STATEMENT ON
COMMONWEALTH AID ROADS
ARRANGEMENTS 1969-70 TO 1973-74
The present Commonwealth Aid Roads legislation will
expire on 30 June. Before the end of the current session of the
Commonwealth Parliament we therefore propose to seek legislative
authority for new arrangements to operate for the next five years.
Thxe isingarrangements provided for Commonwealth
Aid Road grants of $ 750 million for the five year period 1964-69.
This was $ 250 million, of 50 per cent, more than was provided for
the five year period before that. In addition, other Commonwealth
financial assistance to the States for roads purposes, such as the
" beef roads" schemes, amounted to $ 36 million during the five
years. The Commonwealth has long acknowledged a financial
obligation to contribute to the development of the Australian
roads system and is nowadays financing more than one-third of the
total amount spent annually on roads throughout Australia.
At the operational level, responsibility for the detailed
planning and carrying out of road works in the States has rested with
the States. Naturally we have become increasingly concerned with
the problem of achieving the best allocation of national resources.
between the building and upkeep of roads and other pressing demands
for developmental works. We want to ensure that the resources
made available for roads are applied in ways which will best serve
the nation's evolving road requirements.
Following the 1964 review of the Commonwealth Aid
Roads arrangements, we set up the Commonwealth Bureau of Roads
to undertake a thorough survey and appraisal of the existing roads
system and of foreseeable roads requirements.
Whilst considering what new arrangements we should
propose for financial assistance to the States for roads during the
next quinquennium we have been greatly assisted by the
information and advice the Bureau has furnished to us. The
Premier' s have already received copies of the Bureau's report.
I feel sure that they too would have found it enlightening and
helpful. It would have been impossible for the Bureau to prepare
such a report without the extensive assistance it received from the
State authorities concerned with roads matters. We appreciate
their contribution and the way they have co-operated with the
Bureau. The Commonwealth Government ac. epts the Bureau's
assessment that, provided it is applied economically, expenditure on
roads at a rate considerably higher than at present could and should
be undertaken during the next five years. 4e recognise the high
returns, in terms of increased productivity and reduced
transportation costs, that can flow from well-directed investment
in this field. WVe are, therefore, prepared to increase very
considerably, under a new set of arrangements, the amount of
Commonwealth financial assistance to the States for roads purposes.
The new arrangements we have in mind aim to bring the distribution
of Commonwealth assistance as between the States more closely
into accord with relative needs for road expenditures, and to direct
this assistance more specifically than in the past to the development
of particular classes of roads that seem to us to have high
importance from a national standpoint.
3.
We propose that Commonwealth assistance should be
provided specifically for
construction and reconstruction of arterial and sub-arterial
roads in urban areas;
construction and reconstruction of non-urban arterial
roads; construction, reconstruction and maintenance oi other
rural roads;
planning and research.
Under the existing arrangements the Commonwealth has
imposed a speciiic requirement that at least 10O% oi* the total Commonwealth
Aid Roads grant be spent on construction and maintenance oñ roads in rural
areas, other than highways, trunk roads and main roads.
Under the arrangements proposed the allocation of money
lor such roads will be the same amount of money as was received in 1968/ 69
plus an escalation of 5T% each year waich will be compounded.
Ta-us although the old formula oi 403% of the total grant
available has been abandoned the actual amounts available for alich roads
will increase in eaca year of the L'ive year period, and such roads will
rceceive an amount of $ P394. 55 million an increase of 9i 65 million on
the amount required to be spent on this class of road during the last
quinquennium. The proposed specific allocations for arterial and
sub-arterial roads in urban areas and for non-urban arterial roads will
be innovations. We consider that a big increase in construction and
reconstruction of arterial and sub-arterial roads in urban areas is needed
to help overcome the acute traf-iic problems of the larger cities. The
central place the non-urban arterial roads must have in the progressive
development of a more efficient highway system spanning the nation fully
warrants the provision of specific assistance for their development. The
allocatici fcr both these classes of arterial roads would, we propose, be
for construction and reconstruction only.
The proposed all ocation for planning and research
reflects our view that considerably more resources should be directed
to these activities and tnat planning and researcn will pay handsome dividends
and permit us to plan and build more efficiently in the future.
We are therefore prepared to make the States a
" 1principal" Commonwealth grant for these purposes of 200 million
during the next five years.
Tiie method of dividing the total sum available between
the States has been adopted in order to approac more closely a pattern
of distribution in accord with relative needs for road expenditure.
We have felt unable to move abruptly from the formula
o. L-distribution which has been in use for the last five years to one
entirely in accord with economically evaluated needs as portrayed by
the Bureau of Roads because doing so would not pay sufficient regard
to the disruption of the existing pattern oi roads expenditure and the
operational and other problems that drastic, rapid, changes could
create f1or various States.
We iiave thereiore decided miat, for the next five years
and as a transitional arrangement, the distribution between tne 3States
should be primarily on the basis oi. giving equal weight to the distribution
under the existing legislation and the distribution indicated by the Bureau's
" scheduling programme". The " scheduling programme" is based upon an
estimate by the Bureau of Roads, made after consultation with the State road
authorities, of tae amount of road work capable oi yielding high economic
returns wiiich can be carried out during the next five years with the
resources likely to be available in that period.
We therefore propose that the sum of 40, 20J million
be distributed between the States on the basis recommended in the
minority report oi the Bureau.
