take something from the air and turn it into a big lie and are not afraid of
putting it out there. It is absolutely misleading. Hon Julie Freeman should
stand up in the other place and publicly apologise for misleading the people of
Western Australia over this important issue.
Mr Shane Love interjected.
The Speaker: Members!
Mr Shane Love interjected.
The Speaker: Leader of the Nationals WA!
Mr Reece Whitby: It is called lying.
Mr Shane Love interjected.
The Speaker: Leader of the National Party!
Mr Reece Whitby: I am not accepting an interjection
right now, Speaker.
Mr Shane Love interjected.
The Speaker: Leader of the National Party!
Mr Reece Whitby: It is not surprising—
Mr Shane Love interjected.
The Speaker: Leader of the National Party, please do
not interject.
Mr Reece Whitby: You have been caught in a lie; that
is why you are upset. It is not surprising that we get these double standards
and misinformation from members opposite.
Mr Lachlan Hunter interjected.
The Speaker: Member for Central Wheatbelt!
Mr Reece Whitby: These are the same members who
support Senator Price turning up to a Liberal fundraiser tonight, who will not
have the—
Point of order
Mr Lachlan Hunter: The minister knows that the last
part of his answer had nothing to do with the question on road safety.
The Speaker: That is not a point of order and I shall
not be upholding it. Minister, if you could conclude your comments.
Questions without notice
resumed
Mr Reece Whitby: Thank you, Speaker; I will conclude.
This is another example of their dishonesty and double standards. The house
would like to know how many of you are going to this fundraiser tonight.
Several members
interjected.
Mr Reece Whitby: Come on, how many are going? Are you
going, Leader of the Opposition?
The Speaker: Thank you, minister.
Mr Reece Whitby: Any commentary on that? Come on, who
is going tonight? Who is supporting this senator who has been sacked federally,
who is dividing our CALD communities? Who is going?
Mr Lachlan Hunter interjected.
The Speaker: Members!
Mr Reece Whitby: Who is going?
Mr Lachlan Hunter interjected.
The Speaker: Member for Central Wheatbelt!
Mr Lachlan Hunter interjected.
The Speaker: Member for Central Wheatbelt!
Mr Lachlan Hunter interjected.
The Speaker: Minister, thank you. Member for Central
Wheatbelt, you do not shout across the chamber. Minister, you do not invite
those sorts of interjections, either. Minister for Police—no, stay
seated—your concluding comments were not helpful in not seeking
interjections. The member for Carine with the final question.
and I thank member for Cockburn for the question. I want to make it clear that
every life lost on Western Australian roads is a tragedy. No-one will argue
with that. Our government is making targeted, significant investments to make
our roads safer. We are funding new breath and drug testing buses in the
regions. We are increasing high-visibility police enforcement. We have new
signalised pedestrian crossings making it safer for kids to get to and from
school, and we have invested about $1 billion to upgrade thousands of
kilometres of regional roads. Importantly, our government has rolled out new
state-of-the-art safety cameras. I would like to wholeheartedly agree with the
member for Geraldton, who is not here, unfortunately, who has said that these
cameras are being released by the Cook Labor government to "help deter
dangerous driving, which is an important step in reducing the road toll." Thank
you, member for Geraldton, for that vote of confidence.
The cameras have been operating
under a caution notice period for the past seven months, and in that time we
have captured well over 200,000 Western Australian drivers who are either not
wearing their seatbelts properly or not wearing them at all, or had mobile
phone devices in their hand or on their lap. Of those, more than 20,300 people
were not wearing a seatbelt, more than 66,000 were not wearing a seatbelt correctly, over 76,000 had a mobile phone in their hand, and
about 50,000 were resting that phone somewhere on their body. We have been
issuing cautions letting people know the changes are coming and that fines will
start to arrive; the change is coming. From 8 October, we are going live with
infringement notices. Instead of a caution, offenders will start receiving
fines and demerits. I urge everyone to do the right thing.
Seatbelts save lives, but they
must be worn, and worn correctly, to work. Ninety-nine per cent of people are
doing the right thing, but the fact is that 15% of motorist fatalities in 2024
were from people not wearing a seatbelt. That is pretty incredible. The fact
that we can roll out all these initiatives, pay for safety cameras, do things
with police and new initiatives, and do the things we are doing on the road
safety front is because we are increasing our spend in Road Trauma Trust Account
funding. In 2024–25, we spent a little over $135 million on road
safety, which, compared with the five-year average for the previous five years,
was an increase of 33%.
