The Federal Opposition has announced a significant investment in strategies to improve road safety in Australia, ahead of the election on May 3, 2025.
In an announcement made just prior to the Easter long weekend, the Coalition committed to a $250 million increase to the Roads to Recovery program should it take government.
This would lift funding for the program – intended to help local governments upgrade and maintain roads – to $1 billion per year commencing 2025-26.
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Additionally, the Opposition announced it would spend $10 million to establish a new Driver Reviver Site Upgrades program.
This would see a Coalition government support volunteer and community organisations to improve the existing 180-plus rest stops, as well as establish new ones.
The Opposition has also pledged $6 million over three years to expand the scope of the Australian Transport Safety Bureau (ATSB) to oversee a national no-fault crash investigation pilot program.
These investigations would look at the root causes of crashes, such as road design and policy issues. Police investigations of collisions, in contrast, are intended to identify which party is at fault.
The ATSB currently conducts investigations only into air, rail and maritime incidents.
These announcements are in addition to a previously announced $1 billion commitment to reinstate the Local Roads and Community Infrastructure program, plus a pledge to reinstate the 80:20 federal funding model for “nationally significant road projects in regional and remote areas”.
The Opposition has also pledged more than $14 billion in various road projects, including a $7.2 billion upgrade of the Bruce Highway in Queensland.
“In 2021, the Coalition Government led the development of a National Road Safety Strategy in partnership with all states and territories, to reduce road trauma and save lives,” said Opposition leader Peter Dutton.
“Yet, in recent years, road fatalities have steadily increased. Australia is now further from achieving the Strategy’s goals than ever before.
“Our roads are deteriorating, and the consequences are devastating.”
The Opposition has also slammed the Labor government for “cancelling, cutting and delaying $30 billion worth of infrastructure projects” over the past three years.
The Australian Automobile Association (AAA), the national peak body representing Australia’s state-based motoring clubs, has praised the Opposition both for its funding commitments and for pushing this into the election campaign.
In particular, the AAA said it “strongly endorses the Coalition’s new commitment to a no-fault crash investigation pilot” and added that the election pledges in turn “promise the national road safety leadership that experts have for many years sought”.
The organisation said the Coalition’s support of its push to publish road safety ratings when funding new road proposals will help save lives over winning votes in marginal electorates.
The AAA says The Greens have already endorsed its proposed “anti-pork barrelling” road funding reforms, as have independent MPs Monique Ryan (Kooyong), Andrew Wilkie (Clark), Helen Haines (Indi), Sophie Scamps (Mackellar), Zoe Daniel (Goldstein) and Senator David Pocock (ACT), as well as Bob Katter of Katter’s Australian Party.
The peak body says it wants Australian Road Assessment Program (AusRAP) ratings – available for close to 500,000km of Australian roads in every state and territory – to be made public.
“Relevant AusRAP ratings should be published at the time of road announcements so Australians can make their own conclusions about what’s motivating the road funding decisions or parties and candidates,” said AAA managing director Michael Bradley.
“The AAA today thanks the Coalition for backing this commonsense transparency measure that will ensure road funding gets to projects where it can save the most lives.
“Efforts to reduce Australia’s soaring road toll should enjoy broad support and be above partisan politics, and we look forward to hearing whether the Labor Party is also prepared to stand up for funding integrity and transparency in the lead-up to polling day.”
The AAA says that of the more than 80 new road project commitments announced since January by major parties, only one has an AusRAP rating that has been made public.
Road deaths were up 3.3 per cent in 2024, when 1300 lives were lost, making it the fourth consecutive annual road toll increase since the most recent low in 2020, when there were 1097 fatalities amid COVID-related restrictions.
MORE: Australia’s 2024 road toll the deadliest in over a decade
