ALP Conference Resolution - Modern, Efficient and Safe Land Transport Network

This Conference condemns the Howard Government for their seven years of neglect of Australia’s transport infrastructure.

The Auslink plan is the first Howard Government attempt to deliver an integrated land transport plan, but it fails on many counts because it:

• was motivated to shift costs to States, Territory and Local Governments, not to deliver an efficient, integrated and modern transport network;
• has not moved beyond the Green Paper stage after almost two years, leaving it big on restating the problems and short on solutions and action plans;
• fails to identify an ongoing, sustainable source of additional ongoing funding for transport infrastructure;
• only considers the movement of freight, not people;
• ignores the capacity of sea and aviation to carry a bigger load in our domestic freight task that is set to double by 2020;
• jeopardises the Commonwealth's responsibility to construct and maintain our national highway system;
• fails to halt and reverse the decline in land transport infrastructure funding, particularly in railways.

This Conference calls on the next federal Labor government to lead Australian governments in the joint development of a national, modern, efficient transport network to meet our nation's burgeoning freight and passenger transport task by:

• developing a national land transport plan that includes all modes of transport in a co-ordinated, way which integrates transport, environmental, energy and land use policy across State and Territory boundaries;
• establishing a national infrastructure advisory council and processes that will provide for fair competition between modes and transparent and objective criteria for public and private infrastructure investment decisions,
• ensuring the National Transport Commission is equipped and supported to develop and implement nationally consistent transport regulatory reforms to improve the efficiency of our national road and rail networks;
• working with States to develop an integrated national transport network and corridors of significance to the operation of the national economy, including efficient inter-modal connections at ports and airports;
• maintaining the Commonwealth commitment to the construction and maintenance of the national highway system;
• retaining full Commonwealth ownership of the Australian Rail Track Corporation and ensuring it has sufficient funds to develop and maintain our interstate rail infrastructure to world class standards, such as transit times, axle loads and double stacking containers;
• committing to invest in Australia's transport network to ensure our infrastructure can accommodate the increasing freight and urban passenger task in a sustainable and efficient way and financing options may include superannuation funds, infrastructure and/or savings bonds;
• improving rail and road safety standards for the national transport network by enhancing the role of the Australian Transport Safety Bureau and ensuring more proactive leadership from the Commonwealth Department of Transport to reduce accidents and fatalities;
• improving the security of our transport networks through more clearly defined responsibilities and accountabilities between Commonwealth Government agencies; and
• developing a modern, integrated regulatory and enforcement regime.