The Alliance - which represents stakeholders from across regional Australia including farmers, transporters and local councils - has been formed in response to the critical challenges facing Australia's rural road network in the wake of recent flooding and high rainfall.
The Alliance includes GrainGrowers, the National Farmers' Federation (NFF), the Australian Local Government Association (ALGA) and the Australian Livestock and Rural Transporters Association (ALRTA).
Since January 2022, there have been 23 flood events, with 429 declarations across 277 local government areas (LGAs). In the last two months, the ongoing east coast flooding event has seen more than 82,000km impacted by flood-related closures across New South Wales, Queensland, Victoria, and South Australia, while Western Australia has experienced the devastation of Cyclone Seroja.
The Alliance said recent flooding had taken a wrecking ball to regional roads, including the nationally significant Hume, Newell, Calder, and Western highways.
Natural disasters and extreme weather events have already cost the Australian economy $5 billion in 2022, according to Federal Treasury estimates, as a result of widespread disruption to key industries such as agriculture.
GrainGrowers chair, Rhys Turton, said the rural road network was now at breaking point.
"We're already seeing recently repaired roads crumbling. It's thrown a challenging grain harvest into disarray as farmers and transporters struggle to move grain from paddock to port," Turton said.
NFF chief executive, Tony Mahar, has labelled the damage as catastrophic.
"We're looking for a substantial, long-term commitment. We can't be left driving on decimated roads once the politicians and news cameras move onto the next disaster," Mahar said.
ALRTA executive director, Mat Munro, said the damage was already undermining productivity and safety in the regions.
"Severely damaged roads are dramatically increasing the time and cost of moving freight to and from our rural production centres. It's harder on our vehicles, it's harder on our drivers, and it's harder on our livestock. It's holding back development of our regional communities and undermining safety and welfare for all users of country roads," Munro said.
