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| Tasmanian freight schemes parameter review | November 2008 |
In March 2006 the Productivity Commission was asked to 'report on the merits and weaknesses of the current arrangements for subsidising containerised and bulk shipping between the mainland and Tasmania and provide recommendations on an appropriate future approach and/or arrangements. ' This review covered both the Tasmanian Freight Equalisation Scheme and Tasmanian Wheat Freight Scheme.
The Hon Anthony Albanese MP, Minister for Infrastructure, Transport, Regional Development and Local Government, announced the Government's decision on future arrangements for the schemes on 6 November 2008. |
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| COAG urban congestion review | April 2007 |
| At its meeting on 13 April 2007, the Council of Australian Governments (COAG) considered the report of a major inter-jurisdictional Review of Urban Congestion Trends, Impacts and Solutions. (The communiqué from the meeting is available at www.coag.gov.au). |
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| Greenhouse Gas Emissions From Australian Transport: Base Case Projections to 2020. | January 2005 |
| This report presents the results of a Bureau of Transport and Regional Economics (BTRE) study to update base case projections of greenhouse gas emissions from the Australian transport sector. This work updates previous projections provided to the Australian Greenhouse Office (AGO) in July 2003 as an unpublished consultancy report - Aggregate Greenhouse Gas Emissions from Australian Transport: Base Case Projections (Bottom-Up Approach) to 2020. |
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| Impact of climate change on road infrastructure. | January 2004 |
There is an increasing body of evidence that the earth's climate is changing with some of the changes attributable to human activities. Climate change can have direct and indirect impacts on road infrastructure.
The direct impacts are due to the effects of the environment. Rainfall changes can alter moisture balances and influence pavement deterioration. In addition, temperature can affect the aging of bitumen resulting in an increase in embrittlement of the surface chip seals that represent more than 90% of the rural sealed roads in Australia. Embrittlement of the bitumen causes the surface to crack, with a consequent loss of waterproofing of the surface seal. The result is that surface water can enter the pavement causing potholing and fairly rapid loss of surface condition. More frequent reseal treatments will ameliorate the problem, but at a cost to road agencies. |
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| Appropriateness of a 350 million litre biofuels target. | January 2003 |
| In July 2003 the Commonwealth Scientific and Industrial Research Organisation (CSIRO), jointly with the Bureau of Transport and Regional Economics (BTRE) and the Australian Bureau of Agricultural and Resource Economics (ABARE) were asked to investigate the appropriateness of maintaining an objective that biofuels, produced in Australia from renewable resources, contribute at least 350 ML to the total fuel supply by 2010. The joint study was initiated on 5 August 2003 with a final report required to be delivered on 19 December 2003. |
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