TRANSCRIPT: Opening of Rural Road Safety Week, Goulburn, 10 October 2018
E&OE
Subjects: Rural Road Safety Week; Yeah Nah Campaign
RUSSELL WHITE:
Thank you so much for coming, my name’s Russell White, I’m the Founding CEO of the Australian Road Safety Foundation and it’s great to be in Goulburn to launch our Rural Roads Safety Week. I think from the Australian Road Safety Foundation standpoint, as the lead community road safety organisation in this Nation, we’re very proud to have, I guess, a long history of promoting road safety in terms of a community awareness and trying to engage community ownership on this critical issue that effects every single Australian. And I think one of the things we’ve discovered with this Rural Road Safety campaign is that it really has engaged community action and localised action for road safety, improving road safety outcomes right across the nation. I guess, like other campaigns that we’ve run, it’s about trying to put that sense of community ownership on the issue of Road Safety.
We’re going to hear from key stakeholders today and the people that we need to support in terms of our Road Safety messaging. But Road Safety on its own is not just a Police issue or a Government issue; it’s something that every single one of us, no matter how we use the road, we’ve got a vital role to play in doing our bit to reduce that road safety trauma and improving Road Safety outcomes right across the Nation. So it does come back to a personal responsibility, it comes back to community ownership and the sense that an individual can make a difference, that what people choose to do, again no matter whether they are cyclists or a pedestrian or a driver or rider of any description, it’s what they choose to do when they're on the roads that makes that vital difference. So we need to have a team road safety approach, if you like, to address this issue. I think from a road- from our own Road Safety Foundation standpoint, we’ve been very pleased to see the level of local action that’s taken up on that and we have been inundated with people that have contacted us to have their own regional road safety events and that's something that the Foundation will continue to build on. In fact, I can announce for next year, we’ll be promoting an entire rural road safety month based on the success we've had from this first inaugural Rural Road Safety campaign. So we're very, very excited about that.
We've got, as I said, a number of key stakeholders that we would like to say a few words today and of course, I'd like to firstly bring to the lectern the Honourable Michael McCormack, Deputy Prime Minister, Minister for Infrastructure, Transport and Regional Development.
MICHAEL MCCORMACK:
Thank you, Russell. Thank you very much Russell, CEO the Australian Road Safety Foundation. He also came up with the idea of fatality free Friday. We'd like to think that every day, if it ends in a y, should be fatality free. Last year, 1225 people died on our roads. We shouldn't call it a road toll, we should call it lives lost because those 1225 people who lost their lives on the roads, each and every one of them had loved ones, family, friends; who are now mourning the fact their loved one is not coming home. And how hard is it for the police, for the first responders to go and knock on the door at 3 am and to tell someone that their loved one is not coming home. And it’s great that John Klepczarek here, the Hume District Commander. He and his colleagues, all too often have that awful, awful job of going and knocking on someone's door and saying your loved one is not coming home. It's worse for country coppers because they do it more so than anyone else. The fact that if you are in a regional area, there are lives lost on our roads is four times higher than those in metropolitan areas. So for our local police friends, they do it all too often, they have to do that 3am death knock. Not a nice thing to do at all.
So I commend the YouTube video, Yeah Nah. To people, to those who are watching, to those who will take on board this rural road safety week; the Yeah Nah campaign cuts through, it sends a powerful message to those people who are behind the wheel. And even indeed to those passengers, that if the driver is doing something wrong, perhaps it’s one of these distraction. Yeah Nah. Should I continue to drive when I'm tired? Yeah, Nah. Should I drive over the limit, over the speed limit because I'm running late? Yeah, Nah. I’ve only had one or two drinks, will I risk it? Yeah, Nah. Will I use my mobile phone because I need to make that important call, I've just heard it ting? Maybe it's a text I need to take, I'm driving, and I’m a competent driver. Yeah, Nah. It’s such a powerful message. I'm only just driving down the road, I’m only going 500 metres, I won’t bother wearing my seatbelt. Yeah, Nah.