This distribution will produce the following results:
million
New South Wale 3.4
Victoria .2 54. 4
Queensland 2% 31. 6
South Australia 12
Western Australia
Tasmania 54.3D
Totaljj
E~ ven thouL; h this partly reflects the existing distribution we
recognise that it could create difficulties for some States. Because of this
the Commonwealth is prepared to provide special supplements to ensure that
no State receives over the next five years less than 52 per cent more than in
the present quinquennium. These supplements will be " phased out" t by the
end of the period. These special supplementary grants, which would be available
for expenditure on construction and maintenance of any type of road, would
total million and would be distributed in this way: million
South Australia J
Western Australia 42-. 8
Tasmania 2.25.
TogTether the principal and the supplementary grants would
amount to 252, 935 million: an increase of $ 5.32. million, or 67 per cent,
on the grants for the present quinquennium. I will circulate a table showing
the distribution between States for each year of the next quinquennium.
Let me explain in greater detail our proposals for specific
allocations, within the sum of 203 million I mentioned, for urban and nonurban
arterial roads, other rural roads and planniny and research.
Urban arterial and sub-arterial roads are those falling within
Classes 6 and 7 defined by the Bureau of Roads in Appendix V to its report.
Non-urban arterial roads are those in Classes 1 and 2 and other rural roads
those in Classes 3, 4 and 5. These classes of roads are described in a
statement I will circulate.
Wie also propose that 1. 5 per cent of each State's share of the
203 million be specifically allocated for expenditure on planning and
research approved by the Commonwealth.
The differences be tween the total of each State's share of the
2) 3 million and the sum of the allocations for expenditure in that State on
" other rural roads" and planninx and rescarch comprise the specific allocations
for urban and non-urban arterial roads. The relative sizes of these
allocations in each State corresponds with the proportionate relationships
between them in the Bureau's " Scheduliny Programme".
Combining-the fig--ures for all States, the total allocations would
be as follows:-million
Construction, reconstruction
and maintenance of " other
rural" roads 39.. 55
Construction and reconstruction
of non-urban arterial roads 186.76
7.
Construction and reconstruction
of urban arterial and subarterial
roads 69
Planning, and Research 18. 3
Total Principal Grant 1, 230. X).
As I mentioned earlier, urban arterial and sub-arterial roads
would be those falling within Classes 6 and 7 as defined by the Bureau; nonurban
arterial would be those within Classes 1 and 2; and other rural roads
those within Classes 3, 4 and 5. 1 add that, for this purpose, the
delineation between urban and non-urban areas will be mapde by defining as
urban areas those areas of capital cities designated by the Statistician as
Capital City Statistical Divisions and the urban areas of major provincial
cities having populations greater than 403, 03-0 at the last Census. The
Commonwealth will consult with the States re--arding the particular roads
that will be included in each of the main classes.
8.
ych.-tbe. separate and specific allocations or
funds for the three-broad classifications are to be used for the class of
roads specified. The amounts to be provided are very large and we
recognise that, in exceptional circumstances, especially in the case of
construction of urban arterial and sub-arterial roads, a State might
encounter difficulty in using all of its annual allocation because of planning
or other delays. Provio ion will accordingly be made in the new
legislation to meet such problems, if they arise. Under the present
legislation, amounts of Commonwealth funds set aside by the States
during 4 year for expenditure on roads, have to be spent within six months
after the end of that year. We do not intend to insist on this in future,
and propose that on request by the States, the States may accumulate
funds within each class during the term of the new Commonwealth Aid
Roads Act, subject to the Commonwealth being satisfied that evely
effort had been made to spend the money available within six months
of the end of the year for which it was available The funds would
be held in respect of that class by the Commonwealth until required for
expenditure by the State. We are also prepared, in exceptional circumstances,
to allow limited transfers between the funds. In both cases it would
rest with the State concerned to seek the variation.
This brings me to the matching arrangements. Under
the existing legislation, each State has been required, if it was to qualify
for a specified part of the total grant, to spend an equivalent amount
from its own resources in excess of a base figure. For the next five
years, we propose that each State should increase its expenditure on
roads from its own resources at the same rate as the number of motor
vehicles on register in the State. The broad objective would be to ensure
that the State Governments' allocations for roads expenditure from their
own resources increased progressively. The proposed requirement
would not be an unduly onerous one certainly not in relation to the
proposed increase of 67 per cent in the Commonwealth's contribution.
SThe arrangements I have outlined will, we believe,
enable roads development and maintenance to match the increase in
demand for roads and also achieve a significant reduction in backlog of
road works. It is obvious that there will be a significant and nationwide
improvement in standards. They are also designed to ensure the progressive
development of a national roads system along lines best designed to
serve our evolving road needs,
We face a huge and complex task and one that calls
for the closest co-operation between all the road authorities, both
Commonwealth and State. Through co-operation much can be done to
meet the problems in this field an6 develop an efficient roads system of
which all of us, as Australians, can be proud.
We also want to improve co-operation with the States
over the wider field of transportation generally. For this reason we
propose that studies be made in depth on a co-operative basis of all
aspects of transportation problems in Australia.
Let me crystallise the proposals in this way. The
arrangements we are proposing for the next quinquennium are likely
to ensure that the Commonwealth will be providing a substantially
increased share of the finance for expenditure on roads.
The proposed increase in our grants* will be
$ 502.05 million or 67 per cent. An increase of over half a billion
dollars is, we think, a very generous one and one that must considerably
improve the standard of roads in this country during the next five
years.