Member for Barker and Shadow Assistant Minister for Infrastructure and Transport, Tony Pasin MP has criticised the first National Road Safety Action Plan, released this week by the Albanese Government, seeking to implement the National Road Safety Strategy 2021-30.
Mr Pasin has been calling for road safety to be made a priority by the Federal Labor Government following a number of national Infrastructure and Transport Minister’s meetings under the newly elected Government failed to even list road safety on the agenda.
Mr Pasin said the need to collect and openly publish data is paramount to informing policy, and guiding infrastructure investment decisions.
“The former Coalition Government committed to establishing a national data sharing agreement with States and Territories,” Mr Pasin said.
“It’s incredibly disappointing that the Labor Government appears to be backing away from that approach.
“Publishing road safety data is critical to improving road safety in this country,” Mr Pasin said.
Mr Pasin together with the nation’s peak motoring body the Australian Automobile Association I have been calling for a coordinated national approach to road safety data collection and reporting.
“1,187 lives were lost on Australian roads in 2022, an increase of 5.1% on the previous year. We need evidenced based road safety policy and we can’t do that without transparency around road safety data,” Mr Pasin said.
“If we are to move towards achieving ‘vision zero’ – that is zero deaths or serious injuries on our road network by 2050 under the National Road Safety Strategy, we need road safety data shared publicly now” Mr Pasin said.
Media Contact: Charlotte Edmunds 8724 7730
