Pushback over proposal to lower speed limits on Australia’s country roads to between 70 and 90km/h

A proposal to reduce default speed limits on regional roads from 100km/h to between 70 and 90km/h is facing backlash, with some Labor MPs joining Nationals in criticising the policy. The federal infrastructure department has undertaken consultation on a “regulatory impact analysis”, released in September, as part of the National Road Safety Action Plan. That analysis was open to public submissions, which closed on 10 November. It is up to individual states and territories to implement their own road rules. Labor senator Helen Polley said any move to reduce the speed limit would be “a complete overreach”. “I think that it is unnecessary to change [the default limits], what we need is continued driving education and we need to continue to maintain the condition of our roads,” she said. Sign up: AU Breaking News email Several Nationals members have lambasted the proposed changes. The shadow infrastructure minister, Bridget McKenzie, said the government should make a clear statement that “it will not be forcing cuts to speed limits on communities”. “Regional communities are completely opposed to a Labor government in Canberra which has cut and cancelled funding to regional road projects telling them speed limits must be slashed to as low as 70km/h,” she said. The deputy Nationals leader, Kevin Hogan, said in parliament last week the move would have “serious consequences for productivity and freight costs across regional communities”. The analysis is part of the National Road Safety Strategy 2021-2030, agreed to by state, territory and commonwealth governments in May 2021. The plan aims to reduce road fatalities by 50% and reduce serious injuries by 30% by 2030, and cut fatalities and serious injuries to zero by 2050. The latest analysis states the country is not on track to meet those goals and needs further government intervention. The proposal to reduce default speed limits on regional roads was canvassed earlier, in the 2018-2020 action plan, released in May 2018, while Barnaby Joyce was deputy prime minister. Regional Victorian Labor MP Rob Mitchell said it was “hypocritical” the Nationals were railing against the changes, first proposed under the Coalition government, though he agreed a change to the speed limit was not necessary for sealed roads. “I don’t think it’s a smart decision to do it on every non-[sign]posted road but I think it’s a consideration for unsealed roads,” he said. Tasmania already has 80km/h default limits for unsealed roads. Western Australian Labor senator Glenn Sterle called on the government to abandon the proposal and labelled it as “rubbish” when speaking to ABC radio Pilbara on 7 November. “It is just a nonsense that we would even entertain or put up something like this. We have to clear the decks,” he said. “You’ve asked me my opinion and this is rubbish. This is ridiculous.” Australia’s road fatalities increased 10% between 2020 and 2024 from 4.28 fatalities per 100,000 people to 4.72. The report states a reduction in the urban default speed limit from 60km/h to 50km/h in the 1990s and 2000s has been estimated to have reduced fatalities by 50% in Victoria, by 37% in Western Australia and 26% in South Australia. However, the analysis states the share of fatal and serious injury (FSI) crashes that occur on default limit roads are unknown. It models several scenarios: if 10% of FSI crashes occur on default speed limit roads and the limit was reduced to 90km/h, 95 lives would be saved and 1,444 serious injuries avoided over a 10-year period. If that limit was reduced to 70km/h, 286 lives would be saved and 4,644 serious injuries would be avoided over 10 years. The infrastructure and transport minister, Catherine King, said the consultation “does not constitute government policy”. “This was a National party idea, which the National party are now campaigning against from opposition,” she said. “Any such changes to the speed limits would need to be implemented by states and territories who set them.”