ROAD SAFETY — NARRIKUP
377. Mr P.J. RUNDLE to the Minister for Transport:
I refer to the minister's
announcement last week that the infamous section of Albany Highway through
Narrikup, which has tragically claimed six lives in the past six years, will
have its speed limit reduced. Now that the minister has finally conceded that
this section of road is unsafe, will she instruct Main Roads Western Australia
to develop engineering solutions to improve the safety of this section of the
highway?
Ms R.
SAFFIOTI replied:
It
has already been announced that along with the reduction in speed, Main Roads
is looking at engineering solutions to improve safety. That was part of
the announcement. Members, let us cut to the chase here. That has already been
announced. In eight and a half years, what did the Nationals WA do? They did
nothing. Your leader said the previous government purposely did not spend money
on roads. When we came to government, there was a lot of catch-up—there
were a lot of major projects to fund. But also, we have a regional road safety
program. Under the Nationals, less than $20 million
was spent per annum on roads. The rural high-speed network across the state
covers 14 000 kilometres. We developed a business case—a package—that
we took to the commonwealth. We said that by working together, we could improve
the safety across the entire 14 000 kilometres of the network. By the end of
next year, we will have improved safety along 9 000 kilometres of the network
in just a few years by widening the road
shoulders, installing audible edge lines and creating a better centreline. We
undertook all of that. We have increased the amount of road maintenance to the
highest level on record. We have increased funding to local governments to the
highest amount on record. We are bringing road maintenance back to Main Roads.
Members will remember it was the Liberal–National government that
contracted out these contracts, which lost hundreds of jobs in regional WA. We
are bringing that back in-house. Our record in road safety is unparalleled. We
also talk to communities. In particular, our local members advocate for these
projects. We have announced a reduction in speed. We also announced that we
will investigate and spend money on engineering solutions to improve safety in
that area.