It really cuts through and I know Russell is committed to making sure that that toward zero road statistic is met by 2050. We’re all doing what we can to make sure that the road toll, the lives lost is zero. It’d be nice to think that it was in place next year. We've already lost way too many lives on our roads this year. Yes, the lives lost are down compared to this point last year, but, of course, we're coming up to that busy Christmas period, we’re coming up to the holidays season and so many more people will be on our roads, particularly our country roads, particularly our regional roads where people drive longer, the speed limits are higher. The roads perhaps aren’t as good and so we need to make sure that when we are driving on our regional roads that we take every precaution. It’s raining today, thank goodness we need the rain but drive to the conditions. We all need to make sure that every time we get behind the wheel of the car, and indeed in the passenger seat, that we drive to the conditions. We tell the driver if they're not doing the right thing, if they're slightly distracted: make sure you pull over, have that rest break, do the right thing not just for yourselves in the car at that particular point in time, but for other road users. It is so important, it is so significant.
And I’ll also say a message here about bipartisanship. Rural Road Safety Week, and indeed road safety in general is a bipartisan issue. I know and I've spoken with Anthony Albanese, the Shadow Minister for Transport and Infrastructure on many, many occasions and he and I stand together on this. We are united as one in the Parliament, in the State and Territory Governments, to make sure that we can do everything we can to reduce those number of roads, of lives lost, particularly on our country roads where unfortunately, sadly, tragically, four times as likely to die on a regional road as somebody on a metropolitan road. That statistic has to come down, we can all work together to achieving just that. Please, please have a look at that video, that YouTube video, Yeah Nah. It’s powerful.
Thank you Russell.
[Applause]
RUSSELL WHITE:
I’d also like to reflect on Michael’s comments here and he's just listed out exactly those one per cent differences that people can make through that particular campaign. It is a personal choice and it is the very simple things, the things that we all know that we need to do correctly. And having those, making a simple decision’s really is the key to improving the road safety outcome. I'd also like to thank the Deputy Prime Minister for using his ongoing leadership for this issue at a national level. And really trying to get a Federal approach to again, what is really a national issue. So thank you Michael for that leadership.
Michael also mentioned there, it’s the police and the first responders that are actually at the coal face and see firsthand, just the true devastation of a road trauma incident and I’d now like to bring to the lectern the acting Superintendent John Klepczarek, the Hume District Commander for New South Wales police. John.
[Applause]
JOHN KLEPCZAREK:
Thank you very much for the opportunity to speak to the public about this issue that we work very hard to get a result, where we lower our road toll, lower our fatal crashes. But it's a message that we need to continue to deliver to the public because it is one that we seem to have a very short term memory about road safety. We may discuss it one minute in a forum, but then we get into our cars, drive off and we forget all about it. It is a community issue, it isn’t a policing issue, it isn’t up to our politicians, and it’s up to the people who drive cars to take some responsibility for themselves. As police officers, both on duty off duty, we’re often approached by somebody who says: you should have seen on the way here or you should have seen what happened yesterday, there was a person sped right past me or a person cut me off. And I always hear stories about this other driver, but I never hear them say: I was texting and driving the other day, I was speeding or I was distracted by some other means.
So this conversation needs to start with drivers themselves. So before you point your finger to what's happening out on the road, look in the mirror, ask yourself: have you ever sent a txt? Have you ever gone over the speed limit? Let’s start with ourselves first. We've heard a lot of stories about what other drivers are doing, but have you asked yourself: have you sent a txt? Have you sped? Especially when you've got young children in the car because they're watching, they’re idolising your behaviour. So if it’s okay for you, when they get in the car, it's very hard for you to give them a lecture on what they should or shouldn't be doing, when they've seen you do it. So start with yourself first, before you start giving lectures or pointing out other people's faults.
