This issues paper, prepared for Infrastructure Australia by Allen Consulting, seeks to identify and assess the major economic, social, regulatory and other public policy issues relevant to potential road access improvement regimes involving investments by private sector road freight operators and users. The paper is intended to help to promote discussion with key stakeholders and lead to governments and potential investors working together to bring the road access regime concept to reality.

The paper finds that road freight infrastructure is in need of substantial further investment, but the scope, scale and timelines for investment go beyond the capacity and willingness of the three levels of Government to meet. Private sector investment has been inadequate to meet the gap between the demand for transport infrastructure and its supply through government bodies.

The paper presents a list of key issues for broader discussion with government and industry stakeholders. Issues involve models and mechanisms for investment, constraints on investment, risks to investment and the structure of the regulatory environment. It contends that the answers to these issues would provide a sound base on which to develop a model or models of a road access improvement regime that could be adopted around Australia.