Kathleen O'Meara (Labour)

I will show the Senator what it means to live on a tertiary road and find it impossible, however badly it is needed, to obtain funding from a local authority to repair it. The fact that using such roads regularly reduces the life of a car adds to the costs incurred by motorists. In that context, the legislation is unwelcome because it is yet another attempt by the Government to con people. The level of investment in non-national roads is down this year and the increase in motor taxation by the Government is another example in a long list of stealth taxes that have been imposed since the dishonest general election we endured last year.