In the Southern Region, we've been committed to this issue for a while and we have an initiative called Operation Chrome, which is targeting rural and regional roads. So we've been out there, not on the main roads where people are driving to and from on Saturday nights. We're going to those back roads where we are only seeing half a dozen cars at a time in an hour or two. But what we're finding, those cars are more likely to speed or we have a drink driver in them because they think those back roads or the roads that they're quite familiar with, they’ll get away with it because they’ve been doing it for years. But Operation Chrome, a few weekends ago which lasted three days, breath tested almost 28,000 people and we had 85 positive results. So while the percentage is quite low, 85 people still thought it was okay to drink and drive. We conducted almost 700 drug, roadside drug tests and we had 55 positive results. So again, a percentage quite low, but 55 people still thought it was okay to take some sort of illegal drug and then go and drive. That's why I'm saying: ask yourself first, are you doing the right thing before you start pointing to somebody else?
Regional and Rural Roads are a problem. The statistics show that that's where our serious crashes are, that's where our fatal are, and that's where we need to address it. We need the mums and dads, grandmas, grandfathers; have chats with people in their family saying: look, I want you to come home safely today, tomorrow. It starts at home, it starts with ourselves. So please - the impact of a serious crash with family, friends, neighbours; nothing is more devastating than going into a local school after a child of that school has been killed in an accident. You can hear a pin drop, the whole school, it could be up to 1000 kids who are devastated by one accident. It has devastating effects and we need to stop it and we need to stop for all our sakes. So I thank again, all the politicians who are behind this, the councils, the road safety officers. There’s so many people involved in this because they recognise that this is a community issue. It isn’t police; you can't point to one organisation. This is everybody here today, everybody at home listening and watching; it's all our responsibility. So help us continue the downward trend of reducing the road toll and also serious crashes because it's only in our benefit.
[Applause]
RUSSELL WHITE:
I’d now like to bring to the lectern the Mayor of the Goulburn Council, Mayor Bob Kirk to say a few words. Bob.
BOB KIRK:
Yes. Thank you Russell. Thank you Inspector for those words and I think it’s, that’s the important thing is to listen to the messages. We’ve had interesting statistical facts presented to us in this campaign. Very interesting to read the manner in which people regard road safety in the regional areas. As it turns out, last night, we councillors were at a community outreach meeting where the issue of car speeding and other traffic infringements occurring on the roads in the neighbourhoods just to the southeast of here was raised. And I actually directed people to this event today, saying that they're going to learn and see and hear more about Regional Road Safety and some of the statistics that we know go with the road safety in regional areas will be surprising too. And that will be highlighted more widely. But I'm happy to be here today, to welcome our visitors to Goulburn for this important messaging, to show our and pledge our support to an ongoing campaign. We have our very active Road Safety Officer Tracy Goldberg here somewhere, there she is who is a great proponent and great in her role for our community. And we will, we are working towards a zero road fatality number. I’ve signed that pledge and I hope that all of you will do the same. I think that the last point on this pledge up here, drive to suit conditions. I mean that has been the common-sense approach to driving anywhere without any of the others necessarily. So I urge everybody in our community and all the communities across the country side to do just that. And so thank you for the opportunity to say welcome. Thank you for your work Russell, thank you for participating here today Mr Deputy Prime Minister, thank you.
[Applause]
RUSSELL WHITE:
And obviously folks, our final speaker today is the Executive Manager of New South Wales CTP for Suncorp please welcome to the lectern Surayez Rahman.
SURAYEZ RAHMAN:
Deputy Prime Minister, thank you Russell, thank you Mayor and thank you. Fact is, look, I’m going to give you short and sweet. This is a really, really great campaign from Russell and the team. Look, I commend you for the work that you're doing; this is, I guess, a really important piece and looking at the stats and I'm not going to re-read, regale them, they are, I guess, astounding. The regional areas are where I guess most of the fatalities or lives lost are, and we need to drive focus on that. So on behalf of Suncorp, I am going to take the pledge and I am going to support and encourage people to take the pledge to drive safer, to drive to the conditions and to take ownership of what they're doing on the road. So Russell, great work, great work Australian Road Safety Foundation and I thank you for all your hard work on that.
[Applause]
RUSSELL WHITE:
Thanks. Of course, we thank Suncorp. Without their support, events like this simply would not be possible and I thank them for their commitment as well as the Foundation’s partners to continue to push that Road Safety message.
