New heavy vehicle charges proposed for SA road users

New transport charges are being considered for heavy vehicles using South Australian roads as part of a tax and charges review.

According to a report by the ABC, the SA State Government said the idea was put forward in a discussion paper released this week.

“We're proposing a thorough review of our whole taxation and charging system,” Premier Jay Weatherill told the ABC News.

“We want to launch our agenda within the next 12 months. This is the start of the discussion on how can we fund the infrastructure and services we need.”

The SA Premier again ruled out toll roads for South Australia, saying they were not an effective way to fund transport infrastructure.

“We have the road transport industry calling for us to make substantial investments in our road infrastructure that obviously have to be financed and we believe that the more efficient way of doing this would be to explore network charges,” he said.

“That is the trucks that use our road networks being charged according to their kilometre-use, their tonnage, so we can find a way of financing the much-needed upgrades to our infrastructure.

“Many of those sections of the road transport industry have called for tolls, well we've ruled that our but we do believe that some form of network charging may be the way of the future and that's what we're wanting to discuss as part of this thorough review of all our taxes and charges.”

Road Transport Association executive director Steve Shearer said it would be hard for a government to impose new road charges without increasing the already heavy financial burden on the nation's truck operators.

“It's actually called mass distance location charging – it's a very nebulous concept that's been under active work nationally for several years and so far it's proved to be a complete bit of nonsense,” he said.

“We're happy to contribute but we're not going to contribute more. What we're happy to contribute is something that equals our cost savings by having a smoother-flowing road with less stops and starts because we will save money if we can keep the truck moving instead of stopping at 100 sets of traffic lights.”

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