General News
26 October, 2023
MP calls for greater road funding transparency
GREATER transparency is required to help curtail the rising national death toll on roads, according to Wannon MP Dan Tehan.
GREATER transparency is required to help curtail the rising national death toll on roads, according to Wannon MP Dan Tehan.
Mr Tehan spoke out against bureaucratic red tape in Parliament last week, calling for more transparency from states and territories when it comes to the conditions of roads and how road funding is allocated.
“What we're seeing from states and territories is them hiding data that shows the conditions of roads right across our country,” he said.
“To get access to this data, I was forced to use freedom of information against the Victorian state government to find out the conditions of the roads in Wannon.
“And what that freedom of information request showed was that we need immediate investment in our roads.”
Mr Tehan cited the Australian Automobile Association campaign, Data Saves Lives, which calls on every state and territory government to release vital road data.
The campaign calls on greater transparency with the data states and territories collect such as crash data, road condition data and enforcement data.
The belief behind the campaign is the relevant information could be used to make better assessments of where road funding is needed most, as opposed to road funding being directed to marginal seats to help parties win elections.
Mr Tehan said data-driven investment on roads was a necessity as the road toll continues to climb, and called for bipartisan support.
“I call on every member of the house to get behind this call for state and territory governments to release the data around the conditions on our roads,” he said.
“And not only that, but I also call on the federal government to honour the election commitment that they made.
“They said they would ask all states and territories to release this data before allocating the billions of dollars they give them when it comes to road funding.
“We need more transparency to save lives on our road and I call on everyone to back this campaign.”