As we've heard from every speaker today that rural road safety is a critical part of this nation’s road safety strategy. As Michael mentioned, people are driving longer distances on roads that may not be at the same standard we’re used to in metro areas. Issues like fatigue, help can be a long way away for crashes to occur. So we're really asking every single road user to get, to make those one per cent changes, to choose road safety, to make the right choice and to think about how we can all become better road users. It’s those one per cent differences that if we all did those things, we can improve this nation's road safety outcomes and get to that zero target that we’re all so desperately, desperately looking for. We want to make sure that there is no road trauma in this country and that's a massive target and a massive goal. But it can be done by the more we engage all of our stakeholders and all the partners, but we also engage the community. And that's really the message that road safety is about it’s a matter of making the right choices not a matter of chance. And it’s about the community taking ownership.
Again, I want to thank you all for coming today, we’re happy to take questions and certainly for individual interviews afterwards. But thank you very much for your support. Thank you.
[Applause].
[ENDS]
JOURNALIST NAME:
Two-thirds of road deaths occur on rural roads. Why is that?
RUSSELL WHITE:
Well I think there's a whole range of issues that are very different from a metro environment. People are obviously travelling much longer distances and travelling at higher speeds. There's obviously wildlife and the road conditions can change dramatically but I think also there's that, I guess that level of maybe the belief that somehow the driving isn't as difficult as it would be in the metro area and of course we need to make people aware that those rural road safety risks are different to what they may face in a metro area.
JOURNALIST:
And you were talking about this before, working as an individual to kind of reduce the risk, reduce the death toll on roads. How can a person do that?
RUSSELL WHITE:
Well there are probably some basic things like driving to suit the conditions. If the weather conditions or the level of grip or of the level of visibility alters that we have to adapt to that. We need to increase our following distances; make sure we've got enough space between us and the vehicle in front which is ideally at least three seconds as a minimum. And we need to make sure that we're staying focused on what we're doing. So much of, I guess, the road safety work that we do focuses on the issue of distraction and trying to make sure that when people are on the road that they are focused on what they're doing.
JOURNALIST:
And you’re going to run a month of this, this is the first time you’ve had this campaign. You’re doing a month next year; will that be October as well?
RUSSELL WHITE:
We’ve got to finalise what that might look like, but I think what we've seen is that there's been such a great response from rural Australia about trying to do something in their own region about improving road safety outcomes. So we're really buoyed by that response. So I think it is something that we want to try and cultivate, that greater level of community ownership. So certainly a whole month focusing on rural road safety is going to be a great outcome.
JOURNALIST:
I suppose the Australian public is sort of bombarded with road safety message all the time. What sort of makes this campaign a little bit more different so that people will actually listen to it?
RUSSELL WHITE:
It’s a great question, I think quite often I think when we're looking at a road safety campaign, it's something that I think they tend to, we tend to focus on I guess the key fundamentals which are critical but we tend not to put that ownership or that response back into the individual actions. So, my view is I think for a lot of people, they think of road safety as just a Government or just a police issue, but the key to it is community ownership. It’s the road users ourselves. We make the choice. It's up to us to make sure those choices are the right ones. And if we can give that sense of ownership. I think one of the things we've really discovered in all the work that the foundation's done, is that when you do give communities something to really focus on and to take ownership of, then the community outcomes are fantastic from a road safety standpoint.
JOURNALIST:
And Russell, you talk about changing individual attitudes: how do you go about doing that? Is that purely messaging or is it sort of punitive?
RUSSELL WHITE:
I think that the community change is something that is a long term game and I think it's an endurance test in many ways but I think what you've got to try and do is be consistent with the messaging; you've got to try to give people a sense that they can make a difference and that's really the thing that an individual or individual’s action does make the difference. Nobody goes out with the intent of having a crash; a crash occurs because a series of things all occur at the one time. So trying to change that community ownership and that community belief is really the trick. But it does take time. We've seen it happen in other campaigns and I've been very buoyed by what we've seen from this campaign so far.
JOURNALIST:
You talk about getting towards zero. Is that a realistic target?
