Governments must look for new ways to fund roads as fuel excise revenue declines, warns Infrastructure Australia which has floated "users-pay" models which can include congestion taxes or new toll roads.
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Infrastructure Australia has recommended the federal government scrap vehicle registration fees and the fuel excise and launch an inquiry into replacing them with models which directly charges users of those roads.
Road funding currently comes from state-levied vehicle registration fees and stamp duties, and the Commonwealth-levied fuel excise and GST.
But Infrastructure Australia chair Julieanne Alroe warned the fuel excise may not be sustainable long term.
"If in a couple of years we do see big take-up of EVs [electric vehicles], as they become cheaper and anxiety about range fades ... we will not have enough money to fund the maintenance on our roads, much less the development of new roads," she said.
"So we do need to say, what is post-fuel excise?"
Speaking at a CEDA lunch in Brisbane on Tuesday, Ms Alroe said work needed to be done gradually to determine impacts on regional and urban drivers.
"If we don't have that conversation, I fear that we'll be making decisions very quickly and poorly informed when the crisis is on us," she said.
The fuel excise is the largest source of road-related revenue but has been falling for years due to improvements in fuel efficiency and electric and hybrid vehicles.
In February 2016, Infrastructure Australia recommended removing existing taxes - including fuel excise and vehicle registration - and asked the federal government to hold a public inquiry into replacing them with "direct user charges".
Last week, Infrastructure Australia chief executive Philip Davies questioned why the federal government had not launched an inquiry into road market reform, with a view to transitioning to a "fairer and more efficient user-pays approach", despite signalling its support in November 2016.
"Road market reform has the potential to deliver significant improvements in network performance and address fairness issues, while also establishing a secure and sustainable source of funding for our roads," Mr Davies said.
Infrastructure Australia has flagged "direct charging" could reflect each motorist's use of the network, including the location, time and distance of travel, and the characteristics of their vehicle, such as weight and emissions.
User-pays models can include congestion taxes, which are in place in London, or tolls on specific roads, which could include publicly-owned roads.
Ms Alroe acknowledged there was a lot of "anxiety" in the community about road user charging.
"Queensland is a classic example, toll roads are not popular in any event," she said.
Ms Alroe said she owned an electric vehicle, which she recharged using solar panels on her house, and had not been to a petrol station in more than 18 months.
"So I'm no longer paying my fuel excise," she said.
Queensland Transport Minister Mark Bailey agreed the revenue source for road improvements was going to change.
"My concern would be that once you get a whole batch of affordable electric vehicles out there you might go from very low uptake to suddenly when ... boom it goes through the roof," he said.
"The revenue model will be under a sudden attack and we've got to try to make some progress before we get to that point so that we're not rushing into a decision."
Urban Infrastructure Minister Minister Paul Fletcher said the Turnbull government had indicated its intention to establish a study, led by an eminent Australian, into the potential benefits and impacts of road user charging for light vehicles.
Mr Fletcher said any move to implement change, including road user charging, would be a 10- to 15-year journey and would only go ahead if governments were confident the benefits to the community outweighed the costs.
