Bush Summit 2024: Regional Aussies short-changed on roads

Everyone knows Aussie roads are a mixed bag but it’s been revealed that these are the worst of the lot.

Regional Australians overwhelmingly say they are being dudded on roads, with just 12 per cent believing the quality is excellent or very good in their area, an exclusive survey shows.

SEC Newgate’s exclusive Mood of the Bush report found 32 per cent of regional Australians believed their roads were poor or very poor, with 40 per cent saying they were excellent, very good or good, and the remaining 28 per cent judging the infrastructure as merely fair.

This story is part of News Corp Australia’s Bush Summit series celebrating rural and regional Australia and championing the issues that matter most to those living in the bush. You can read all our coverage here

Regional Victorians were the most disgruntled with their road infrastructure, with just 32 per cent happy with their roads, followed by South Australia (35 per cent), NSW (37 per cent) and Queensland (40 per cent).

Australian Road Safety Foundation chief executive Russell White said the tyranny of distance played a role in keeping some roads maintained.

“When you’ve got bigger stretches of roads, it’s probably more challenging to get crews to do that sort of work just because of the size of the road,” he said.

“It could well be the case that those regional roads standards obviously get a lower level of attention, as you expect in a metro area.

“But that’s the thing. It could be a resourcing thing, it could also just be the sheer length of the roads.

The Bruce Highway near Gumlu in Far North Queensland where a Greyhound bus and caravan collided

“And I think probably another thing too is we’ve got to look at the various weather conditions that are in those parts of the state too”

He said maintaining the roads of regional Australia was sometimes more challenging.

“I think there’s no doubt that anyone in the regional area, that your regional road network is going to have some challenges in keeping that maintained to the correct level,” he said.

“From personal experience, and I think certainly in recent times, because I’ve sort of travelled around, there is obviously a difference in the way those roads are maintained.

“I mean, equally, then too, you’ll see large, sort of crews working on a section, but there’s still issues straight after that section.”

The 2024 National State of the Assets report from the Australian Local Government Association released last month showed $23bn worth of local roads are in poor condition, $18.7bn have poor function and $17bn have poor capacity.

It showed the local roads network is comprised of 39 per cent sealed road (length 265,000km), and 61 per cent (length 413,000 km) unsealed roads.

The results showed that 9 per cent of sealed roads are in poor condition.

The replacement cost of unsealed roads in poor condition is $3.9bn, many of which are regional, rural and remote areas.

Australian Automobile Association managing director Michael Bradley said: “Australians deserve access to more data about the quality of our roads, including their safety ratings.”