Infrastructure Victoria has published the report of a community panel which it convened to consider changing the way Victorians pay for the transport network.

The panel of 38 Victorians worked together over four weeks to consider the question: Under what conditions, if any, would the community accept a change in the way Victorians pay for roads and public transport?

The community panel detailed eight conditions under which they would accept a change to the way they paid for roads and public transport.

The panel’s conditions included some strong feedback on the importance of fairness, equity and transparency when considering such a complex reform.

Infrastructure Victoria Chief Executive Officer Michel Masson said the report is a crucial component of Infrastructure Victoria’s research program on transport network pricing.

“In our 30-year infrastructure strategy we recommended the introduction of a comprehensive transport pricing scheme because we think such a system could deliver profound benefits,” Mr Masson said.

“Receiving community feedback on such a complex and challenging topic is critical, and we are delighted to have received such a considered and high-quality report from our panel members.

“We offer our sincere thanks to all the community panel members who gave up their time to make a valuable contribution about how the state’s infrastructure is managed.

“The panel’s report will be used by Infrastructure Victoria in our research and we think it will also make an important contribution to the debate on transport network pricing,” Mr Masson said.

Infrastructure Victoria will now consider the community panel’s report and will provide a formal response in the coming months. The panel’s report will be used to inform the next phase of Infrastructure Victoria’s research on transport network pricing.

Read the full report. 

About the community panel

The panel was made up of 38 people who were independently recruited through a process that combined random selection and stratification to ensure it included a cross section of the community.

The panel wrote and delivered the report after a four week deliberative process. This included three face-to-face meetings and two webinars. The panel heard from a number of experts on various topics related to transport network pricing. The report consisted of eight conditions under which they would accept a change. The report also included a series of ‘minority reports’ that did not make the final list but that the panel wanted to include.

Source: Victoria Infrastructures