Australian Local Government Association

Communiqué

Preamble

More than 400 delegates from councils across Australia meeting as the 2007 National Local Roads and Transport Congress call on all political parties in the lead up to the Federal election to commit to election policies that incorporate a broadly-based roads and transport agenda to deliver safe, efficient, effective, and equitable transport services and infrastructure throughout Australia. The Congress resolves that this objective will be best achieved by a partnership with local government to implement the Local Government Roads and Transport Strategy over the next decade.

Formulated at the 2006 Congress and endorsed by the National General Assembly of Local Government in November 2006, the Local Government Roads and Transport Strategy 2006–2016 identifies key outcomes in five core areas:

1. local road funding and management;
2. urban transport;
3. mobility and access for regional Australians;
4. freight management; and
5. Long-term financial sustainability for local government.

Specifically, delegates call on all political parties to commit to election policies that will deliver the following objectives:

1. Permanent funding arrangements for local government to ensure a well-managed, sustainable and safe local road system that provides appropriate access and service for local communities and industry;
2. Transport systems in urban areas that provide a balance between urban amenity, freight efficiency and viable alternatives to the use of private motor vehicles;
3. Equitable access, particularly to essential services, through integrated planning and the provision of appropriate transport services for all regional communities;
4. Efficient movement of freight vehicles through local communities in a way which recognises community concerns for safety and amenity; and
5. The long-term financial sustainability of local road and transport systems.

1. Local road funding and management

Local government commends the Australian Government for extending to 2014, and increasing to $350m per annum Roads to Recovery funding, the allocation of $550m for AusLink Strategic Regional and the decision to extend and increase funding to $60 million per annum for the Blackspots Program. This funding will provide much needed support to assist local government to address the continuing backlog in local roads maintenance and renewal, especially in rural and regional Australia, resulting from the ageing of infrastructure and growing community expectations.

Local government also applauds the commitment by the Opposition to retain the National Network, Roads to Recovery, Blackspots and AusLink Strategic Regional programs and to match the level and duration of program funding as announced by the Australian Government in the 2007 Budget.

The Congress calls for more to be done to ensure that local roads meet the standard expected by the Australian community and the emerging needs of industry. Delegates expressed particular concern at the death and injury toll on all roads, especially on local roads, and call on the Federal and State Governments to step up their road safety campaigns and information promotion to help achieve the target of reducing the level of road fatalities by 40% by 2010 and set in the National Road Safety Strategy.

Local government calls on all political parties to commit to the following proposals:

1. Make Roads to Recovery a permanently funded program;
2. Dedicated funding of timber bridge maintenance and renewal;
3. An active policy to address widespread technical skill shortages by removing disincentives and supporting training in this area; and
4. Funding for asset management systems and the development of national roads data.

2. Urban transport solutions

Delegates reaffirms the need to recognise and commit to develop solutions in partnership with local government to achieve a balance between urban amenity, freight efficiency and viable alternatives to the use of private motor vehicles.

Local government calls on all political parties to commit to the following proposals:

1. An integrated whole of government approach to urban and regional transport, land use planning and service provision;
2. Direct federal involvement in the provision of urban public transport infrastructure;
3. Prioritising funding for outer metropolitan growth areas that are public transport poor; and
4. Working with local government to establish sustainable communities to meet the challenges of urban congestion, greenhouse gas emissions, global warming and the approach of peak oil.

3. Mobility and access for regional Australians

Local government welcomes the Australian Government’s announcement of $22 million to contribute to improved safety for airstrips in remote and isolated areas of Australia. However, more needs to be done, especially to achieve financial sustainability particularly for airports transferred to councils in regional Australia.

Local government calls on all political parties to commit to the following proposals:

1. To establish a program of support that recognises that many regional airports play a vital role in providing mobility and access for communities, especially in times of need including emergencies;
2. Initiatives to achieve safe and equitable access, particularly to essential services, through integrated planning and the provision of appropriate transport services for all rural and regional communities;
3. Expanding the introduction of programs that encourage more physically active transport such “active transport programs” across urban, regional and rural Australia and providing for funding for the associated infrastructure eg bike paths; and
4. Revitalisation of rail in regional Australia (including the establishment of the inland rail route between Melbourne and Brisbane) to contribute to meeting the expected growth in the land transport freight task;

4. Freight management

Delegates welcome the joint ALGA/National Transport Commission information package launched at this Congress for informing local government of road transport reform including innovative SMART Truck technology.

Local government calls on all political parties to commit to the following proposals:

1. When developing road pricing (ie heavy vehicle charging) and road funding strategies requested by the Council of Australian Governments (COAG) that proper recognition be given to community concerns for safety, the environment and amenity as well as achieving efficient movement of freight vehicles by 2010;
2. Take into account the full economic and social costs of grain and other bulk commodity railway lines including cost shifting to council local roads when considering the future of these lines; and
3. That the future development of road pricing and funding properly recognise that about 80% of the road system that is the responsibility of local roads carries more than 25% of the total tonnes kilometres moved by road transport in Australia.

5. Long-term financial sustainability for local government

Delegates recognise that while local roads and transport are core deliverables for local government they cannot be viewed in isolation from the broader issue of local government financial sustainability. Delegates call on all parties to recognise and commit to initiatives to achieve long-term financial sustainability for local government.

Local government calls on all political parties to commit to the following proposals:

1. The provision of a fair share of at least 1% of Commonwealth taxation revenue (excluding GST) to local government as an untied intergovernmental transfer; and
2. Continued separate indexed funding programs for local roads and transport projects.

Intergovermental collaboration

The Congress reaffirms the importance of federal, state and local government collaboration to achieve the objectives of the Local Roads and Transport Strategy as outlined in this Communiqué. Specifically, the delegates call on state governments to fully meet their funding obligations and responsibilities to deliver transport outcomes for Australian communities.