In recent decades, the changing role of the private sector has transformed transport. Businesses today supply road, public transport, maritime and aviation services that were monopoly public sector operations within the lifetime of many Australians.
Governments' role has changed from directly providing transport infrastructure and services to facilitating competition and private investment. They manage these outcomes through a transport policy framework that sets social, environmental, governance and financial parameters for when the private sector supplies infrastructure and services.
The framework also ensures strong protections for users by setting safety standards and subsidising access.
Hypothecation When governments 'hypothecate' a tax or charge, they reserve the revenue to be spent on a specific program or service. For example, the Government of Western Australia hypothecates revenue from motor vehicle licence fees to a Main Roads Trust Fund that is spent on roads. |
However, when it comes to funding transport infrastructure and managing travel demand so people and goods can move efficiently across a multimodal network, Australia's transport policy framework is missing critical elements.
Once it is complete, what people pay for their personal travel and for the goods and services they need will better reflect the true costs of mobility.
These will include the cost of building an asset and of maintaining and operating it so it delivers services throughout its life.
Their payments will also factor in the impact an individual's travel choice has on other people and communities, such as adding to peak congestion, harmful noise and air quality impacts, or increasing the risk of people dying or being injured in vehicle crashes.
As well as setting a reasonable price for different mobility choices, a reformed transport network pricing system will make the cost of these choices clear to users so they can make informed travel choices.
Pricing reform elements need to be in place under a consistent national framework that covers all jurisdictions and modes. A consistent framework will provide certainty and transparency for users while providing some flexibility for states and territories to use pricing to optimise the operation of their network.
The sooner this happens, the more financially sustainable Australia's transport sector will become in the face of coming disruptions.