TONY PASIN MP
MEMBER FOR BARKER
SHADOW ASSISTANT MINISTER FOR INFRASTRUCTURE AND TRANSPORT
MEDIA RELEASE
LABOR FAILS ON ROAD SAFETY DATA
The Albanese Labor Government continues to kick the can down the road on data sharing as Australia’s road toll continues to rise.
Shadow Assistant Minister for Infrastructure and Transport Tony Pasin MP, says the latest figures from the department show that deaths on Australian roads for the month of February 2024 were 15 per cent higher than the average February over the previous five years.
“110 Australian’s lost their lives on our roads last month. Monthly figures continue to tell us that we are well off track to achieving National Road Safety Strategy targets,” Mr Pasin said.
Mr Pasin said the need to collect and share data was paramount to measure the effectiveness of road safety initiatives and investment.
“We need a coordinated national approach to road safety data. The former Coalition Government was committed to establishing a national data sharing agreement with States and Territories.
“Despite Labor making an election commitment in 2022 to, “improve the timeliness and quality of road trauma data and look for opportunities to extract better quality road safety data from states and territories in return for funding of road projects,” after almost two years in the job and a with new National Partnership Agreement set to come into effect from July, it seems to be yet another broken promise from Labor,” Mr Pasin said.
Current data collected by States and Territories is not coordinated nationally, and it lacks details in many key areas such as serious injury.
“Every death on our roads is tragic. While each death is so much more than just a number the statistics are vitally important as the data collected should be informing the path forward for policy makers,” Mr Pasin said.
“Labor’s failure to facilitate the timely, consistent, and open reporting of national road safety data after almost two years in government is preventing Australia from quantifying its road safety problem, developing evidence-based responses, or evaluating their effectiveness.”
“Labor is failing Australians on road safety,” Mr Pasin said.
Media Contact: Charlotte Edmunds | Ph: 8724 7730
