Claims a motor vehicle levy will help fund Cross River Rail are incorrect

Reports today that Cross River Rail could be funded by a levy on motorists are not correct.

The Turnbull Government requires all major projects seeking infrastructure funding to assess value capture options as a condition for federal funding. 

This is outlined in the Australian Government’s Smart Cities Plan (May 2016), which states they “have a policy to explore value capture early in all business cases seeking Commonwealth funding for infrastructure” and also in their Principles for Innovative Finance (March 2016) which states “the suitability for innovative financing arrangements should be assessed for all projects before the amount of grant funding is determined.”

In accordance with the Turnbull Government requirements, Building Queensland examined value capture options as part of their independently developed business case for Cross River Rail – but this does not mean they reflect Queensland Government policy.

If Tim Nicholls is opposed to Queensland undertaking value capture assessments as required by the Turnbull Government, he is not only out of step with his federal LNP colleagues but is willing to cut Queensland off from millions of dollars in federal infrastructure funding for major projects.

Following the Palaszczuk Government’s commitment of $800 million to this project, the new Cross River Rail Delivery Authority will now be responsible for developing a detailed funding model. 

While this will include consideration of availability payments, value sharing (in accordance with Commonwealth requirements) and development rights, the Palaszczuk Government will not be levying motorists to pay for Cross River Rail.
 
The full report provided to Infrastructure Australia notes that “The Queensland Government has ruled out road pricing mechanisms as part of the options analysis (preliminary evaluation) phase as it is inconsistent with Queensland Government policy.”

For the first time, the Queensland Government has committed to regularly publishing business case summaries for major projects which clearly detail the independent cost benefit analysis undertaken by Building Queensland.

This greater level of transparency, combined with the work of our independent infrastructure adviser – Building Queensland – means we will not have a repeat of the LNP’s 1 William Street which was a complete disregard for taxpayer money.

ENDS

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