Roads Australia calls for national approach to ZEV road charges

Roads Australia - Zero emission vehicles — Image courtesy of Chuttersnap on Unsplash

Roads Australia (RA) has welcomed the New South Wales Government’s announcement of new incentives for zero emission vehicles (ZEV’s) in the state budget for 2021-22.

Roads Australia President Michael Bushby has also called for ministers across all jurisdictions to work collaboratively to establish a consistent national approach to road user charges for ZEVs.

“The focus on driving the shift towards ZEVs is a positive development that recognises the major opportunity to drive decarbonisation in Australia through the transport sector,” he said.

“Our industry is eager to play its part in reducing transport sector emissions through the embrace of new vehicle technologies.

“It is encouraging that governments are increasingly matching this enthusiasm and supporting the switch to ZEVs through their policy settings.”

The New South Wales Government has plans to waive stamp duty charges and offer rebates of $3,000 rebate on new electric vehicles purchased with a value under $68,750, effective from 1 September 2021.

The state government also has plans to roll out more charging stations throughout regional areas, to support growing purchase numbers of ZEVs.

Victoria has already legislated a road user charge for ZEVS through state parliament, with South Australia state budget also confirming plans to introduce legislation for similar changes in the coming weeks.

Given the complexity of the issues involved, RA has called on all remaining jurisdictions to begin work on the issue in preparation for the impending changes.

“RA acknowledges this will be a challenging reform that will require a mature and collaborative engagement between governments, industry and the community,” Bushby said.

“This makes it even more vital that all governments begin working now to develop a fair, nationally consistent road user charging model and implementation framework which offers greater certainty around the future funding base for road infrastructure.”