75 / 164
75
tion by engaging my state counterparts
to develop and commit to a meaningful
action plan for the National Road Safety
Strategy, across three years from 2018.
We have already held industry roundta-
bles, and I have instigated the first series
of Road Safety COAG meetings.
We are investing heavily in improving
local roads every year, through initiatives
such as our Black Spot, Roads to Recov-
ery, Bridges Renewal, Beef Roads and
Northern Australia Roads programmes.
All up, these initiatives will invest almost
$6 billion in roads and bridges around
the nation – a huge investment in pro-
ductivity and driver safety.
We are also targeting safety improve-
ments for road transport workers, with a
range of practical initiatives being under-
taken by the National Heavy Vehicle Regu-
lator. We are redirecting nearly $4 million a
year in funding from the disbanded RSRT
to the National Heavy Vehicle Regulator to
progress a package of practical safety ini-
tiatives targeting the heavy vehicle sector,
making our roads safer for all drivers.
All of thesemeasures tie inwith our plans
to develop a national freight and supply
chain strategy to improve our freight ca-
pacity and reduce business costs. Devel-
oping and implementing a national strat-
egy is the next wave of reform to boost
productivity and improve safety and effi-
ciency in the vital supply chain sector and
is critical to growing Australia’s produc-
tivity. A national freight strategy is key to
improving living standards for all Australi-
ans—now and in the future.
The inquiry will draw on data from
agencies such as the ABS, the Bureau
of Infrastructure, Transport and Region-
al Economics and the CSIRO, and our
consultation with industry will look at a
number of key issues including:
• The capacity of our key nation-
al ports, airports and intermodal ter-
minals in comparison to international
markets with similar characteristics.
• Trends occurring in the global sup-
ply chain.
• The adequacy of investment plan-
ning to meet forecast growth to keep
Australia’s position with its trading
partners.
• The regulatory and investment bar-
riers to improved efficiency and access
to key national terminals, including road
and rail corridors.
A draft report will be made available
for industry and government for com-
ment by December this year, and the
final report should be provided to the
Government by March 2018.
The Government’s $50 billion infra-
structure investment programme is
the largest investment by any Australi-
an Government in our history. The infra-
structure investment pipeline presents
both challenges and opportunities but
ultimately it is an investment in our fu-
ture, in the infrastructure that our kids
and grandkids will thanks us for.