Regions short-changed on road funding, says Member for Parkes

Federal Member for Parkes Mark Coulton says the Labor government’s Roads to Recovery funding distribution is leaving regional councils behind as they struggle to address the ever-growing road maintenance task.

While the Federal Labor government is increasing the Roads to Recovery funding gradually from $500 million to $1 billion per year by 2027-28, Mr Coulton says the recently announced five-year funding allocation indicates this increase is not being distributed fairly.

“While any increase is welcome news, it’s extremely disappointing to see that funding allocations have not been weighted to support our disadvantaged regional, rural and remote councils,” Mr Coulton said.

“A comparison of funding allocations over the two five-year funding periods shows total funding under the program will increase by 65 per cent for the 2024-2029 program.

“Interestingly, capital city, metropolitan and most coastal regional councils will receive increased funding of 76 per cent, while a majority of rural and regional councils – including every council in the Parkes electorate – will only receive an increase of 46.7 per cent.

“I don’t understand why the lesser increase has been allocated for our councils when it should be the opposite – many of our rural councils have much larger networks of roads to maintain compared to their more prosperous city counterparts.

“This again highlights the Labor government’s disregard for the regions, further exacerbating the disadvantage our councils face when it comes to keeping on top of road maintenance and upgrades.

“Communities throughout the Parkes electorate are crying out for more investment in their local road networks and they don’t deserve to be treated as second class citizens.”

The Roads to Recovery program was established by the former Coalition government to support councils to maintain local roads.

The program is delivered in five-year funding periods, and funding determinations are made by the Minister for Infrastructure, Transport, Regional Development and Local Government, itemising the five-year allocations to each local government area.

“Federal government funding such as the Roads to Recovery program is vital in keeping our nation’s road network safe and productive,” Mr Coulton said.

“Local government managed roads represent 77 per cent of the national road network by length, with around 75 per cent of local councils located in regional, rural and remote areas.

“The 2024 National State of the Assets Report shows $23.1 billion worth of local government roads are in poor condition, $18.7 billion have poor function and $17.0 billion have poor capacity.

“I know councils throughout the Parkes electorate rely on this funding, and I see no reason why they should not receive the same proportional increase as city councils.

“I will continue to advocate for our councils to receive the level of funding they require to provide safe and productive local roads that our communities need to thrive.”

Mr Coulton said residents could nominate a local road in the Parkes electorate that is in desperate need of funding through the National Road Survey launched last month and help send a message to the Labor government to fix our roads.

Residents can submit their views through the survey available atresearch.net/r/2HRHBV9. The survey closes 5pm, August 30.