RUSSELL WHITE:
We've always got to strive for zero. I think anyone who's ever been affected by road trauma, you’d do anything to reverse that outcome. And again, certainly as we've seen not just for the individual or the families but in places like Goulburn it's the entire community that can be affected by that. And it's such a terrible waste. It's such a terrible loss of somebody's life and their potential and the impact they could have on the whole community. So zero is tough. We know that is a huge goal to have. But we have to do everything we can consistently to make sure we achieve that and campaigns like this are a step towards that direction.
JOURNALIST:
Thanks very much.
MICHAEL MCCORMACK:
Do you want to fire on?
JOURNALIST:
So you’re from Wagga Mr McCormack, you must see these stats and be horrified as a Regional Minister?
MICHAEL MCCORMACK:
Well I commend Russell White, the CEO of the Australian Road Safety Foundation for initiating Rural Road Safety Week and next year it's going to be a month. It should be every single day we, in regional areas, focus on our driving behaviour, focus on our passenger behaviour, because it’s not just up to drivers, it's also up to passengers to tell a driver that they ought to slow down, that they ought to buckle up, that maybe they've got a little bit more alcohol under their system than they actually should have. Russell White is an absolute pioneer. He's also somebody who is passionate about road safety and I commend him for what he's doing.
I come from Wagga Wagga, yes. My electorate was very much a leader in road safety last year. In fact five of the Local Government areas that I represent – Weddin, Lockhart, Temora, Hilltops and one other, Coolamon, I’ll say that again. Five of the Local Government areas I represent, Coolamon Temora, Hilltops, Lockhart and Weddin Shires all were fatality free. They were just five amongst 29 out of 127 Local Government areas across the state which were fatality free. So that's not many when you consider that so many weren’t fatality free.
We need to make sure all the time that we strive towards that zero road toll but it shouldn’t be called a road toll, it should be called lives lost because that's what it is: its lives lost. We know that in regional areas, the statistics show that four times as many people are likely to have a road crash ending in fatality than they are in a metropolitan area. Driver fatigue comes into play. Higher speed limits and the fact that we travel a lot further distances in regional areas. And the roads, sometimes the roads are dirt, sometimes they're not as good as those roads in metropolitan areas where of course the speed limit is usually only 50 or 60 kilometres per hour. There's a particular emphasis and a particular focus on staying safe, protecting oneself on rural roads and that's why I commend Russell White for this initiative. Rural Road Safety Week will be a reminder to all those who travel on our regional roads that they should exercise every bit of care and particularly drive to the conditions.
QUESTION:
How is this message getting out in the lead up to the tail end of the year and Christmas? Yeah, so how important is this message is coming out at the end of the year, everyone’s going to be on the roads for Christmas?
MICHAEL MCCORMACK:
Well during Christmas time, holiday season, so many people take to the roads and they take to regional roads and so many of them aren't used to the conditions in regional areas. So many of them are cooped up in our cities all year and finally they can break free, they can get out to a holiday destination and you know sometimes we're a little bit more relaxed at Christmas time. We drink a lot more at Christmas time and we take things a bit more casually than we would have otherwise during the rest of the year and so the message is quite simple: make sure you drive to the conditions, drive to the road rules. That's why our highway patrol officers are out there. They're out there to make sure that people slow down. They're out there to educate. They don’t just want to pull people up and book them, they will if they're doing the wrong thing but they are there to serve as an education, to make sure the people are obeying the rules and mobile phone use; I commend the New South Wales Government for increasing the demerit points. It's now up to five and indeed during double demerit point’s periods and that's particularly during holiday season, you could basically chew your whole licence up if you get on the mobile phone and use it while you're driving. It's not a good thing to do. In fact, it can be deadly and just a few seconds distraction can mean the end of your life, the passengers in your car and those are other innocent road users who might happen to be going the other way.
JOURNALIST:
Mr McCormack, I think the stats said that people in regional areas just don’t think they’ll get caught. Do you think this is a matter of increasing the police presence or increasing the education around what can happen if you break the rules?
