The 2012-13 Budget provides a funding package of $4.1 billion over the next four years to assist councils and shires maintain and upgrade their local roads, the centrepiece of which is the retention of the Roads to Recovery Program until 2019.
The 2012-13 Budget also allocates $300 million in new funding to extend the Black Spot Program for a further five years until 2019.
Local roads
Due to expire at the end of next financial year, the government has agreed to extend the Roads to Recovery Program for a further five years and maintain its annual funding at the current rate of $350.0 million, supplementing the support councils and shires receive under the Financial Assistance Grants Scheme.
An important aspect to the program is that local councils, rather than Canberra or state government bureaucrats, determine how the money is spent.