{"id":"C1947A00017","name":"Commonwealth Aid Roads and Works Act 1947","slug":"commonwealth-aid-roads-and-works-act-1947","collection":"act","jurisdiction":"commonwealth","status":"repealed","isInForce":false,"actNumber":"17 of 1947","makingDate":null,"administeringDepartment":null,"currentVersion":{"id":4226,"registerId":"commonwealth-C1947A00017-current","compilationNumber":null,"startDate":"2026-03-30","status":"Repealed","reasons":null,"registeredAt":null},"sections":[{"sectionNumber":"1","sectionType":"section","heading":"Commonwealth Aid Roads and Works Act 1947","content":"COMMONWEALTH AID ROADS AND WORKS.\n\nNo. 17 of 1947.\n\nAn Act to grant and apply out of the Consolidated Revenue Fund sums for the purpose of Financial Assistance to the States to be applied in the Construction, Reconstruction, Maintenance and Repair of Roads and Works connected with Transport, and for other purposes.\n\n\\[Assented to 3rd June, 1947.\\]\n\n\\[Date of commencement, 1st July, 1947.\\]\n\nPreamble.\n\nBE it enacted by the King’s Most Excellent Majesty, the Senate, and the House of Representatives of the Commonwealth of Australia, for the purpose of appropriating the grant originated in the House of Representatives, as follows:—\n\nShort title.\n\n1. This Act may be cited as the Commonwealth Aid Roads and Works Act 1947.\n\nDefinition.\n\n2. In this Act, “the Trust Account” means the Commonwealth Aid Roads and Works Trust Account established in pursuance of this Act.\n\nEstablishment of Trust Account.\n\n3. For the purposes of this Act there shall be a Trust Account which shall be known as the Commonwealth Aid Roads and Works Trust Account and shall be a Trust Account within the meaning of section sixty-two a of the Audit Act 1901–1934.\n\nPayments into Trust Account.\n\n4. There shall be payable into the Trust Account—\n\n(a) in each year during the period of three years commencing on the first day of July, One thousand nine hundred and forty-seven, a sum equivalent to the aggregate of the amounts specified in the Schedule to this Act in respect of that year;\n\n  \n\n(b) in each year during the period of three years commencing on the first day of July, One thousand nine hundred and forty-seven, the sum of One million five hundred thousand pounds; and\n\n(c) the sum of One hundred thousand pounds.\n\nAppropriation.\n\n5. The Consolidated Revenue Fund is, to the extent necessary for the purpose of making payment to the Trust Account of any sum payable to the Trust Account under the last preceding section, hereby appropriated for the purpose.\n\nPayment of financial assistance to States.\n\n6.—(1.) There shall be payable, for the purpose of financial assistance to the States, out of the Trust Account any sum paid into the Trust Account to which paragraph (a) of section four of this Act applies.\n\n(2.) Any sum payable to the States under the last preceding sub-section shall be apportioned in accordance with the following percentages:—\n\n(a) to the State of Tasmania—five per centum of that sum;\n\n(b) to the other States—\n\n(i) as to three-fifths of ninety-five per centum of that sum, according to the respective populations of those States as recorded at the Census taken in June, One thousand nine hundred and forty-seven;\n\n(ii) as to two-fifths of ninety-five per centum of that sum, according to the respective areas of those States.\n\n(3.) Payment of any amount to a State under sub-section (1.) of this section shall be made upon the following conditions:—\n\n(a) that the amount shall be expended by the State upon the construction, reconstruction, maintenance and repair of roads:\n\nProvided that a sum not exceeding one-sixth of the amount paid to the State may be expended upon such other works connected with transport as the State thinks fit;\n\n(b) that the amount is expended by the State in accordance with a policy agreed to by the Minister; and\n\n(c) that the State will, prior to the thirtieth day of June in each year, submit to the Minister, in such form as is agreed to by the Minister, a statement of proposed allocations of expenditure in respect of road construction works for the next succeeding financial year.\n\n(4.) There shall be payable for the purpose of financial assistance to the States out of the Trust Account an amount of One million pounds out of each sum payable yearly to the Trust Account and to which paragraph (b) of section four of this Act applies.