MICHAEL MCCORMACK:
There’s a lot of people who are complacent and they ought not to be complacent. They should look at the YouTube video Yeah Nah, and think of all those messages. Think of all those road safety messages that are so important, so prevalent particularly on country roads. We've got enough police doing the work. We could always do with more of course on the roads and that's why the police up the ante during holiday season. That's why there are so many police either in unmarked cars or indeed in very visible marked cars out on the roads during the Christmas and holiday season. I commend the police officers for doing just that. They give up their Christmases, their time with family to make sure that the road users are doing the right thing and there could be no worse job, no worse job in the world, than being a first responder, being a police officer and having to not only turn up at an accident which has caused the fatality or indeed severe road trauma but then have to go and advise the loved ones that their family member, their close friend is not coming home. That must be the worst job in the world. So when you’re out on the road, I commend people please I implore upon them, just do the right thing. Not just for your own sake, not just for the passengers in the car but for other road users.
JOURNALIST:
Mr McCormack, if I can change [indistinct] slightly, do these surprise you, these stats as a regional person?
MICHAEL MCCORMACK:
Well they disturb me. They worry me and that's why as the federal Transport and Infrastructure Minister and Minister for Regional Development we are doing everything we can as a Government spending $75 billion on better infrastructure and a lot of that is going into roads, roads of strategic importance; country roads; blackspot programs; making sure that we have the right infrastructure in the right areas to get people home sooner and safer. But it's a bipartisan thing as well and I mentioned in my introductory remarks about Anthony Albanese and his commitment to making sure that road safety is paramount. It's not just a Liberal National thing. It's a Parliamentary thing, and it's not just the Federal Parliament either; it's all state and territory Parliaments. We've seen Bob Kirk the mayor of Goulburn turn up here today to also implore upon people to make sure that they take care on country roads.
And it's not just about politicians, it's not just about highway patrol officers, it’s everybody's obligation and duty to take care on the roads, everybody's, each and every person. And like I say not just the driver’s either; it's also kid’s responsibility: if your parent is doing the wrong thing and they're all the mobile phone whilst they're driving, if they're speeding, tell them to get off the phone and tell them to slow down.
JOURNALIST:
A couple more things: petrol prices, are they too high?
MICHAEL MCCORMACK:
Petrol prices in regional areas are in fact in some places 12 cents to 15 cents cheaper than in metropolitan areas. In fact, the petrol price in Sydney is $1.60 today, $1.60 a litre for unleaded petrol and in many country areas, certainly I've noticed a petrol station not far from here it’s about $1.47. So quite often it's the other way around. Regional users who use probably a lot more fuel than would their metropolitan counterparts are actually getting cheaper fuel at the moment. So that's got to be seen as one good thing but petrol prices aren't something that the Government actually regulates.
If people do think that they're getting slugged too much at the bowser, they can use one of the apps. There's many apps which show a variance in petrol prices so they can shop around. And if petrol prices are consistently too high, they could always go on the ACCC website and make sure that if they feel as though they're being ripped off, then report that to the ACCC. We'd always like to see petrol prices come down of course, because you know, so many small businesses, so many farmers in regional areas use a lot of petrol, a lot of fuel, to do their daily business and that's a big component of a small business’s bottom line. I know, I ran a small business. I live in the country areas and so I know that petrol prices is a big cost of living factor for a lot of people who live in the regions. So we're always monitoring as a Government and with the ACCC and we're always making sure that we do what we can to help competition and to make sure that people don't have to pay as much of the bowser as they otherwise would have.
JOURNALIST:
And finally Dr Joe McGirr, would you like to see him become a National before the next election?
MICHAEL MCCORMACK:
Well Dr Joe McGirr has made it quite clear, abundantly clear, that he's going to stay as an Independent and good luck to him. He ran as an Independent and he's going to stay as an Independent so he tells us, so he's a man of his word. So the fact is the Nationals will be running in Wagga Wagga. We’ll be running a very good candidate and I would urge and encourage Wagga Wagga voters to look at that choice, to make sure that they look at that National Party candidate and remember what the National Party has delivered for Wagga Wagga and the wider region, for Lockhart and Tumut shires as well.
