With some 300 delegates attending the inaugural National Rural Roads Congress held recently in Moree, the message was loud and clear, action is required now. Put simply, the bulk of our rural roads, built post 1945 to serve expanding rural industries, are reaching the end of their economic life and desperately need reinvestment.
Calling for a whole of government approach to urgently address this situation, the Congress Communique states that ‘Australia’s rural roads are the primary infrastructure that supports the fabric of life for people in rural and regional Australia. These roads provide survival and growth for the national economy.’
While the rural road system stands perilously close to collapse, this threat to rural industry is working to further widen the gap between cities and regional areas around the nation. At the same time, Australians living in metropolitan areas also depend heavily on the rural road network to deliver goods to them.
President of the Australian Local Government Association (ALGA), Councillor John Ross, said that the funding of regional and rural roads is a broad community responsibility involving all spheres of government and industry. He has called for the development of a national strategic model to ensure the adequate repair and replacement of Australia’s road infrastructure.
The Moree Congress resolved to establish a steering committee, convened by ALGA, to develop a register of strategically important roads requiring repair or replacement. This committee will complete its investigations and report to the ALGA National General Assembly to be staged in Canberra on 3-6 December.
With strong indications that the Federal Government will shortly announce a major funding package to assist rural and regional Australia, relevant Ministers are no doubt currently negotiating hard for their areas to come out on top in the slice up of this cake.
One of the speakers at the Moree Congress, Deputy Prime Minister John Anderson, who holds the transport and regional services portfolio, must convince his cabinet colleagues that a massive injection into rural road funding is a non negotiable item.
