ORTENZIA BORRE, HOST: Joining me live now from Canberra is Emergency Management Minister Kristy McBain. Kristy, good morning to you. Now, the Federal Government is proposing to reduce speed limits in rural areas, but the Opposition is calling this approach quite lazy. Even David Littleproud, Nationals Leader, I spoke to him about this and he also mimicked that. So, instead of fixing the roads, they're saying this is just an easy way out for the Federal Government, as this will even delay productivity in already challenging circumstances. So, what's your response to this?

MINISTER KRISTY MCBAIN: Good morning. It's good to be with you. What I think is quite lazy politics is politicians spruiking lines like that. Unfortunately, this is a priority action of a previous road safety plan, a plan that was implemented by the former Deputy Prime Minister, Michael McCormack, a Nationals member himself. So, lazy politics is not understanding where the action plan came from. 

I think each state and territory, each community across the country shares a vision for zero road deaths. You know, there's a shared responsibility between all the levels of government, car manufacturers and communities to make sure our roads are as safe as possible. This action is one of the priority actions out of a previous road safety action plan going back to 2018. So, the Office of Road Safety is undertaking that consultation now. We've extended it out to 10 November because we know how important it is for communities to have their say. Importantly, there's no decision on this at this point in time. There's some consultation taking place so that the Office of Road Safety and each state and territory jurisdiction can get an understanding of what the community is after.

When it comes to road funding, though, it's almost laughable that you've had those quotes from Nationals members, because it took a Labor Government to double Roads to Recovery funding, which means every local council across the country has seen an increase in their roads funding. This is an automatic allocation to councils. It's not a beauty pageant grant fund. It automatically goes out to councils and it's based on population and road length. So, it means that our rural and regional councils will see the largest uplift in that bucket of funding. We’re really serious about working with local councils to make sure our roads are safer. It's one of the reasons we've increased road black spot funding to $150 million a year. And we've created a new program, Safer Local Roads and Infrastructure Program, which deals with bridges, culverts and a range of heavy vehicle routes to make sure that we are funding these things because we know how important they are to the community. So, when it comes to roads funding, they have increased under the Labor Government and we are simply following through with a former priority of the Road Safety Action Plan implemented by a Coalition Government. 

HOST: Safety is paramount, of course, no matter what. But the Trucking Association, they've also come out now in criticism of this, saying blatantly that if you take 20 per cent off the highest speed limit, you're going to increase costs. So, how do you find this happy medium, this balance? What's your response to this and how can drivers now navigate this? 

MCBAIN: So, at the moment, there is no decision here. It's simply, you know, as I said, it was a priority action plan under a road safety plan previously. They had to look at a variety of different points. This was one of them around whether we look at speed limits more broadly. This is simply a consultation process taking place at this point in time. Clearly, there are a range of other things that happen. As I've said, we've rolled out significant funding to see rumble strips across the country, to see guardrails put in place, non-slip tarmac put in place. We'll see what that consultation says. We've extended it out to 10 November, and we're really interested in engaging with communities. Ultimately, speed limits are a decision of state and territory governments. You know, there's a long process to go here. As I said, we're interested in road safety. I think every community member is interested in road safety. Particularly as we've seen, unfortunately, the road death toll go up. 

HOST: Minister, inflation figures. They were released yesterday. Doesn't look like us Aussies are getting a cut anytime soon before Christmas. Now, the rate rose to 3.2 per cent. The Shadow Treasurer, Ted O'Brien, he's blamed your government. What's your response? 

MCBAIN: Oh look,Ted O' Brien likes to blame everyone but himself. I think his $600 billion nuclear plan probably had something to do with the Coalition's result in the last election. But inflation numbers, they're going to bounce around. The Treasurer has been really clear that what we want to see is an overall trend, and that's exactly what we've seen since 2022. Since we came to government, inflation was sitting with a 6 in front of it. It now sits with a 3 in front of it, which is a good sign. Overall, inflation has trended down since we've come to government. Importantly, trimmed mean inflation has been within the RBA's desired bracket now for three quarters in a row. We've worked really hard to make sure that our Federal Budget is in order. There's been two surpluses. We've taken about $166 billion off the national debt, which means, as Australians, we're paying $80 billion less in interest over the coming long term period. We've worked really hard to bank any upward revisions in taxation and make sure that we're finding savings in our own Budget. 

We know cost of living pressure is still there for Australians and we're working really hard to make sure that the policies we're putting in place don't add to that. That's why you've seen those cheaper medicines come into place, that bulk billing incentive for every Australian from 1 November and we've seen a range of medical practices take that up. You know, we're working really hard to make sure that those things which impact people's hip pockets on a daily basis are there. We know that some of those state energy rebates have come off, which has added a little bit to that inflation. So, we'll keep tracking and focusing on the cost of living pressures for Australians and look forward to what the next numbers say in the next quarter. 

HOST: Emergency Management Minister Kristy McBain, thank you.