Rural councils face five times the cost of their metropolitan cousins when it comes to road maintenance, according to research by the Grattan Institute.
Preliminary results of the yet-to be published study were presented at ALGA’s National Roads and Infrastructure Conference in Canberra last week.
The scope of the team’s research covers the level, distribution, and design of grant funding to local councils, practices of councils including data collection, road management and staffing, opportunities to improve freight productivity and resilience to extreme weather events.
Natasha Bradshaw, an associate in the Grattan Institute’s Transport and Cities Program, told delegates the cost per person to maintain sealed roads is up to five time higher in regional and remote communities compared to metropolitan areas.
She also said the results showed federal government funding is failing to keep pace with rising construction costs.
The Grattan Institute is expected to release its findings in full later this year.
ALGA president Linda Scott said the research confirmed that over the past 20 years federal Financial Assistance Grants have failed to keep pace with the rising costs of constructing and maintaining roads.
“Soaring construction costs are also eroding the buying power of Roads to Recovery funding, which is not indexed to account for inflation, meaning councils are constrained in the roads they can fix and maintain,” she said.
The Grattan Institute’s preliminary findings also confirm regional, rural and remote councils face additional and sometimes insurmountable difficulties, due to smaller ratepayer bases, larger geographical areas, and less staff.
Linda Scott
“The Grattan Institute’s preliminary findings also confirm regional, rural and remote councils face additional and sometimes insurmountable difficulties, due to smaller ratepayer bases, larger geographical areas, and less staff.”
Councils collectively manage around 75 per cent of Australia’s road network by length, yet get less than four per cent of national tax, Cr Scott said.
She added that recent ALGA analysis showed flood damage to roads in Queensland, Victoria and NSW will cost around $3.8 billion.
“We need urgent support from all levels of Government to fix these roads as soon as possible and help us build them back better,” she said.
ALGA is calling for an increase in FAGS and an annually indexed increase of $800 million per year to Roads to Recovery.
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