Speeches: 2004
The role of local government in developing road infrastructure
Last year, we set out three clear goals for the Association. First and foremost, we wanted to secure the renewal of the $1.2 billion Roads to Recovery program. Secondly, we wanted to ensure that AusLink would be local governmnet-friendly. Specifically, we wanted to ensure local government is specifically included in the AusLink planning and decision-making processes. And thirdly, we wanted to ensure AusLink comes with additional dollars attached.
Address to Australian Roads Summit
Councillor Mike Montgomery
President, Australian Local Government Association
24 February 2004: Sydney
Thank you chairman.
Local roads make up some 680,000 km - or around 85 per cent - of all Australian roads. Together, they represent a $75 billion asset. Local roads may not be at the sexy end of Australia's land transport infrastructure. But they are the nation's everyday roads - the workhorse roads that link every Australian to their local communities, to their shops and schools, their doctor's surgeries and day care centres. They link us all to the arterial roads and highways that connect our nation. In regional areas, local roads link entire communities and are essential lifelines for many Australians. They are an essential part of our national transport network. Today, I'll be looking at the position of the Australian Local Government Association's core transport agendas, including AusLink, Roads to Recovery and asset management.
Last year, we set out three clear goals for the Association. First and foremost, we wanted to secure the renewal of the $1.2 billion Roads to Recovery program.
Secondly, we wanted to ensure that AusLink would be local governmnet-friendly. Specifically, we wanted to ensure local government is specifically included in the AusLink planning and decision-making processes. And thirdly, we wanted to ensure AusLink comes with additional dollars attached.
Now for the progress report.
Roads to Recovery
I'm delighted to say that our number one priority has already been achieved.
On January 22, the Transport Minister, John Anderson, and his Roads Minister Ian Campbell, announced that the Roads to Recovery program would be renewed for a further four years when the current program expires in June next year. That's a further $1.2 billion that will go straight to local government to help address the massive backlog of road maintenace that confronts us.
Roads to Recovery is an outstanding example of an effective Commonwealth/local government partnership. I might say that John Anderson deserves a great deal of credit for recognising the road funding difficulties faced by local government and doing something about it.
We came to him with our problems. We made our case. He listened. He acted. Roads to Recovery is now producing very real and tangible results for Australian communities.
It is replacing dangerous bridges and upgrading intersections. It is repairing roads and improving traffic flows.
It is boosting economic development, creating employment and improving the lives of countless Australians.
It is doing so through 11,000 individual road projects being undertaken by councils across the country, from our inner cities to remote communities.
Roads to Recovery has some important features that are highly valued by local government. The funding is provided directly to local government to assist with the enormous maintenance and rehabilitation backlog faced by councils. Councils are also free to detemine their own Roads to Recovery funding priorities. And the reporting mechanisms are relatively simple and free of unncessary red tape. Importantly, these key features should be retained in the renewed program - dubbed R2R2 - which will commence in July next year.
There are- however - some important changes to the program.
Some $300m a year will be provided to councils. Of this, $200m will be provided under the existing arrangements. The remaining $100m will be available direct to councils to undertake local land transport infrastructure projects of strategic regional importance.
The Transport Minister has said these would particularly include projects that support emerging and expanding industries, such as improving a tourist route through several councils, or upgrading local infrastructure to service developing industries such as timber plantations, which put extra loads on local roads.
Mr Anderson said he and his department will work with ALGA and other stakeholders in the coming months to hammer out the new arrangements for Roads to Recovery. ALGA is now preparing to do just that.
While on the subject of Roads to Recovery, I think it is worthwhile pointing out the key findings of the program review that was released in May last year.
It found that most of the projects undertaken have had multiple benefits. For example, many have had a strong safety emphasis as well as asset rehabilitation and local industry benefits.
In rural areas, the program has resulted in significant additional employment - employment that has helped many towns that have been doing it tough in recent times.
Overall, the review found that Roads to Recovery had gone a good way toward addressing the local roads problem, but many deficiencies remained both in terms of the maintenance of the existing road system and the need to upgrade and in some cases to extend it.
It also found that if Roads to Recovery funding were not renewed, local roads would quickly revert to their previous rate of decline. That would have been a tragic outcome for our communities.
According to the Government's own estimates, the local road maintenance backlog is now some $640m a year. You may ask why local government has racked up such a huge backlog. The answer is simple - local government remains seriously under-funded. It has very limited ability to increase its own revenue sources and has been increasingly burdened with unfunded mandates and cost-shifting practices from state and federal governments. Assistance from the Australian Government is critical if we are to continue to improve the state of local roads.
John Anderson, Ian Campbell and their colleagues are thus to be warmly congratulated for renewing this much needed initiative.
I would also like to thank all those who so strongly supported the campaign to renew the Roads to Recovery program, inlcuding the state local government associations, individual councils, non-governemnt organisations, community groups and - importantly, the very large number of MPs and senators who so clearly understand the importance of this program in their constituencies.
