General News
25 November, 2025
Labor backflips on regional speed limit proposal
The federal government has been forced into an embarrassing backflip on its ill-conceived plan to slash speed limits on regional roads to 70 km/h, a proposal that never should have seen the light of day.
Member for Parkes, Jamie Chaffey, said the decision to quietly drop the policy is an admission that Labor has failed to address the real issue: fixing dangerous, crumbling regional roads.
“This plan was a diversion from the fact that road funding has fallen a long way behind what is needed to maintain regional roads,” Mr Chaffey said.
“Safety issues cannot be addressed by asking people to slow down to drive around potholes.
“Regional communities, local councils, and Liberal and National MPs have told the Albanese Labor Government in no uncertain terms they do not want this plan, and common sense has finally prevailed.
“This was a ridiculous plan, and the Labor Government has wasted months pushing a policy that punished regional motorists instead of repairing the roads that endanger them.”
Mr Chaffey said the government’s backdown follows overwhelming public opposition, including more than 11,000 submissions rejecting Labor’s proposal.
“Cutting speed limits would have been a lazy substitute for real road investment,” he said.
“The amount of necessary funding that has been knocked back through Disaster Recovery Funding Arrangements in the past three to four years is staggering at about $150 million. Councils cannot meet these enormous costs, and they should not be expected to.”
The backdown comes as Australia faces a worsening road-safety crisis:
1361 Australians lost their lives on the road in the past year - a 6.9 per cent increase.
Two-thirds of those fatalities occurred in regional Australia.
October recorded the worst monthly toll in five years, with fatalities 14.9 per cent above average.
“Axing the speed-limit plan is a victory for regional Australia, but road safety won’t improve until the Albanese government invests in the roads themselves. It’s time they got on with the task of making roads safer by fixing them and filling the potholes,” Mr Chaffey said.
