A review of the roles being played by governments in road provision in Australia

Abstract

It is not uncommon in Australia for the delivery of critical transport infrastructure to be affected by political standoffs between federal, state and local governments. With the aim to clarify what roles each level of government should play in delivering highway infrastructure, this paper examines each government's transport policy to establish how the overall transport system is delivered and managed in Australia, through a case study of the South East Queensland region. An analysis of the current situations shows in particular, a misalignment between what the states plan and what the federal government funds. Two proposed concepts to investigate ways of overcoming this include realigning each government's responsibilities for more effective outcomes, or introducing a user-pays system of road funding in Australia.