The Rudd Labor Government has today moved to secure the Roads to Recovery program for another five years to 2014 and deliver $1.75 billion in new money to improve the safety and condition of local roads.

This funding will be an increase of $50 million a year (or $250 million over five years) compared with the previous annual allocation under the program.

Roads to Recovery delivers much-needed funding to local councils around Australia so they can make urgent safety repairs and upgrades to local roads.

Today I introduced into the Parliament the AusLink (National Land Transport) Amendment Bill 2008, which, if passed, will deliver new money to help make local roads safer for motorists.

The legislation will:

• secure $1.75 billion funding for the Roads to Recovery program for another five years to 30 June 2014 (funding runs out on 30 June 2009 under existing legislation);


• increase annual Roads to Recovery funding from $300 million to $350 million a year, providing an extra $250 million for local roads over five years; and


• improve the management of the program.

Around Australia, councils are responsible for maintaining more than 657,000 kilometres of local roads, which are used by millions of working Australians every day.

And local roads are critical for efficient and safe freight movements because often the last kilometre from highway to port is a local-government controlled road.

The Rudd Labor Government is working in partnership with local councils to deliver safer roads.

Local councils have so far used Roads to Recovery money to repair and upgrade around 27,000 separate road sites around Australia.

Each council’s individual allocation of this new funding will be determined later in the year by state and territory grants commissions.

The Bill also makes possible the Rudd Government’s funding of rest stops, parking bays, decoupling facilities, electronic monitoring systems and other facilities under the $70 million Heavy Vehicle Safety and Productivity Program.

Further information on Roads to Recovery can be found at http://www.auslink.gov.au/funding/r2r