Key Industry groups are urging the government to start preparing the population for change.
PM Turnbull is supporting a plan to charge road users for every kilometre they drive. Road users will be charged for every kilometre they drive in 5 to 10 years’ time under a Turnbull Government-backed plan that will replace Australia’s current “inefficient” fuel tax.
Road transport vehicles would be hit first, with a heavy vehicle road-charge which the government wishes to implement within five years. All of which means road transport costs and passenger fares would increase, causing the cost of living to rise yet again!
Infrastructure Australia has asked the Government to bring in a road-user charge for light vehicles 5 years after that. Unveiling the Government’s response to Infrastructure Australia’s plan yesterday, Malcolm Turnbull said it would adopt 69 of the 78 recommendations. The plan of direct charging of all vehicles for road use, worked out from information collected by vehicle GPS and wireless-enabled devices reported to a central computer which bills the drivers credit card or accesses the drivers bank account. People with GPS and wifi devices in their vehicles will now find the devices working against them!
Drivers of a vehicle towing a caravan, camper or any type of trailer will be hit harder. Road users will be charged per km travelled for the prime vehicle. Then drivers will be charged per km travelled for any trailers and caravans they are towing because they will be classified as a vehicle.
The Infrastructure Australia report stresses the fact it would be important to dress up the measure so it couldn't be portrayed as a tax grab.
Labor MP for Perth, Alannah MacTiernan also wants a vehicle GPS plan investigated. Ms MacTiernan said “road user charging” may not be popular, but it was something WA had to “start looking at”. But the former state planning minister said “tolling on big new roads is not the answer”. Instead, Ms MacTiernan said GPS devices could be used to track the distance travelled by motorists so they could be charged per kilometre driven. Ms MacTiernan said WA had to rethink road funding. “Road building is largely funded through vehicle registration charges and a proportion of the fuel excise,” she said.
Then going on to say, “Both of these income streams are under threat.
“Already, fuel excise returns are dropping partly because cars are becoming more fuel efficient.”
Ms MacTiernan said driverless cars would also be an issue.
“In five years we will see the shift to driverless vehicles begin and in a decade they will be commonplace,” she said.
“This technology – even in mixed traffic – could drive up to a 50 per cent increase in fuel efficiency, further driving down the fuel excise return.”
The devil or the angel will be in the detail. The technological capability is there, but this is not something that is going to be introduced overnight.
Despite some good points, road user charges will be a challenge for people to accept. Especially not knowing how the scheme will work. And is the government doing so for the correct reasons?
The Federal government and key Industry groups are now actively working out how to sell the idea to the general public and developing strategies to over-ride any public resistance to the move.
Every kilometre driven is money in the bank for the Federal Government. Whom we know and trust to spend our money wisely??
Also Big Brother will be watching as a some type of transponder logs all of our vehicles movements any day of the week and anytime of the day or night……
This is not science fantasy. It is coming to a vehicle near you sooner than you think!
And then the question of what’s next……… will we be charged when we walk on a footpath? After all, pedestrian, cyclist traffic and vehicles cause damage to pathways, which also need funding. Perhaps the government will direct everyone to wear a portable GPS unit when out walking and using a footpath?
