The weekly toll bill for a Sydney motorist will be capped at $60, if New South Wales Labor is elected in March.
Key points:
- The cap will benefit 51,000 drivers per week, according to NSW Labor
- The scheme will start next year in January and run for two years
- Labor also promises to overhaul the toll network and will appoint ex-ACCC chair to lead a review
The opposition has long touted toll relief as one of its priorities to deal with the cost of living crisis.
Leader Chris Minns has described today’s policy as a “key election announcement”.
“Tolls are out of control at the moment,” he said.
“It effectively represents a secret tax for hundreds of thousands of people that live west of Parramatta.”
Labor says the cap would benefit 51,000 drivers per week and doesn’t apply to truck drivers.
The $60 weekly cap would be available in addition to what the current government already has on offer including the new rebate scheme, and M5 cashback.
If commuters meet the thresholds, they’ll be able to claim more than one scheme.
“No one will be worse off,” Mr Minns said.
Last month, the Coalition’s new toll relief rebate came into effect.
Drivers are able to claim 40 per cent of their tolls under the scheme, once they spend $375 in one year.
The rebate is limited to a maximum of $750 and is estimated to reach half a million drivers.
Labor has proposed that its scheme would start next January and run for two years at a cost of $147 million.
The government’s scheme is expected to cost $520 million over two years.
“We’ve waited 18 months for Labor’s toll policy and it affects two per cent of drivers on motorways,” Premier Dominic Perrottet said.
The opposition has also promised to overhaul the toll network by undertaking a review.
Mr Minns says it will look at putting downward pressure on tolls, a long-term compensation package for drivers and injecting more competition into the market.
“I don’t think the government wants to admit how deep they are when it comes to the entanglement, when it comes to toll roads in Sydney,” Mr Minns said.
“We need that detailed economic work to take place now so that we don’t blindly stumble into the next contract.”
Labor will appoint Professor Allan Fels, the former chairman of the Australian Competition and Consumer Commission (ACCC), to oversee the review and make recommendations to the government, if they win office in March.
“Nothing is off the agenda,” Mr Fels said while joining the opposition leader for the announcement.
“Except, of course, the current contracts are binding.”
Transurban owns, or has a stake in, the Cross City Tunnel, Eastern Distributor, Lane Cove Tunnel, M2, M5 east and M5 South-West, WestConnex, NorthConnex and M7.
Those motorways are under concession until at least 2035, in the case of WestConnex it is 2060.
The government is already reviewing the state’s toll regime, but the findings won’t be released before the state election.
“We’ve set out to achieve a reform of the toll network,” Mr Perrottet said.
“What I want to see is downward pressure on the network in terms of prices to support households, and then in addition to that I want to make sure we move to a network price model.”