Alliance seeks roads budget

Agriculture advocacy bodies are calling for regional road funding ahead of the Federal Budget, due to be released next month.

The Rural Road Alliance, recently formed by GrainGrowers, the National Farmers Federation, Australian Local Government Association and Australian Livestock and Rural Transporters Association, is calling for an emergency funding package totalling nearly $5.5 billion in the upcoming budget.

The alliance is asking for a one-off injection of $1 billion over four years directed at regional road and infrastructure reconstruction for councils impacted by flooding and other natural disasters to ensure a rebuild is to a standard more resilient to future disaster events.

The $5.5 billion would include $800 million a year across four years for the Roads to Recovery Program; $300 million a year across four years to address first and last mile freight productivity; and targeted funding through the Roads of Strategic Importance, ROSI, program to improve the long-term climate resilience of freight networks.

GrainGrowers general manager of policy and advocacy Zachary Whale said persistent and unprecedented rain had deteriorated critical road infrastructure across Australia’s grain-growing regions and exacerbated systemic long-term underfunding of the regional road network.

“This situation left many farmers struggling to transport grain to market and poses a significant safety risk for rural communities who rely on these roads to access vital services,” he said. Mr Whale said sufficient maintenance was critical to ensure roads were resilient during natural disasters and to reduce reconstruction costs after climatic events.

A GrainGrowers submission to the Federal Government also called for a strategic and long-term view of road infrastructure investment.

Mr Whale said the increasing occurrence of climatic events such as floods and bushfires placed additional pressure on road design.

“Rather than just patching potholes, we need current investments to build resilience to emerging issues associat- ed with natural disasters and climate risk,” he said.

The submission highlights the ROSI program as a critical tool in building resilience, with GrainGrowers calling for an additional $900 million in annual funding to be directed to freight networks.

“When addressing capacity, ROSI is critical as it focuses on elements such as road sealing, flood immunity, strengthening and widening, pavement rehabilitation, bridge and culvert upgrades and road realignments,” Mr Whale said.

“Additional funding through this program is needed to improve the longterm resilience of our vital freight networks.”

Victorian Farmers Federation, VFF, is also supporting the call for an emergency funding package.

VFF president Emma Germano said farmers were frustrated that governments continued to ‘neglect’ road maintenance.

“Enhancing the resilience of the road network to deal with extreme weather events is important, but it can only be