“Con job”? What’s in the 2025-26 Budget for transport?

Daniel Woods

Published by Fully Loaded

Excerpt:

Roads Australia Chief Executive Ehssan Veiszadeh believes the jump in investment will offer tangible community benefits.

“Transport plays a vital role in improving living standards and enabling access to housing,” Veiszadeh says.

“Even in a deeply constrained budgetary environment with significant economic challenges both domestically and abroad, we need to invest in the resilience, safety and productivity of our transport system.

“Investments such as $7.2 billion to upgrade the Bruce Highway in Queensland, an additional $1 billion towards Victoria’s road blitz and $1.8 billion for Western Sydney road projects, will have a transformative impact on these communities.

“Preserving future transport corridors is a sensible investment and Roads Australia welcomes the government’s $1 billion investment to preserve the corridor for the South West Sydney Rail Extension.

“We’re also pleased to see and additional $2 billion allocated towards transforming Sunshine Station to enable to delivery of Melbourne Airport Rail.”

Despite the additional investment in Australia’s transport infrastructure, Veiszadeh reiterated Roads Australia’s calls to address the rigid government reforms that continue to hamper the adoption of innovation within the sector.

“Australia needs a long-term plan for the future of our transport system, supported by a continued focus on supporting industry innovation and addressing the construction sector’s long-standing productivity challenges,” he says.

“Construction sector productivity is continuing to decline, dropping from 0.3 to -0.8 in over the last 12 months. At a time where all government budgets are under considerable pressure, rigid procurement processes, overly onerous and outdated technical standards and poor labour productivity are collectively driving up the costs of project delivery.

“In these challenging times, it’s more important than ever that government embrace the opportunity to unlock innovation, deliver better value for our growing communities and support a sustainable infrastructure sector.”

The full article is available to read on Fully Loaded, Australian Transport News – for fleet owners and managers.