Mr O'CONNOR (1:03 PM) —I draw the attention of the Main Committee once again to the poor state of the Princes Highway between Geelong and Melbourne, the increasing commercial and recreational use of that particular stretch of highway, the increasing risks of accidents to people who travel regularly on that route and the need for the federal and state governments to upgrade its status to a road of national importance and to commence committing funds for a third lane. It is disappointing to note the decreasing road expenditures over the life of the Howard government on roads and the reduced capacity of the federal government to fund stretches of highway which are not only important to the nation in a national economic sense but very important in a safety sense to the many people from Geelong who each day travel along this stretch of road to Melbourne to work.

For example, last year's budget indicated that the national highway expenditure would rise from $680.1 million in 1997-98 to $687 million in 1998-99. In the budget just brought down by the Treasurer, we see that expenditure on the national highway will actually fall to $675.5 million. I draw the Main Committee's attention to the fact that, in Labor's last year of office, national highway expenditure was in the region of $834 million.

I mention national highway road funding in the context of this adjournment debate because the commercial traffic On the Princes Highway is estimated to be in the broad band of 14,800 to 48,800 commercial vehicles per day. That is more than most national highway routes carry in all vehicle categories, yet it is not even rated as a highway of national significance. To give members an idea of the volume of traffic on the Princes Highway between Geelong and Melbourne: it is estimated that the freeway carries 40,000 vehicles per day near the Geelong end of that stretch of highway, increasing as you move to the Westgate Bridge to 132,000 movements per day. These are quite staggering figures when you consider they are increasing by the day, the week and the month. Given the poor state of the highway surface, increasing volumes of traffic of this order have quite profound safety implications for road users.

In 1992, there were two fatal accidents and two deaths on the Princes Highway West, as we call it. That has increased to six fatal accidents and seven deaths in 1996. Over the same period, all casualties have increased from 136 to 164. It is an appalling safety record and, given the state of the road surface, the increasing usage overall, as well significant changes in the patterns of usage with the advent of B-doubles and triples, commuters literally take their life into their own hands when they pull out onto the highway to go to work. Put simply, the Princes Highway between Geelong and Melbourne has become a killer road.

I note with some disappointment the federal government's funding commitment in the budget to roads in the Ballarat and Bendigo regions. Leaving aside the fact that these are marginal Liberal electorates in Victoria, I certainly do not begrudge those communities legitimate funding for roads. But for the life of me, I cannot understand why the federal and Victorian governments have not moved to commit funding to the Princes Highway.

It is a road or a highway of national economic significance. In my electorate, we have proposals on the drawing board to vastly expand Avalon airport as an air freight centre for the export of perishable products to Asia. We also have the east coast armaments complex construction—the modified version—which the government has scaled down, but we hope it will proceed. With these two developments alone, we are going to see a massive increase in heavy vehicular traffic on this particular stretch of highway over the next five years.

In addition to that, there is the increasing popularity of the Great Ocean Road, with the increasing recreational traffic occurring, so that particular stretch of highway is going to become a nightmare of some significance. I urge the federal government to declare this a road of national importance and to move quickly to commit funding to it in the national economic interest and for the safety of commuters.