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The Coalition's policy on road user charges is a hypocritical sop to the National Party.
It flies in the face of Dr Ilewson's Fightback rhetoric, exposing him as a bully who will
abuse and affront his legitimate critics in the community, but shrinks and fails to get his
way in his own Party Room.
The decision to fund roads through Consolidated Revenue in the first term of a Hewson
Government" is flagrantly at odds with Dr Hewson's Fightback manifesto.
According to Fightback: " The user pays approach to the provision ofpublic infrastructure
is however important in achieving a rational approach to microeconomic reform. A key
part of that reform process is getting the price signals right for transport. Fully funding
road costs out of general revenue does not achieve that objective."
Just one month ago, Dr Hewson expressed it this way: " Down the track, we want to see a
form of road user charge for commercial vehicles, especially heavy transport."
Obviously, " down the track" means sometime after July 1996. This is not only at odds
with Fightback and Dr Hewson's rhetoric, it's also bad policy and Dr Hcwson knows it.
The fact is the fuel excise costs Australian motorists about one third of the average level of
fuel tax in OECD countries. Our petrol prices are already the second lowest of the 24
. DECD countries.
In a press release on September 27, Dr Hewson said a road user charge, based on vehicle
weight and distance travelled would be used to fund roads, " frecing an amount of
consolidated revenue."
1
Clearly, on real ising that this would mean some heavy trucks would pay up to $ 1 7,000 a
year under a Hcwson Government, the Leader of the Opposition has allowed himself to be
talked into a cynical pre-election capitulation deferring the road user charge at the
expense of all taxpayers.
Dr I-ewson claims to have eschewed popularity, preferring to strive for what's
ideologically and economically right for the nation. But he didn't count on the
intransigence of his colleagues in the National Party. The result is a policy under which all
Australian taxpayers will subsidise road usage by commercial vehicles.
Dr Hewson's been rolled and, under his policy, the public will pay the price.
The reality within the coalition was dcscribed correctly by Dr Hcwson a few years ago
when he said the National Party laid claim to policy positions and the Liberal Party got
rolled. Nothing has changed. Mr Fischer has assumed the mantle of the " roller" and Dr
I-cwson has maintained the Liberal average as " rollee".
CANBERRA 29 October, IM9