Serious funding doubts surround Opposition’s school road safety plan

Serious funding doubts surround the Liberal National Party’s school road safety policy, Transport Minister John Mickel said today.

Mr Mickel said funding details were conspicuously missing from today’s release by the Liberal National Party of a $40 million plan to improve set down zones and dangerous roads around schools.

“This policy may never see the light of day because the Liberal National Party has failed to address its most crucial aspect – how are they going to pay for it?

“In today’s economic climate, the first question that must be asked of any policy commitment is how is it going to be funded.

“Is this a ‘subject to funding being identified’ promise? Or is there some existing program that will be cut or curtailed to come up with the necessary funding?

“Does the Liberal National Party plan to cut back on the $7.5 million School Crossing Supervisor Scheme which currently employs more than 1700 supervisors, or will they cut school bus services or the program which is funding seat belts for buses travelling on designated steep and hazardous roads?

“Which of these programs are now ‘de-necessary’, to use one of Mr Springborg’s terms, because today we have seen yet another unfunded promise from the Liberal National Party?”

Mr Mickel said claiming that children’s lives were placed at risk every time they travelled to and from school typified the policy shallowness of the Liberal National Party.

“This week the police commenced their annual Back to School campaign, with police urging motorists to pay particular attention near schools.

“This blitz on unsafe driving around schools means that police officers are out and about targeting speeding, parking and no standing zone offences, school crossings and any other offences detected.

“This message being highlighted and enforced by police is simple - if you are near a school, slow down, take care and park in designated areas.”

Mr Mickel said the location chosen by the Liberal National Party for its policy launch showed once again that it was incapable of doing the hard work in relation to policy development.

“The responsibility for prioritising the upgrade of the Belmont State School set-down area rests with the LNP-controlled Brisbane City Council, not the State Government.

“However, the State Government is more than willing to help the BCC fund the upgrade through our Transport Infrastructure Development Scheme (TIDS), which provides funding to councils for transport projects on a 50-50 basis.

“The State Government, through the Member for Chatsworth Chris Bombolas, has been liaising with the council over this issue and has been encouraging the council to give it a higher priority.

“He even arranged for Main Roads Minister Warren Pitt to inspect the area last year as part of the Chatsworth Community Cabinet meeting and has encouraged the council to submit an application for funding through TIDS.

“This has resulted in the council recently seeking TIDS funds from the State Government for the 2010-11, and Main Roads would be happy to fast-track this funding if the council requests it.

“We have not ‘refused’ any funding, as the Opposition has falsely claimed. Rather, we have actively encouraged the council to apply for the funding and get the upgrade underway,” Mr Mickel said.

Mr Mickel said the Opposition’s policy overall was typically lacking in substance and detail. While the policy was critical of the government’s existing scheme to allocate funding for road projects around schools, it offered no information on how that scheme would be ‘simplified’ or improved.

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