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House of Assembly - Fifty-Second Parliament, First Session (52-1)
2010-05-06 Daily Xml
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THINKERS IN RESIDENCE

The SPEAKER: Member for Bright, I think you have a question; and congratulations, I am sure we will work very well together.

Ms FOX (Bright) (16:31): Thank you, Madam Speaker.

Members interjecting:

The SPEAKER: Order! We want to hear the member for Bright.

Ms FOX: My question is also to the Premier. Can the Premier tell members about the state's newest Thinker in Residence?

The Hon. M.D. RANN (Ramsay—Premier, Minister for Economic Development, Minister for Social Inclusion, Minister for the Arts, Minister for Sustainability and Climate Change) (16:32): This is our 19thThinker in Residence—and I know it was one of the first schemes that was to be abolished, apparently along with the film festival, the film hub, and so on.

I am pleased to advise the house that one of the world's most respected road safety experts, Professor Fred Wegman—he is from Holland and it is actually pronounced 'Veckmann' but, after having tried several times, he has said that 'Wegman' would do—is South Australia's newest Adelaide Thinker in Residence. The residency is linked directly to two targets in South Australia's Strategic Plan: to reduce road fatalities to fewer than 90 per year by 2010 and to reduce serious road injuries to fewer than 1,000 per year by 2010.

Mr Goldsworthy: You've run out of ideas about road safety.

The Hon. M.D. RANN: We've run out of ideas about road safety, says the member over there. When I arrived in South Australia in the 1970s about 370 people were killed on our roads, and during the term of the last government it went down to a record low—since 1946, from memory—of 99. It has gone up again—

Members interjecting:

The SPEAKER: Order!

The Hon. M.D. RANN: —but we want to make sure that it keeps tracking down. I do not apologise. Members opposite may not support what we did, but I will not apologise for bringing in random drug testing.

Professor Wegman graduated from the University of Technology in Delft in the Netherlands in 1972 with an MSc in Civil Engineering-Traffic Engineering. Professor Wegman served as a traffic engineer in the municipality of Amsterdam from 1974 until 1977, when he joined the Institute for Road Safety Research in the Netherlands as a researcher and research manager and then as research director. He is currently managing director of the centre. He is regarded as one of the top three experts in road safety in the world. His institute's areas of expertise include sustainable safety—

Mr Goldsworthy interjecting:

The SPEAKER: Order, the member for Kavel!

The Hon. M.D. RANN: —road safety costs, high risk behaviour, road safety policy, modes of transport, high risk groups, data and analysis.

Professor Wegman advises the Dutch Minister of Transport, the Dutch parliament and the European Commission on Road Safety. In addition, he has also advised countries such as Belgium, France, Germany, Greece, Ireland, New Zealand, Poland and South Africa on road safety programs and projects. From a strong research base, Professor Wegman advises on how road safety results can be improved and provides insights into how road safety issues need to be managed into the future and in connection with other societal demands. He is also the co-author of several books, hundreds of reports and articles, as well as a regular contributor to conferences.

Professor Wegman has strong connections with Australia. He has been the keynote speaker at conferences and has been part of the development of the Western Australian road safety strategy. His organisation has a memorandum of understanding with the Monash University Accident Research Centre in Melbourne, which involves a number of research projects. Together, they are currently researching innovative intersection design. In late 2008, Professor Wegman hosted an Austroads young professional study tour to Europe, lead by DTEI's Executive Director, Safety and Regulation. He is also known to the Centre for Automotive Safety Research University of Adelaide and uses the centre's research in addressing speed management issues.

Professor Wegman is one of the leading international figures in road safety and is a member of a number of boards and committees. The Netherlands is one of the best performing countries in terms of road safety, with a fatality rate some 40 per cent lower than in South Australia. This is largely due to their sustainable safety approach which aims to make road use safe for everyone, preventing crashes from occurring and reducing crash severity.

Professor Fred Wegman commenced his residency yesterday. I was delighted to meet him and to welcome him to South Australia. He is a person who believes in inspiring the new generation about road safety, as well as improving the safety of older road users. Through his residency, it is expected that Professor Wegman will help promote a culture of safe road use among South Australians; provide policy leadership and road safety in Australia through alignment of state and federal strategies; establish links between state and local government initiatives on road safety; and integrate road safety into the vision of the Greater Adelaide 30-Year Plan and other transport and built environment initiatives. He will also be involved in workshops, as well as a regional forum in Mount Gambier.

We all need to do better on road safety. We need to look at our entire system—the roads, the vehicles, road users and travel speeds. Professor Wegman's vast experience will help us tackle the difficult problem of road safety and outline issues that will characterise road safety in years to come. I am sure that all of you will join me in welcoming Professor Wegman to our state.

The SPEAKER: Thank you, Premier. Before I go on, I am going to be very lenient today and for the next few question times, but if the noise does get too much, I will take some action. Member for Kavel, I think you have been drinking too much red cordial. I think you need to calm down a little and perhaps the deputy leader might like to direct some of his energy to his question rather than across the floor comments.

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