With the Roads to Recovery Program due to end in 2014, local government has begun to campaign for the Program’s continuation.

In the past, local government has been very successful in securing two extensions to the Program and an increase in funding, which saw annual allocations rise to $350 million per year in 2009. By the time the Program ends in 2014, more than $4.5 billion in additional funding will have been provided for local roads.

As a first step in the campaign, I wrote to all councils urging them to pass resolutions calling on the Federal Government to increase and extend the Roads to Recovery Program and  address the estimated shortfall of investment in local roads. There has already been a good response from councils to that request.

Local government sent a powerful message to government in 2000 which led to the original Roads to Recovery program and we need to do that again. I believe our success in the  past has come from mounting a strong and united campaign that has sent a clear message to the Federal Government about what local government needs to meet the roads access expectations of its communities and industries.

There is no question that local government needs the funding. Research commissioned by ALGA and released at the 2010 National Local Roads and Transport Congress in Bunbury, shows that the annual national shortfall in funding for local roads is about $1.2 billion.

Local Government’s message today is, as it was in 2000, that all councils need support to maintain their road systems. At ALGA, we are concerned at suggestions that road funding should be provided only to certain councils on an application basis or that there should be changes in the simple, yet very effective and efficient, administrative arrangements for the Program. Such proposals could cloud our campaign or be used as an excuse for alternative and more complex administrative arrangements.

The local government campaign to renew the Roads to Recovery Program needs the support of every council as its continuation beyond 2014 is not a certainty in the current  economic environment.

As part of our campaign, local government is emphasising the benefits of the current administrative arrangements and avoiding a web of red tape that characterises some other programs.

The administrative arrangements for Roads to Recovery give councils certainty of funding for five years and allow them to decide what projects they will fund without the need for  prior approval from Canberra. The Roads to Recovery Program is the only infrastructure program funded by the Federal Government that does not require detailed application and approval processes by the Federal Minister.

To be blunt, the Roads to Recovery administration arrangements are not favoured by some parts of the federal bureaucracy because of a perceived lack of control of the project  detail. Yet despite several audits by the National Audit Office and more than 34,000 projects funded, no major issues have been found with the Program, unlike other federal programs. In terms of efficiency and effectiveness in meeting the needs of local communities, it is hard to imagine a better model than Roads to Recovery.

ALGA launched local government’s Roads to Recovery campaign at the 2011 National Local Roads and Transport Congress.

Local government’s advocacy on this vital issue will be strengthened by a show of unity.

By working together, I have no doubt that local government can deliver a convincing argument and achieve an ongoing Roads to Recovery Program that will benefit communities across the country.