In this budget, the funding
announced for 2025–26, approved in the budget, is $158.7 million—a
record amount to be spent from the Road Trauma Trust Account fund on road
funding. It is a 17% increase on the previous year. So imagine my surprise when
I saw a press release issued by Nationals WA member Hon Julie Freeman.
Mr Lachlan Hunter: A
good member.
Mr Reece Whitby: A good
member, is she? She is not good at her numbers. She said in a press statement
issued to the media, misleading the people of Western Australia, that:
In the 2025–26 State Budget,
the Cook Government cut road safety funding to just a third of what was spent
in the previous year …
We have gone up 17%
on the previous year and she is saying it is back to a third. I wondered what
on earth was going on. How could she get this so wrong? I tracked it down, members,
to the recent upper house estimates hearings, when she asked not in the road
safety division, but in the transport division, why funding for roads had
changed between budget years. The reason was pretty simple.
Mr Lachlan Hunter interjected.
The Speaker: Member for Central Wheatbelt!
Mr Reece Whitby: The reason was pretty simple, folks,
because when you fund a road and build it, you do not fund it again. When you build
a road, you fund it. When you come to the next year, you do not immediately
fund it again. It is built; it is done. It is a pretty simple concept, but it did
not seem to get through. Hon Samantha Rowe, as Deputy Chair, was polite. It was
explained to Hon Julie Freeman by a member of the Department of Transport and
Major Infrastructure that you do not pay for roads or anything else more than
once. You do not pay year after year. To reinforce the explanation, Hon Samantha
Rowe said:
… some of those large road
projects which have now come to an end, so that has an effect on that figure.
It is pretty simple.
Hon Julie Freeman replied, "Right. Thank you for that explanation."
She got the explanation. What did she do? Did she accept it? Did she understand
it or did she deliberately mislead the people of Western Australia with this
statement that went out across the state, claiming that we had slashed road
safety funding down to a third when clearly we had not? Absolutely, this is an
example of the dishonesty and double standards of those opposite. They just
take something from the air and turn it into a big lie and are not afraid of
putting it out there. It is absolutely misleading. Hon Julie Freeman should
stand up in the other place and publicly apologise for misleading the people of
Western Australia over this important issue.
Mr Shane Love interjected.
The Speaker: Members!
Mr Shane Love interjected.
The Speaker: Leader of the Nationals WA!
Mr Reece Whitby: It is called lying.
Mr Shane Love interjected.
The Speaker: Leader of the National Party!
Mr Reece Whitby: I am not accepting an interjection
right now, Speaker.
Mr Shane Love interjected.
The Speaker: Leader of the National Party!
Mr Reece Whitby: It is not surprising—
Mr Shane Love interjected.
The Speaker: Leader of the National Party, please do
not interject.
Mr Reece Whitby: You have been caught in a lie; that
is why you are upset. It is not surprising that we get these double standards
and misinformation from members opposite.
Mr Lachlan Hunter interjected.
The Speaker: Member for Central Wheatbelt!
Mr Reece Whitby: These are the same members who
support Senator Price turning up to a Liberal fundraiser tonight, who will not
have the—
Point of order
Mr Lachlan Hunter: The minister knows that the last
part of his answer had nothing to do with the question on road safety.
The Speaker: That is not a point of order and I shall
not be upholding it. Minister, if you could conclude your comments.
Questions without notice
resumed
Mr Reece Whitby: Thank you, Speaker; I will conclude.
This is another example of their dishonesty and double standards. The house
would like to know how many of you are going to this fundraiser tonight.
Several members
interjected.
Mr Reece Whitby: Come on, how many are going? Are you
going, Leader of the Opposition?
The Speaker: Thank you, minister.
Mr Reece Whitby: Any commentary on that? Come on, who
is going tonight? Who is supporting this senator who has been sacked federally,
who is dividing our CALD communities? Who is going?
Mr Lachlan Hunter interjected.
The Speaker: Members!
Mr Reece Whitby: Who is going?
Mr Lachlan Hunter interjected.
The Speaker: Member for Central Wheatbelt!
Mr Lachlan Hunter interjected.
The Speaker: Member for Central Wheatbelt!
Mr Lachlan Hunter interjected.
The Speaker: Minister, thank you. Member for Central
Wheatbelt, you do not shout across the chamber. Minister, you do not invite
those sorts of interjections, either. Minister for Police—no, stay
seated—your concluding comments were not helpful in not seeking
interjections. The member for Carine with the final question.
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