AusLink
Our second priority is AusLink. This is a major undertaking in anyone's book. It has the potential to fundamentally change how transport infrastructure is provided in Australia.
While you will hear a lot about AusLink during the course of this Summit, I'd like to concentrate on some strategic issues that have serious implications for local government.
But first, I'd like to say that we have had some early success. John Anderson last month announced that there would be new dollars available for the regional transport pool. In fact, there will be eight hundred and ten million new dollars available over three years for this pool.
It will fund land transport infrastructure largely in outer metropolitan and regional Australia. Importantly, local government will be able to nomintate projects for possible funding under this regional component of AusLink.
In esence, AusLink is not about road or rail. Rather, it is about moving freight in the most effective way along major routes; that is, optimising the national logistics network.
Now that's a noble objective. But we need to ensure that we have a land transport policy that is not only freight friendly, but people friendly as well. One must not come at the expense of the other.
Accordingly, ALGA representatives on the various AusLink consultative committees have concentrated on reinforcing the local government 'bottom line' positions and outcomes.
Our main concerns have been:
- Local government must be a signatory to any AusLink Inter-Governmental Agreement
- There must be thorough consultation with local government on both the principles and details of AusLink implementation, especially 'regional issues'
- Existing local roads funding blocs must - at the very least - be quarantined, if not expanded
We will know how successful we have been with these representations when we see the AusLink White Paper in May. We know that the Commonwealth has a big task in pulling together the many different views from the Green Paper submissions and consultative committee outcomes.
There were some 550 submissions in total, of which around half came from local government. I think the vigour with which local government expressed its view will have a positive effect on the final outcome. Even so, the Commonwealth clearly intends to frame the AusLink White Paper as a statement of how the Commonwealth will conduct its land transport business and direct its funds.
Once the AusLink White Paper is released, negotiations will start on an Inter-Governmental Agreement to implement AusLink. The key issues for ALGA will be:
- Getting sufficient agreement for sign-off by all governments; otherwise AusLink simply becomes a Commonwealth program only and the very significant benefits of a genuine partnership between the three spheres of government will be lost.
- The status of local government as an equal partner in AusLink.
- Links between AusLink as an infrastructure funding program and the wider National Land Transport Plan.
There are a couple of concerns here.
Firstly, AusLink funds could be spent too narrowly - either geographically or with a freight-only focus. The danger is that environmental, urban, tourism and local community impacts could be ignored. In particular, AusLink seems to largely ignore passenger and urban transport issues, which are a major element of our transport system.
Secondly, AusLink project assessment methods must not place too high a hurdle for local government to gain project approvals. ALGA has gained agreement that smaller projects should require only a broad strategic assessment and a simpler evaluation process than major transport corridor programs.
AusLink could provide many opportunities for local government and we await the release of the White Paper with interest to see just how committed the Commonwealth is to the very legitimate case we have argued. Again, AusLink presents us with a range of challenges and opportunities and how it evolves over the next 12 months will be critical for us all.
Some other issues
Finally, I would like to mention three other national issues which are also important to local government. The first is asset management.
It is no secret that managing and renewing our transport assets is a major challenge for local government. Roads to Recovery has clearly demonstrated that local government can manage its road infrastructure in a wider strategic framework, using sound asset management principles. Asset management programs employed by councils strengthen our case for strong local government involvement in national transport forums and initiatives.
Another future challenge for us all will be the national heavy vehicle reform program being implemented by the National Transport Commission.
There is a lot of concern about performance-based standards for heavy vehicles within local government. While this initiative has still a considerable way to go, it is critical that local government becomes well informed about this initiative and fully assesses its implications.
The NTC will need to clearly demonstrate and publicise the benefits of PBS if the potential gains to the transport sector are to be fully realised.
Another issue that deserves to be firmly on the national agenda is sustainable urban transport.
As I have said, it is likely that the AusLink will focus largely on freight logistics around Australia.
However, as a nation, we also need to find a sustainable urban transport agenda that examines issues such as pollution, congestion, greenhouse gas emissions, economic growth and social amenity.
The need for this is clear. Australia is one of the highest emiters of greenhouse gases in the world on a per capita basis, with transport - mostly road transport - accounting for a significant chunk of these emissions.
The Commonwealth has traditionally seen transport planning and public transport as state responsibilities. But urban transport is part of the entire urban system, inextricably bound with the issue of sustainability - environmental, social and economic.
Urban transport is about networks, not transport modes. And in this context, it is equally about planning and infrastructure - in other words, core business for local government.
We will certainly be encouraging the Australian Government to embrace this agenda and to move forward in partnership with state and local governments.
Summary
In conclusion, I'd like to say that while local government has started the year with some important wins, much more remains to be done.
Everyone with an interest in transport knows that we are facing challenging times, with both threats and opportunities in the year ahead.
But most importantly, we must always remember that it is the needs of our communities that must determine our transport policies and practices.
Thank you.
Mike Montgomery, 24 February 2004
