Lobby seeks fairer share of road taxes

AUSTRALIA’S peak motoring lobby group has called on the federal government to give roads a fairer share of tax revenue or face a looming crisis as congestion blows out and safety deteriorates.

The Australian Automobile Association (AAA) said today that stronger investment and reform of transport infrastructure funding, and better use of road-using taxpayers’ money had to become much higher in the government’s reckoning if it was to avoid a “looming crisis” on our roads.

“The current approach to road funding is clearly broken with crippling congestion in the cities and inadequate and unsafe highways in many rural areas,” AAA chief executive Andrew McKellar said.

“Reform of current approaches to funding for our roads and transport infrastructure is a national priority,” he said.

The call comes on the back of prime minister Tony Abbott’s announcement yesterday that he would chair a cabinet-based committee that would oversee the rollout of major infrastructure projects, including upgrades to the road network.

“The National Infrastructure Committee will ensure Commonwealth-supported infrastructure projects are given the highest level of oversight, coordination and accountability,” Mr Abbott said in a statement announcing the committee.

“The government has made significant infrastructure commitments across Australia including WestConnex in Sydney, the East West Link in Melbourne, the Brisbane Gateway Motorway, the Toowoomba Second Range Crossing, North-South Road corridor in Adelaide, the Gateway and Swan Valley Bypass in Perth, the Midland Highway in Tasmania, completing the duplication of the Pacific Highway and multi billion-dollar upgrades to the Bruce Highway.

“The government has also introduced legislation to make Infrastructure Australia more effective and independent – changes that are necessary to deliver an effective long-term plan for Australia’s infrastructure needs.

“We are working to ensure that the infrastructure of the 21st century that Australia needs is built more quickly,” he said.

The AAA’s demand for a more equitable road spend sounded on the same day it hosts the Infrastructure Solutions for the 21st Century forum in Canberra.

The AAA and Infrastructure Partnerships Australia (IPA) have used the forum to jointly release a discussion paper titled Road Pricing and Transport Infrastructure Funding: Reform Pathways for Australia.

“The report highlights that new approaches to road funding must be examined that provide a better relationship between taxes and expenditure,” Mr McKellar said.

“There is no doubt that Australians who drive a car are not getting a fair return for the taxes they pay with no link between motoring taxes and road funding.”

Mr McKellar said the AAA supported moves to trial direct road pricing, or user-charging, as a means of delivering fairer outcomes as part of a comprehensive plan for reform of road funding.

“Motorists will not accept paying more than they currently do,” he said.

“Road user charging should only be implemented as part of genuine reform and must not be imposed on top of existing taxes and charges such as fuel excise.”

Mr McKellar said infrastructure must be targeted to areas identified with the greatest need, such as safer roads in rural and regional areas, increasing the productivity of freight routes, and cutting congestion.