\n\n  \n\n(5.) An amount payable to the States under the last preceding sub-section shall be apportioned in accordance with sub-section (2.) of this section and any such amount paid to a State shall be subject to the following conditions:—\n\n(a) that the amount shall be expended upon the construction, reconstruction, maintenance and repair of roads through sparsely populated areas, timber country and rural areas or, if the State thinks fit, upon the purchase of road making plant for use in areas where the purchase of such plant is beyond the resources of local authorities:\n\nProvided that the amount shall not, except with the approval of the Minister, be expended on any road declared by the State to be a State highway, main road or trunk road;\n\n(b) that the State shall be responsible for the adequate maintenance of roads in the construction of which the amount is applied; and\n\n(c) that the State will, prior to the thirtieth day of June in each year, submit to the Minister, in such form as is agreed to by the Minister, a statement of proposed expenditure for the next succeeding financial year on road construction and maintenance out of any amount paid or payable to the State under sub-section (4.) of this section.\n\nExpenditure of strategic roads.\n\n7. The sum of Five hundred thousand pounds out of each sum payable yearly to the Trust Account and to which paragraph (b) of section four of this Act applies may be expended by the Commonwealth in the construction and maintenance of strategic roads and roads of access to Commonwealth property:\n\nProvided that no amount shall be expended under this section on any road, not being a road of access to Commonwealth property, unless the Minister has declared by notice in the Gazette that—\n\n(a) it is a strategic road; and\n\n(b) where in the opinion of the Minister the road forms part of the general road system of a State, the standard of maintenance required by the Commonwealth is higher than that justified by the normal volume of traffic.\n\nRoad safety practices.\n\n8. The sum payable to the Trust Account and to which paragraph (c) of section four of this Act applies may be expended by the Commonwealth in the promotion of road safety practices throughout Australia in accordance with proposals approved by the Minister.\n\nRegulations\n\n9. The Governor-General may make regulations, not inconsistent with this Act, prescribing all matters which by this Act are required or permitted to be prescribed, or which are necessary or convenient to be prescribed, for carrying out or giving effect to this Act.\n\n  \n\nSection 4. THE SCHEDULE.\n\n(1.) So much of the duties of customs payable and collected under the Tariff Item specified in this paragraph in respect of the goods specified in this paragraph as shall be equal to 3d. per gallon of all those goods which shall be entered for home consumption during each year of the period of three years commencing on the first day of July, 1947 that is to say, the duties of customs payable and collected, under Tariff Item 229 (o) in the Schedule to the Customs Tariff 1933–1939 or under that Tariff Item as amended or proposed to be amended, during each year of that period of three years in respect of petroleum and shale products, viz., naphtha, benzine, benzoline, gasoline, pentane, petrol and any other petroleum or shale spirit.\n\n(2.) So much of the duties of excise payable and collected under the Tariff Item specified in this paragraph in respect of the goods specified in this paragraph as shall be equal to l½d. per gallon of all those goods which shall be entered for home consumption during each year of that period of three years that is to say, the duties of excise payable and collected under Tariff Item 11 in the Schedule to the Excise Tariff 1921–1939 or under that Tariff Item as amended or proposed to be amended during each year of that period of three years in respect of—\n\n(a) petroleum or shale products, viz., petrol, benzine, benzoline, gasoline, naphtha, pentane, and any other petroleum or shale spirit as described in that Item;\n\n(b) petroleum or shale distillates, viz., turpentine substitutes; and\n\n(c) coal tar and coke oven distillates (including benzol) suitable for use as petrol substitutes as described in that Item.\n\n(3.) So much of the duties of excise payable and collected under the Tariff Item specified in paragraph 2 of this Schedule in respect of the goods specified in that paragraph (other than benzol) as shall be equal to ½d. per gallon of all those goods which shall be entered for home consumption during each year of that period.\n\n(4.) The duties of customs and excise specified in the foregoing provisions of this Schedule shall not include duties payable and collected in respect of any goods used in civil aircraft for the purposes of civil aviation.","sortOrder":0}],"analysis":{"issue_detection":{"absurdities":[{"type":"circular_definition","section":"Section 2 and Section 3","severity":"low","reasoning":"Section 2 defines 'the Trust Account' as 'the Commonwealth Aid Roads and Works Trust Account established in pursuance of this Act.' However, the establishment of that account only occurs under Section 3. At the moment Section 2 is read, the thing being defined does not yet exist within the Act's own framework. While this is a common and largely harmless drafting convention in Australian legislation, it is technically circular — the definition depends on the existence of a thing that the definition itself is supposed to identify before its creation is authorised.","confidence":0.72,"description":"Circular definition: 'the Trust Account' is defined in Section 2 by reference to the Trust Account 'established in pursuance of this Act', but the Trust Account is not established until Section 3. The definition therefore defines the term by reference to something that does not yet legally exist at the point of definition."