I've represented those shires, Lockhart and Tumut and Wagga Wagga, for many years and I'm proud of the delivery and the outcome and the achievements that I've been able to bring a National Party state member in a New South Wales Liberal Nationals Government can deliver great outcomes for the people who live in the electorate of Wagga Wagga. We've got a proven track record when it comes to delivery as far as infrastructure is concerned, as far as schools and hospitals and we'll always continue to do that.
What can an Independent do? Well they can stand outside the tent where the cabinet meeting is taking place and they can throw rocks at it. But they're not in there with the ear of the Ministers, they're not in there making the decisions which matter to country people and they're certainly not in there delivery infrastructure and the sorts of things that country people need, want, expect and deserve.
JOURNALIST:
Did he mind you making a representation to try and get him across to the Nationals?
MICHAEL MCCORMACK:
Well I talk to Joe McGirr all the time. We have a good relationship and that relationship will continue. But Joe has made it abundantly clear that he's going to remain as an Independent. I respect that decision. That's his decision to make. I respect the decision he’s taken.
JOURNALIST:
Thanks very much.
QUESTION:
We’ve had the closure, the announced closure of Coles Logistics team in the next couple of years anyway, it could be a few hundred jobs here. So, I’m just wondering what a broader strategy, in Federal Government, is in terms of like logistics and freight hubs and thinks like that. And what sort of assistance can be maybe given to Goulburn [indistinct].
MICHAEL MCCORMACK:
Well look, as I understand the Coles centre is looking to close, or being proposed to close up to 2022. So, there’s a bit of time to adjust, there’s a bit of time for the community to, perhaps, make preparations in place as to what might happen after that. I know all too well that sometimes when these large employers close, they usually do it at the drop of the hat. I understand that, and it’s a huge impost and it’s a huge impact on the community.
So, at least Coles has put a forward plan in place. And if they carry it out, well they’ve given at least four years lead time to the community to expect that. But the National Party, indeed in Government with the Liberals Federally, have a plan for decentralisation. We’re making sure that we build better country roads, and we build, you know we enhance regional capitals such that we’re looking all the time to seeing how we can boost and build these communities. That’s why I’ve got the Building Better Regions Fund in place, and that’s just opened in the latest round, round three $200 million dollars towards building the sort of infrastructure and building the community capacity to help centres just like Goulburn. I know that Angus Taylor is doing an outstanding job, not just as a local member, but now as a Cabinet Minister, making sure that Goulburn gets its fair share; indeed, more than its fair share. Look, as the Regional Development Minister amongst other things, I’ll be working with Angus to see what we can do for the Hume electorate, for the Goulburn community in particular. I know he’s committed to making sure that job creation is something that is his focus. We’re neighbouring Members of Parliament, we’re both Cabinet Ministers, and we’re committed to making sure that jobs are created in the bush; that’s what we do.
QUESTION:
If I can just one more, quick one, because…
MICHAEL MCCORMACK:
Oh, that’s fine. No drama at all.
QUESTION:
There’s talk about migration to the regions, like when people first come here, sending them to the regions because the cities are full; how would the Federal Government assist that in a place like Goulburn?
MICHAEL MCCORMACK:
Yes. Well, we do it in a targeted and strategic way. I know when Wagga Wagga took on board 55 Yazidi families that were fleeing religious, political persecution indeed, from a war torn country. They were blended into the Wagga Wagga community in such a way that they didn’t take jobs, but they filled jobs that would otherwise not have possibly even been there, or the jobs that couldn’t be filled otherwise. And you know, Goulburn is no different to Wagga Wagga in that regard. They will open and warmly embraced people, particularly those people with skills, and even indeed many who don’t have skills, who want to work, who want to participate in a community; that’s what country communities do. But we’re not going to send migrants so that they live in those places, so that they don’t have to work, so that they could just live off welfare. We want to make sure our migration program is targeted, is specific, and is in such a way that it is strategic. We certainly don’t want to foist migrants who perhaps aren’t going to work, aren’t going to participate in the community, on a country community; we would not do that. So, it’s a sensible policy. We will do it with communities that are willing to embrace them, and we’ll do it in a sensible practical way. It’s a pleasure.