The Australian Government should develop a national road user charge for electric vehicles, said Mark Parry, Chair of the Australian Trucking Association (ATA).
Speaking after releasing the ATA’s latest submission to Treasury’s consultations for the Economic Reform Roundtable at Parliament House from August 19-21, Parry said the case for implementing a national EV road user charge was strong.
“Fuel excise is forecast to decline from 5.2 per cent of government revenue in 2008-09 to 3.5 per cent in 2028-29,” he said.
“And there needs to be a national charging system to override future, inconsistent state charges. Although the High Court overturned Victoria’s EV road user charge, the latest NSW budget projects the state will generate $214 million from its own charge in 2027-28 and 2028-29.
“The last thing that national trucking businesses need is to have to pay road user charges at different rates to different governments with different record keeping requirements.”
Parry said the federal government should decide the details of the charge now but not impose it until electric vehicles make up 30 per cent of light vehicle sales and, later, heavy vehicle sales.
“We need the certainty of knowing how the charge will work, but there is a convincing argument that it should not be imposed until EVs are better established,” he said.
“Right now, we need more EVs to reduce our carbon emissions and support Australia’s fuel security. Every EV on the road reduces our need for imported fuel.”
Parry said there was no need to move diesel trucks to an invoice based road user charging system.
“The current fuel tax credit system seeks to ensure that truck and bus operators pay for their road use but are not overcharged. It keeps transport costs down for families and businesses alike,” he said.
“Governments have debated invoice based charging for heavy vehicles for many years, but the current system for charging truck and bus operators for our use of the roads will be workable into the 2030s.”
The ATA said the National Transport Commission will shortly begin consulting on a new model for calculating the charges – the existing model, PAYGO, is no longer fit for purpose – but the new model will not change how the money is recovered.