Federal election 2025: Coalition pledges $1b for regional roads and infrastructure

The funding is the first major commitment from the major parties to fix roads across regional Australia.

“Degraded roads” across regional and rural Australia stand to benefit from $1b in new funding if the Coalition is elected next month.

An existing federal government program that allows local councils to apply for roads and infrastructure funding would be remodelled and revived to have two streams under a Coalition government, one dedicated to road funding and the other to essential infrastructure, worth $500m each.

Currently there is no set amount of funding designated to the Local Roads and Community Infrastructure Program, as it is known, but it has allocated $3.25b over four rounds since it was launched by the Coalition in 2020. The fourth and final round of funding has now been allocated.

The Coalition has announced $1bn in funding for regional roads and infrastructure.

Shadow infrastructure minister Bridget McKenzie said the additional investment the Coalition was promising was critical to address dangerous regional roads.

“You don’t have to drive very far out of our capital cities to encounter the extent of degraded roads,” Senator McKenzie said.

“The poor state of regional road networks impacts road safety outcomes and the efficiency of freight movements. This investment is critical to address dangerous and damaging local roads for all users.”

Prior to the Coalition’s $500b road funding announcement, the major parties have been criticised for ignoring the degraded state of regional and rural roads while funnelling billions into those in metropolitan areas and on the urban fringes.

Labor has announced a series of major road upgrades on the outskirts of all the major cities, $7.2b for its flagship road project in the Bruce Highway upgrade, but little in funding for regional Victoria in particular.

This is despite road data from motoring lobby group the Australian Automobile Association showing road deaths are far more prevalent in regional and remote Australia.

There were 26 road deaths in the federal electorate of Nicholls, in northern Victoria, 22 in Wannon in the west of the state and 21 in Indi, in the northeast, making them among the worst federal electorates in the nationr road fatalities.

online artwork April 16 roadtable

National Farmers’ Federation president David Jochinke said the state of regional roads was the most often talked about topic among farmers, but the issue has largely been ignored.

“Potholes, blown tyres and detours aren’t just annoying, they’re slowing freight down and costing farmers time and money. We need reliable road and rail networks that keep supply chains moving and businesses productive,” Mr Jochinke said.

The NFF is calling for an additional $1b annually for the federal government’s centrepiece road building and maintenance program, the Roads to Recovery program, $4b for road sealing, flood proofing and pavement rehabilitation and for 1 per cent of Commonwealth taxation revenue to be allocated to local councils to spend on local road repairs, up from the current 0.5 per cent.