},{"type":"retroactive_impossibility","section":"Section 6(2)(b)(i)","severity":"medium","reasoning":"The Act commenced on 1 July 1947. Payments into the Trust Account begin in 'each year during the period of three years commencing on the first day of July, One thousand nine hundred and forty-seven'. The apportionment of 3/5ths of 95% of the Section 4(a) funds among non-Tasmanian States depends on population figures 'as recorded at the Census taken in June, One thousand nine hundred and forty-seven'. A census conducted in June 1947 would not have had its results tabulated and published by 1 July 1947. Payments falling due in the first year of the Act could not be lawfully apportioned using data that was not yet available. This is not a mere technicality — apportionment is a statutory condition, not a discretionary one.","confidence":0.82,"description":"Retroactive impossibility: The apportionment formula for five non-Tasmanian States relies on 'the Census taken in June, One thousand nine hundred and forty-seven', but the Act commenced on 1 July 1947 and the 1947 Census had not yet been conducted or its results published at the time of commencement. Payments could not be accurately apportioned until census results were available, creating a window of administrative impossibility."},{"type":"impossible_compliance","section":"Section 6(3)(c) and Section 6(5)(c)","severity":"high","reasoning":"The Act received Royal Assent on 3 June 1947 and commenced on 1 July 1947. Payments into the Trust Account begin in the year commencing 1 July 1947, making the first financial year 1947–48. The conditions in Sections 6(3)(c) and 6(5)(c) require States to submit their proposals 'prior to the thirtieth day of June in each year' for the next succeeding year. For the 1947–48 year, compliance would have required submission before 30 June 1947 — i.e., within 27 days of Royal Assent and before the Act even commenced. No State could have known the terms of this requirement in time to comply. This renders the conditions in respect of first-year payments a legal impossibility, meaning the first tranche of payments was technically made without enforceable conditions attached.","confidence":0.91,"description":"Impossible compliance in the first year of operation: Both subsections require States to submit a statement of proposed expenditure 'prior to the thirtieth day of June in each year' for 'the next succeeding financial year'. Since the Act commenced on 1 July 1947, there was no opportunity for States to comply with the condition prior to 30 June 1947 (i.e., before commencement) for the 1947–48 financial year. The first year's payments were therefore made subject to a condition that was structurally impossible to satisfy."},{"type":"other","section":"Section 6(5)(a) Proviso","severity":"low","reasoning":"The purpose of the Section 4(b) funds (as distributed under Section 6(4)-(5)) is explicitly to assist with roads in sparsely populated, timber and rural areas. However, the Ministerial-approval proviso in Section 6(5)(a) bars expenditure on declared State highways, main roads or trunk roads without approval. In many Australian States in 1947, the principal roads through sparsely populated and rural regions were precisely those classified as State highways or trunk roads. The legislative intent (rural and remote road improvement) is thus systematically undermined by the drafting, which excludes the most significant roads in those areas by default. This creates an internal policy contradiction, though it is partially remedied by the Ministerial approval mechanism.","confidence":0.75,"description":"The proviso restricting expenditure on State highways, main roads or trunk roads unless the Minister approves is potentially self-defeating: the roads most useful for construction in 'sparsely populated areas, timber country and rural areas' are frequently designated as State highways or trunk roads precisely because they are the primary routes through such terrain. The restriction may effectively exclude the most appropriate roads from funding."