Submission: Inquiry into Local Government Funding and Fiscal Sustainability

The Australian Logistics Council (ALC) provided a submission to the House of Representatives Standing Committee on Regional Development, Infrastructure and Transport on the fiscal sustainability of local governments and the implications for freight-critical road infrastructure. The submission emphasises that local governments manage around 77 per cent of Australia’s road network and are responsible for the first- and last-mile freight access that connects industry to ports, intermodal terminals, airports and regional production areas. ALC identifies underinvestment, inadequate indexation of grants and inequitable funding distribution as key constraints on the maintenance of freight-critical local roads, particularly in regional and remote areas. ALC recommends increasing and indexing Financial Assistance Grants and Roads to Recovery funding, with targeted support for priority freight routes. It calls for stronger coordination between Commonwealth, state and local governments, including embedding road asset planning and resilience frameworks in national infrastructure governance. The submission also supports progressing road user charging reform, to create sustainable, long-term funding mechanisms aligned with actual road use and infrastructure wear.