Albanese government puts road-user charge on the backburner
Last August, Treasurer Jim Chalmers emerged from his economic summit championing road-user charging as a key outcome of the talkfest. But it is difficult to find any evidence of progress.
It’s looking increasingly like road-user charging, a key reform touted by the Albanese government during its economic roundtable last August, won’t be the subject of significant progress in the 12 May Budget.
Road-user charging was all the rage at the summit amid an acceptance that in coming years the rise of electric vehicles in Australia will reduce the Commonwealth’s fuel excise take, which it uses to build and maintain roads.
Treasurer Jim Chalmers, who convened the summit to seek ways to improve productivity, told reporters: “Right around the table, people had a view that this is an idea whose time has come and so we will do the work”.
At the meeting, the federal government obtained agreement from state and territory treasurers to work together to design a way to require EV owners to pay a distance-based charge so they can make a fair contribution to road construction and upkeep.
