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Infrastructure and Planning
Where are we now? The transport systems in Australia are currently inadequate to meet the needs of a modern and sustainable society. There is a significant backlog of road, rail and public transport projects in urban, regional and rural areas. The total value of economically viable unfunded road projects in Australia is estimated to be more than $10 billion. Although investment in the nation's overall net road stock has increased since 1960 in absolute terms, it has declined as a proportion of GDP from about 22 per cent then to a little over 10 per cent in 2002. The decline has broadly continued over the past decade, indicating rising pressure of demand on road capacity. Net Road Stock in Australia 
Net Road Stock as a Percentage of GDP 
Source: The Allen Consulting Group, 2003, Benefits of Public Investment in the Nation's Infrastructure. Roads provide more than 95 per cent of the transport task for private motoring, carry most of the freight tonnage, and accommodate the great majority of public transport (taxis, buses, trams) - a dominance that is likely to continue, even with a significant shift of freight to rail. In June 2004, the Federal Government released the AusLink White Paper: Building Our National Transport Future. A feature of AusLink is that it consolidates a number of roads and rail linkages of strategic national importance into one single National Network. In terms of roads, the National Network generally represents the National Highway System, some of the roads previously classified as Roads of National Importance, additional strategic links plus a number of metropolitan roads that link to major freight terminals. AusLink National Network 
Enlarge Image Source: www.auslink.gov.au Prior to AusLink, the Federal Government had sole responsibility for funding construction, maintenance and operation of the National Highway System. The Federal Government also jointly funded with the States work on Roads of National Importance. Since the introduction of AusLink, these funding responsibilities are shared between Federal and State Governments. The Federal Government continues to provide funding to the States for road safety improvements through the Black Spot program, as well as providing funding to Local Governments through the Roads to Recovery program and untied grants. State and Territory Governments are generally fully responsible for funding of state highways and main roads. Local Governments are generally fully responsible for funding and managing local roads. Although Federal Government road funding levels have remained flat, fuel excise collected by the Government has generally grown in line with Australia's economic expansion. It is estimated that the Commonwealth will collect more than $13 billion from fuel excise in 2005-06, yet will contribute around $2.1 billion to the road network. Government Funding of Road Related Expenditure 
Source: Commonwealth Budget Papers 1 and 3, 2003; Bureau of Transport & Regional Economics - Public Road Related Expenditure and Revenue in Australia, 1999 - Transport Statistics, 2003 Commonwealth Government Fuel Excise Revenue Versus Commonwealth Government Road Related Expenditure 
Source: Commonwealth Budget Papers Where Needs to be Done? Road Funding Needs to Be Seen as an Investment There is backlog of economic land transport projects that, if tackled, can bring substantial reductions in travel times and congestion costs, vehicle operating costs, crash costs and the immeasurable costs of unnecessary personal trauma. Reductions in these are benefits of land transport investment. Building Capacity Governments should significantly increase road transport upgrade and construction activities to address the nation's infrastructure backlog, and give the infrastructure industry a clear signal that their investment in increasing road building capacity is worthwhile. Projects Need to be Completed on Time The Federal Government should identify and put in place mechanisms to address the impediments to getting construction completed on time. Delays come at a significant cost to the community. While-ever roads in poor condition are not upgraded, needless crashes and transport inefficiencies continue to occur-and potential economic growth goes unrealised. Additionally, for each year a project remains incomplete, the cost of finishing it increases. Better Maintenance The Federal Government needs to identify and report on the asset value of the National Network so that the appropriate level of maintenance spending can be identified and account for depreciation of the asset. Reform of Road Pricing In the longer term, the current system of fuel taxation needs to be reformed and replaced with a road pricing system which reflects the costs of road use-with revenue being directed towards building and maintaining the road asset. Charges for trucks need to reflect the real cost of their road use. Without this, an appropriate balance of usage between road and rail will not come about. Missing Road Links in Major Cities 
Source: Allen Consulting Group for AAA, 2003. |
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