PASIN CLAIMS VICTORY AS LABOR FORCED TO DUMP SPEED LIMIT REDUCTION PLAN

PASIN CLAIMS VICTORY AS LABOR FORCED TO DUMP SPEED LIMIT REDUCTION PLAN

Federal Member for Barker Tony Pasin MP has declared a victory for regional Australians as the Albanese Labor Government’s plan to slash speed limits on country roads collapses under the weight of public pressure.

Mr Pasin, who has led the public and parliamentary fight against the proposal, said the news that “no further work is being undertaken” on the plan is not an example of government leadership - it
is a forced retreat.

“Make no mistake - this backdown wasn’t voluntary,” Mr Pasin said. “This is a victory earned by regional Australians who refused to be punished for Labor’s policy failures. Labor didn’t walk away because they saw sense; they walked away because we made it impossible for them not to.” Mr Pasin first exposed the proposal in late October, labelling it “lazy, outrageous and economically damaging,” warning that cutting speed limits from 100km/h to as low as 70km/h would crush productivity while doing nothing to improve road safety. He repeated those arguments in Parliament highlighting that road conditions - not speed limits - are the true threat to safety on rural roads.

Mr Pasin also exposed what he described as the “backdoor Net Zero agenda” buried in Labor’s own Regulatory Impact Analysis, showing that emissions reduction modelling formed a material part of the justification for reducing speed limits.

“Labor tried to dress this up as a road safety reform, but their own documents reveal the truth,” Mr Pasin said. “This was about meeting their unrealistic emissions reduction targets on the backs of regional motorists, freight operators and farmers. They just hoped no one would read the fine print.”

Mr Pasin said the turning point came when he publicly pressured the Government to extend its rushed consultation period - a demand Labor was ultimately forced to grant after widespread backlash across regional Australia.

Following that extension, South Australian Labor’s Transport Minister publicly rejected the proposal, isolating the Federal Government and leaving the Prime Minister with nowhere to go. “When their own state Labor governments refused to touch it, the writing was on the wall,” Mr Pasin said. “Regional Australia stood up. State Labor backed down. And now the Federal Government has been forced to abandon the plan altogether.”

Mr Pasin said while today’s outcome is a win for regional Australia, it must also be a wake-up call “This proposal was being considered to distract from the state of our road network avoid the costs associated with repairing them,” Mr Pasin said. “South Australia alone is facing a $2 billion road maintenance backlog.

That is where the Prime Minister’s focus should be, not on slowing down regional Australians to meet ideological targets.” Mr Pasin urged residents across Barker to stay alert, warning that “once Labor floats a policy like this, they rarely give up for good.” “Regional Australians have won this round,” Mr Pasin said. “But I will keep fighting, because if Labor tries to resurrect this plan, or anything like it, they will find me and my community standing in their way."