Re: $4b transport plan to ease petrol heat

[amorton@mullian.ee.mu.oz.au (Anthony Morton)]

>> Actually this is a fallacy.  According to the RACV (Victorian motor lobby),
>> $8.6 billion in fuel excise was collected by Australian governments in the
>> 1996/97 financial year.  And according to the Australian Local Government
>> Association (a body of local council road engineers) the total amount spent
>> on roads in the following year by all three levels of government - federal,
>> state and local - was exactly the same: $8.6 billion.

Tezza <tezza2000@dingoblue.net.au> wrote:

>Yet the NRMA says differently, quite often, with no denial by any tier of
>government.

And so does the RACV (albeit without cross-checking with like-minded
organisations like the ALGA).  It just so happens that the money trails
involved in road funding are of such Byzantine complexity that organisations
like the RACV and NRMA can get away with saying things like 'only a tiny
percentage of Federal fuel tax goes to roads and the rest goes into
consolidated revenue' - without mentioning that the majority of road funding
comes out of consolidated revenue (via grants to States) rather than from
direct Federal project funding.

And it's not in the interest of any government to deny these claims - they
know that throwing money at roads appeals to the more venal instincts of the
electorate and thus wins votes while appeasing a very powerful motoring lobby.

Cheers,
Tony M.