Road pricing and road provision in Australia: Where are we and how did we get here?

Abstract

In the beginningBritish settlement of Australia began in 1788 and, from the outset, governments of all persuasions imposed strong 'statist' traditions of public ownership and control of important infrastructure. Economic development and physical access across the continent were dependent on statist investment, construction and maintenance of crucial infrastructure-often called the 'colonial liberalist' legacy by subsequent historians. State intervention was accepted as a basic requirement of social progress and economic development and, over time, Australia became locked in a 'path dependency' paradigm reliant on state provision and regulation of vital infrastructure. Accordingly, the provision of modes of transport across the continent and the policy dictates associated with the crucial issues of provision and usage were framed within a particularly statist mindset. Roads, rail, shipping and river transport, as well as bridges, jetties and wharves (and later air transport), were all historically financed and governed by dirigisme and by institutional arrangements, rather than market-based measures such as private investment, private provision and