Mayor Troy Pickard
ALGA President
Prime Minister Malcolm Turnbull has said that we are living in a time of great opportunities and challenges economically and has set a clear focus for his government on strengthening our economy to ensure our future prosperity. This will require discipline, flexibility and a collaborative relationship between all spheres of Australian government.
As the level of government that is closest to the community, Local Government is uniquely positioned to facilitate the Government’s agenda to boost national productivity and build greater social equity by delivering national policies at the local level. A constructive partnership between Federal and Local Government can capitalise on these opportunities by prioritising investment in infrastructure and job-creation initiatives that will support the sustainability of local communities, particularly in rural and regional areas.
One of the ways that Local Government can play a lead role as a partner in enhancing Australia’s economy and lifting productivity is through improving the performance of our national road network by enabling greater and safer freight movements through higher productivity vehicles.
The efficient movement of freight is essential in a productive economy and local roads provide a key economic service in this regard. Local Government manages a road network that is more than 640,000 kilometers in length and valued at more than $165 billion. It is interesting to note that 30 percent of medium-vehicle kilometers and 16 percent of heavy-vehicle kilometers are driven on local roads.
Local Government recognises that higher productivity gains can be achieved by increasing the efficiency of freight movement, but the sector is also acutely aware of the limitations of local roads in providing the freight services our economy needs and addressing this challenge is beyond Local Government resources.
Local Government is prepared to play its part in achieving efficiency in freight movement on local roads, but intergovernmental partnership and support are needed if we are to unlock local and regional productivity improvements. Without an integrated plan that connects the national and state network to the local network, opportunities for strategic infrastructure investment and improved productivity will be lost.
