Australia’s peak motoring body today released its latest Transport Affordability Index which shows the average […]
Australia’s peak motoring body today released its latest Transport Affordability Index which shows the average Australian household now paying $17,147 a year for land transport, up from $16,894 in the previous quarter.
The Australian Automobile Association’s (AAA) Transport Affordability Index shows that nationally, transport costs also increased as a percentage of income over the quarter to December, from 13.4 per cent to 13.6 per cent. By comparison according to the ABS[i], household expenses relating to electricity and gas consume one to three per cent of household budgets.
AAA Chief Executive Michael Bradley said: “The AAA’s latest Transport Affordability Index shows transport cost pressures continue to grow and should act as a reminder to all governments that policy must be designed and reviewed to minimise pressure on household budgets.”
Summary of findings – Quarter 4, 2016:
Commissioned by the AAA and developed by SGS Economics & Planning, the Transport Affordability Index tracks transport affordability by analysing tax, tollways, public transport, insurance, maintenance, fuel and finance costs as a proportion of average household income across states and territories.
The Index is based on the incomes and transport costs of a hypothetical household in each capital city that consists of a couple with children and two cars, the average household identified by the 2011 Census. The Index will be updated regularly by the AAA, and can be downloaded here.
Motorists have been shortchanged by around $3 billion in the past year because the Federal Government failed to deliver its own target for reinvestment of fuel excise in Australia’s land transport infrastructure.
read moreAustralia’s peak motoring body says a lack of publicly available information about Australian roads and the crashes occurring on them makes it impossible to accurately explain such dramatic increases, or the effectiveness of the measures being funded to prevent them.
read moreThe latest AAA Transport Affordability Index shows that Australia’s transport cost inflation eased in the June quarter, falling below the consumer price index rate.
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