},{"type":"other","section":"Section 4(b) and Section 6(4) and Section 7","severity":"low","reasoning":"The two payments from the Section 4(b) fund (£1,000,000 under Section 6(4) and £500,000 under Section 7) sum to exactly £1,500,000 — the total available. The drafting is tight but technically sound in normal circumstances. The flaw is that neither section acknowledges the other or establishes priority if the full £1,500,000 is not available in a given year (e.g. due to Consolidated Revenue Fund constraints or accounting timing). There is no residual or fallback mechanism. This is a low-severity structural gap rather than an immediate absurdity.","confidence":0.65,"description":"Mathematical shortfall: Section 4(b) provides £1,500,000 per year. Section 6(4) directs £1,000,000 of each such sum to the States. Section 7 directs £500,000 of each such sum to Commonwealth strategic roads. Together these account for exactly £1,500,000 — leaving zero residual. However, both sections direct amounts 'out of each sum payable yearly to the Trust Account and to which paragraph (b) of section four of this Act applies', meaning both draw from the same £1,500,000 pool. While the maths adds up exactly, if either amount were to vary (e.g. due to administrative adjustments), there is no provision for priority or remainder allocation, creating a potential conflict."},{"type":"other","section":"Schedule, Paragraph (4)","severity":"low","reasoning":"In 1947, civil aviation primarily used aviation gasoline (avgas), which is a distinct product from road petrol, though both are petroleum spirits. The Schedule lists 'petrol, benzine, benzoline, gasoline, naphtha, pentane, and any other petroleum or shale spirit'. The exclusion in Schedule paragraph (4) could theoretically apply to standard automotive petrol if any quantity was used in civil aircraft, reducing the funds available to the Trust Account in an administratively awkward and likely unintended way. The drafting does not define 'used in civil aircraft' or 'for the purposes of civil aviation', leaving open whether this applies at the point of production, entry for home consumption, or actual use.","confidence":0.6,"description":"The exclusion of duties on goods used in civil aircraft for civil aviation creates a definitional ambiguity: petroleum products such as petrol and naphtha listed in the Schedule are not typically used as aviation fuel, yet the blanket exclusion applies to all Schedule goods 'used in civil aircraft'. The practical effect is unclear — does avgas (not listed) get excluded, or does the exclusion apply to any listed product incidentally loaded onto an aircraft?"}],"contradictions":[{"severity":"medium","section_a":"Section 6(3)(b)","section_b":"Section 6(3)(a) Proviso","confidence":0.85,"description":"Section 6(3)(b) requires that amounts be expended 'in accordance with a policy agreed to by the Minister', giving the Minister broad oversight over all expenditure. However, Section 6(3)(a) Proviso explicitly grants the State unilateral discretion to spend up to one-sixth of the amount on 'such other works connected with transport as the State thinks fit' — without any Ministerial agreement. These two provisions pull in opposite directions: one mandates Ministerial agreement for all expenditure policy, the other grants the State autonomous discretion over a subset of expenditure."},{"severity":"low","section_a":"Section 6(4)","section_b":"Section 6(2)","confidence":0.62,"description":"Section 6(2) sets out the apportionment percentages for amounts payable under Section 6(1) (the Section 4(a) funds). Section 6(5) then applies the same apportionment formula under Section 6(2) to the Section 4(b) funds distributed under Section 6(4). However, Section 6(2)(a) allocates a flat 5% to Tasmania regardless of population or area. Applied to the Section 4(b) rural and remote roads fund, this flat allocation to Tasmania may be disproportionate or contradictory to the stated purpose of funding roads in 'sparsely populated areas, timber country and rural areas', given that the same percentage already governs the general roads fund. The formula was designed for one purpose and is mechanically re-applied to another without adjustment, creating a tension between the equity formula and the policy intent of the rural roads fund."},{"severity":"medium","section_a":"Section 7 Proviso (b)","section_b":"Section 6(5)(a) Proviso","confidence":0.78,"description":"Section 7 allows Commonwealth expenditure on strategic roads that form part of a State's general road system, provided the Minister declares the maintenance standard required is higher than normal traffic justifies. Section 6(5)(a) Proviso restricts States from spending their rural roads allocation on declared State highways and main roads without Ministerial approval. The result is that the Commonwealth can fund and impose higher maintenance standards on a State road through Section 7, while simultaneously the State is barred from contributing its own Section 6(5) allocation to the very same road without separate Ministerial approval — potentially requiring two separate Ministerial actions for coordinated works on the one road, or leaving the State unable to contribute to a road the Commonwealth is actively upgrading."}]},"summary":{"complexity_score":4,"scope_assessment":{"changed":false,"description":"This Act is internally consistent with its stated purpose throughout. The title, preamble, operative provisions, and Schedule all align squarely with the original intent: directing fuel tax revenue and fixed Commonwealth grants to the States for road construction and maintenance, with a small carve-out for strategic Commonwealth roads and road safety promotion. There is no evidence of scope creep — no unrelated subject matter has been inserted, and all provisions serve the core funding-and-conditions framework described in the long title."