Roads to Recovery decision a boon for Australia
22 January 2004
Every Australian will benefit from today's announcement that the Roads to Recovery program will be renewed by the Australian Government for a further four years, the President of the Australian Local Government Association, Councillor Mike Montgomery, said today.
"Deputy Prime Minister John Anderson deserves to be strongly congratulated for creating and now renewing this critically important infrastructure program," Cr Montgomery said. "It's a boon for Australia and will help councils continue to address road maintenance problems that have been dogging local government for decades."
"Roads to Recovery is producing very real and tangible results for Australian communities. It is replacing dangerous bridges and upgrading intersections. It is sealing roads and improving traffic flows. It is easing congestion and improving safety.
"It is also boosting economic development, creating employment and improving the lives of countless Australians through 11,000 local government projects from city centres to remote communities.
"ALGA lobbied long and hard for federal assistance to address the massive backlog of road maintenance facing Australia's 700 councils. Local government has a limited ability to raise its own revenue and looked to the Australian Government for help.
"That call was answered in November 2000 with the announcement of Roads to Recovery.
"But the job is far from finished and the decision to renew the program beyond its expiry date of June 2005 is in keeping with the findings of last year's program review and the 'Renew R2R' campaign run by ALGA, state local government associations and councils across the country over the past 12 months.
"The current Roads to Recovery program works well because funding is provided directly to councils, reporting mechanisms keep red tape to a minimum and those working at the coal face - local councils - decide where the money is spent.
"ALGA is delighted that a further $1.2 billion will be committed to local roads over four years. The Government wants one third of this funding - $100m a year - to be committed to projects where councils work together on regional local road initiatives. This is a significant change to the current program and ALGA will need to carefully assess the impact of this proposal.
"New funding announced today ($265m in the first year) for the AusLink regional transport pool is also welcomed by ALGA. Councils will be able to nominate regional road projects for possible funding under these new arrangements. This will increase the potential funding available to local government for road projects above and beyond the Roads to Recovery commitment.
"Roads to Recovery has helped to significantly reduce the rate at which Australia's local road asset - an asset worth $75 billion - is declining.
"There are 680,000 km of local roads comprising nearly 85% of the Australian road network. Local government is also responsible for 29,000 timber bridges, a third of which are more than 50 years old and beyond their useful life. Councils commit around $2.7 billion a year to local road maintenance and renewal.
"Local government looks forward to working with the Australian Government over the coming months to hammer out the details of the new arrangements for Roads to Recovery Mark II," Cr Montgomery said.
'Major down payment on Australia's transport future' - media statement by Acting Prime Minister John Anderson on renewal of Roads to Recovery Program and funding for AusLink regional pool.
Contact:
Cr Mike Montgomery, ALGA President - 0427 542 051
Rohan Greenland, ALGA Public Affairs - 02 6122 9434 / 0412 85 9434
