The Princes Highway is a state government responsibility, but Warren Mundine, who’s angling for Liberal endorsement in the federal seat of Gilmore, says the commonwealth government must chip in to prevent further tragedy on a dangerous stretch of road south of Nowra.
Subscribe now for unlimited access.
$0/
(min cost $0)
or signup to continue reading
He said fixing the road was the only common-sense approach to the crash which killed five people, including an Ulladulla man and four members of the Falkholt family on Boxing Day last year.
“The Princes Highway has been a bit of a disaster for decades, I’ve driven up and down the highway on hundreds, thousands of occasions over the past 30 or so years,” Mr Mundine said.
“If people have been killed on a corner, on a straight, you fix it, you fix things.
“Human lives are a priority.
“When you have continuous loss of life and people injured on a road, because a major accident will affect the survivor for the rest of their life, it’s not rocket science here, you sit down and you fix it.”
Mr Mundine would not confirm or deny reports Prime Minister Scott Morrison has asked him to run for the Liberal Party in Gilmore.
The Sydney-based former ALP president and prominent Indigenous leader told ABC Illawarra he’s weighing up his options and will have an announcement next week.
Despite his apparent interest in the seat, he’s not sure if Indigenous people on the South Coast support him.
Mr Mundine said he was willing to put in the hard yards to win them over.
“I've never done a survey,” Mr Mundine said.
“Until Thursday I didn’t know there was a survey happening.
“Whether people like me or don’t like me, I need to win people over, I need to make people feel comfortable with who I am and what I stand for.”