},"complexity_factors":["Only 2 defined terms in the interpretation section, keeping definitional complexity low","Multi-part funding formula in section 6(2) with nested percentage calculations (population vs. area splits, Tasmania carve-out) adds moderate arithmetic complexity","Conditional logic governing State payments across subsections 6(3) and 6(5), including a proviso with a ministerial approval exception","Cross-references to external legislation: the Audit Act 1901–1934, Customs Tariff 1933–1939 (Tariff Item 229(o)), and Excise Tariff 1921–1939 (Tariff Item 11)","The Schedule contains layered fuel levy calculations (customs vs. excise, multiple product categories, per-gallon rates at 3d, 1.5d, and 0.5d) that require careful parsing","Time-limited three-year operative period adds a temporal condition that cuts across multiple provisions","Exclusion clause for civil aviation fuel in the Schedule adds a carve-out that must be tracked across all Schedule paragraphs","Relatively short Act (9 sections) with no deeply nested exceptions-to-exceptions; overall structure is straightforward"],"plain_english_summary":"## Commonwealth Aid Roads and Works Act 1947 — Plain English Summary\n\nThis Act was part of post-war Australia's effort to rebuild and expand the nation's road network by directing Commonwealth money to the States for road construction, maintenance, and repair.\n\n---\n\n### What does it do?\n\nThe Act creates a special government bank account — called the **Commonwealth Aid Roads and Works Trust Account** — and sets out exactly how money flows into it and back out to the States.\n\n**Money flows in from three sources:**\n- **Fuel levies** (customs and excise duties — that is, taxes on imported and domestically produced petroleum, petrol, benzine, and similar fuels) calculated at specific rates per gallon. This is tied to a three-year period starting 1 July 1947. Aviation fuel is explicitly excluded.\n- **A fixed annual sum of £1.5 million** over the same three years.\n- **A one-off payment of £100,000** for road safety.\n\n---\n\n### Who gets the money and how is it split?\n\n**General roads funding (from fuel levies):**\n- Tasmania gets a guaranteed **5% off the top**\n- The remaining 95% is split among the other States using a two-part formula:\n  - **Three-fifths** distributed by population (based on the 1947 Census)\n  - **Two-fifths** distributed by land area\n\n**Rural and sparse area roads funding (from the £1.5 million annual payment):**\n- **£1 million per year** goes to States using the same population/area formula — but **only** for roads in rural, sparsely populated, or timbered areas, or for purchasing road-making equipment for areas where local councils can't afford it. This money generally **cannot** be used on declared State highways or main roads without the Minister's approval.\n- **£500,000 per year** is kept by the Commonwealth to build and maintain **strategic roads** (roads of national importance declared by the Minister in the official gazette) and roads providing access to Commonwealth property.\n\n**Road safety (the one-off £100,000):**\n- Spent by the Commonwealth on promoting road safety across Australia, following a plan approved by the Minister.\n\n---\n\n### Conditions attached to State payments\n\nStates don't get a blank cheque. To receive their share, each State must:\n- Spend the money only on **road construction, reconstruction, maintenance, and repair** (up to one-sixth can go to other transport-related works)\n- Follow a spending policy **agreed to by the Commonwealth Minister**\n- Submit an **annual plan of proposed road spending** to the Minister before 30 June each year\n\n---\n\n### Why does it matter?\n\nThis Act is an early and clear example of **vertical fiscal imbalance** in Australian federalism — meaning the Commonwealth raises money (through fuel taxes) that it then hands down to the States with strings attached. It locked in a user-pays logic (drivers buying petrol fund roads) while giving Canberra significant oversight over how States spend on infrastructure. It also embedded a deliberate bias toward **rural and remote areas**, and gave the Commonwealth the power to fund roads it considered strategically important for national defence or access to its own property."}},"importantCases":[],"_links":{"self":"/api/acts/commonwealth-aid-roads-and-works-act-1947","history":"/api/acts/commonwealth-aid-roads-and-works-act-1947/history","analysis":"/api/acts/commonwealth-aid-roads-and-works-act-1947/analysis","conflicts":"/api/acts/commonwealth-aid-roads-and-works-act-1947/conflicts","importantCases":"/api/acts/commonwealth-aid-roads-and-works-act-1947/important-cases","documents":"/api/acts/commonwealth-aid-roads-and-works-act-1947/documents"}}