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Fed Gov hosts national road safety roundtable

A recent inquiry into the National Road Safety Strategy has revealed local councils are struggling with road safety, according to Infrastructure Minister Michael McCormack.

“Smaller councils often struggle to ensure they have the capability or access to expertise to improve road infrastructure for safer local roads,” Mr. McCormack said.

“There are some success stories, such as the government’s Roads to Recovery program – a proven partnership between local government and the Australian Government to support safety upgrades and crucial maintenance work – but there is more to be done and we will work together to address the challenges.”

Mr. McCormack made the statements at a Road Safety Stakeholder Roundtable in Brisbane in early-December.

“Most Australians travel on local roads and today’s roundtable provided an opportunity to focus supporting local governments to ensure Australians get home sooner and safer,” he said.

“We have listened to the calls from local government for more support, most recently at the Australian Local Government Association’s National Local Roads and Transport Congress in Hahndorf, South Australia last month.”

According to Mr. McCormack, the Bureau of Infrastructure, Transport and Regional Economics has developed a number of dashboards for accessing road safety data, one of which compares local government areas by the number of years they have experienced zero road crash deaths.

Assistant Road Safety Minister Scott Buchholz said the Federal Government is committed to working in partnership with local governments.

“The Governance Review noted local governments are under-engaged in road safety but, given the scale of the road safety challenge, there are obstacles to improving that situation,” Mr. Buchholz said.

“Ongoing and genuine collaboration on road safety between all levels of government will be the key in achieving a step change. Road safety is a shared responsibility and the Office of Road Safety has been established to provide opportunities for different parties to connect and work together.”


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