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Commonwealth act
This Act has been repealed and is no longer in force. It is retained for historical reference.
It creates a time‑limited trust account called the Australian Bicentennial Road Development Trust Fund (the Road Fund) to pay financial assistance to States and the Northern Territory for approved road construction projects (s7, s9). The Fund is closed on 31 December 1989 and remaining balances at that time must be paid to States for approved projects (s16).
Money is put into the Road Fund out of Consolidated Revenue in amounts tied to a fraction of duties on motor spirit and diesel fuel collected after 17 August 1982 (the “relevant time”) and before set cut‑off dates: a 1 cent‑per‑litre proportion for receipts entered for home consumption after the relevant time and before 1 July 1983, and a 2 cent‑per‑litre proportion for receipts after 30 June 1983 and before 1 January 1989 (s8(1), s8(7)). Interest earned on Fund investments is credited to the Fund and treated as part of one or other of those two categories at the Minister’s direction (s8(4)–(6)).
The Act sets caps and percentage allocations for how money in the Road Fund may be spent across four classes of projects: national roads, urban arterial roads, rural arterial roads and local roads. It limits aggregate payments for national roads (s9(2)) and fixes state‑by‑state percentage shares for urban arterial (Schedule 1), rural arterial (Schedule 2) and local roads (Schedule 3) for specified periods (s9(3)–(5) and Schedules).
The Minister decides which specific projects are “approved” to be part of the Australian Bicentennial Road Development Program (s17) and may approve variations to projects, costs and cost allocations (s18). The Minister also approves the timing and amounts of payments to States (s14(1)–(3)).
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Direct links to the current provisions in Australian Bicentennial Road Development Trust Fund Act 1982.
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The Minister has a continuing supervisory role: he may set standards for national roads and require States to provide information (s6, s20), and he may inspect works, require testing and copies of records, and set procurement procedures (s23(e), s23(a)–(b)). The Minister may delegate many of these powers to public servants (s26).
Who pays: the immediate funding source is Consolidated Revenue (s8). The Act channels into the Road Fund a specified fraction of excise/customs duties collected on motor spirit and diesel fuel (s8(1)). That means collection of fuel duties determines the pool of money the Fund receives (s8).
Who decides: the Commonwealth Minister (the Minister) controls most decisions: declaring road categories (s5), notifying standards for national roads (s6), approving projects and variations (s17–18), setting payment timing and amounts (s14), approving principles for allocation to local government or determining them if the State does not (s19), requiring information (s20), and enforcing conditions and repayments (s21–23). The Minister may delegate many powers to public servants (s26).
States must submit project particulars on request and receive Ministerial approval for projects to be eligible (s17). Project submissions must include cost estimates and note amounts to be met from other sources (s17(5)).
Payments are conditional on States spending the money on approved bicentennial road projects of the class specified with the payment (s14(3), s15).
States must provide annual statements of expenditure in a Minister‑approved form after 30 June each year, and, if directed, obtain an Auditor‑General’s certificate for parts of those statements (s21(a)). The Minister can require additional information at any time (s20).
If the Minister is satisfied a State has not complied with conditions, the Minister may require repayment of all or part of the grant, may deduct repayable amounts from future payments, and repaid money is returned to the Road Fund (s21(b), s22, s24–25, s23(h)).
Additional project conditions include tendering procedures approved by the Minister for works or purchases (s23(a)–(b)), erecting and maintaining signage until 1 January 1989 at sites of funded projects (s23(d)), permitting inspections and tests (s23(e)), providing road connections to national roads (s23(f)), and not imposing tolls on funded parts of national or arterial roads without the Minister’s consent (s23(g)).
Incentives to maintain State road spending: the Minister can reduce a State’s share of Fund allocations if he is satisfied the State did not maintain in real terms its own road expenditure in specified periods (s12). The reduction is calculated by notice and, if relevant, by a formula that compares subsequent year expenditure (s12(2)–(4)). This creates a financial incentive for States to sustain their own road spending if they wish to avoid losing Road Fund allocations.
Incentives affecting urban public transport: where a State undertakes or prioritises capital expenditure on urban public transport projects that reduce arterial road traffic, such projects can be treated like urban arterial road projects for Fund purposes (s4(3)). Conversely, the Minister may reduce allocations where the Minister is satisfied relevant capital expenditure on urban public transport was not maintained (s13).
Allocation rigidity and redistribution: the Act fixes percentage ceilings by State and road class (Schedules) but allows the Minister to vary those percentages at a State’s request (s10), by agreement to shift funds to national roads (s11), or where the Minister is satisfied a State failed to maintain expenditure (s12) or relevant capital expenditure in urban public transport (s13). Those variation powers change relative shares without increasing the total Fund (s10(2)).
Compliance and administrative burden: States must prepare annual expenditure statements in an approved form and may need Auditor‑General certification on direction (s21). States must comply with Ministerial information requests (s20), follow Minister‑approved tendering procedures (s23(a)–(b)), erect signage (s23(d)), permit inspections and testing (s23(e)), and ensure repayments where conditions are breached (s21(b), s22, s23(h)). These are recurring administrative and procedural obligations.
Ministerial discretion and implementation risk: the Minister holds broad discretionary powers over project approval, standards, timing/amounts of payments, percentage variations and enforcement (s6, s10–13, s14, s17–18, s23). That concentration means outcomes depend heavily on how the Minister exercises those discretions and on the use of delegations (s26), which may speed implementation but also shifts decision‑making to officials.
Procurement and market access: the Minister can require States to invite and deal with tenders for major works and goods under procedures the Minister approves (s23(a)–(b)). That sets a Commonwealth‑approved procurement framework for projects funded from the Road Fund.
Revenue options for States: the Act prevents States charging tolls or fees on funded parts of national or arterial roads without the Minister’s consent (s23(g)), limiting one source of user revenue for those road segments unless the Minister agrees.
The Fund sources and eligible periods are explicitly time‑limited: the relevant duty proportions are tied to periods ending 1 July 1983 and 1 January 1989 respectively (s8(1)); aggregate payments and schedule percentages apply to amounts paid out before 1 January 1989 (s9); the Fund is closed 31 December 1989 (s16).
The Act focuses on construction and related works (construction includes reconstruction, realignment, bringing to a higher standard, investigation and land acquisition) and expressly excludes maintenance from the definition of construction (s4(definition of “construction” and “maintenance”)).
Immediate cost source: the Fund is financed from Consolidated Revenue appropriations representing fractions of fuel duties collected (s8). The Act therefore allocates a specific share of fuel‑duty receipts to road construction rather than to general revenue.
Beneficiaries: the direct beneficiaries are States (and government authorities/local government bodies where funds are allocated for local roads) that receive grants for approved projects (s9, s19). The Act prescribes how those benefits are split across States and road classes via the Schedules, subject to Ministerial variation powers (s9, Schedules, s10–13).
The measure centralises key decisions in the Commonwealth Minister (s6, s14, s17–18, s23) and permits delegations (s26), which concentrates implementation discretion and requires careful administration to avoid inconsistent treatment of States.
The funding stream depends on fuel duty receipts for specified historical periods and is time‑limited; interest on the Fund is credited but treated as belonging to one of the two duty categories at the Minister’s direction, which affects how interest is available against schedule ceilings (s8(4)–(6)).
The Act creates conditional financial incentives for States to maintain their own road and urban public transport capital expenditure through the threat of reductions in allocations (s12–13), and imposes specific compliance obligations (s20–21, s23) that carry procurement, reporting and administrative costs for States.