Road-related Revenue and Expenditure
Chapter 3
This chapter provides information on the Government’s total expenditures and sources of revenue for road-related activities for the Commonwealth, state and local Government (noting only expenditure is shown at the local level). A variety of sources are used for this data, including data from the Australian Tax Office, the Australian Bureau of Statistics, the Department of Infrastructure, Transport, Regional Development, Communications and the Arts, BITRE estimates and State and Territory Governments.
- Road related expenditure by all government slightly increased from $33 billion in 2020-21 to $36 billion in 2021-22 (latest available year).
- $28 billion in road-related revenue was collected by all government (excluding road-related revenue from the Goods and Services Tax, Fringe Benefits Tax and the Luxury Car Tax).
Figure 1 Road-related expenditure, by level of government (constant 2021-22 prices, adjusted by CPI)
Government’s road-related expenditure over time can be seen in Figure 1. The State/Territory Government expenditure is at an all-time high in 2021-22 at 23 billion dollars. The Commonwealth’s expenditure fell to 7.7 billion dollars in 2021-22 from a record high of 9.5 billion dollars the previous year. Local government expenditure has remained relatively stable over time, with an average of 5.8 billion dollars over the past 24 years.
Figure 2 Australian Government Road-Related Revenues
Figure 2 shows road-related revenues for the Australian Government, while Figure 3 shows revenues for the States and Territories (excluding tolls). Figure 2 highlights how the Commonwealth’s main source of road-related revenue is from the net road-related petroleum excise with an average of 12.6 billion dollars over 10 years.
Figure 3 State and Territory Government Road-Related Revenues (excluding tolls)
Figure 3 illustrates that the majority of revenue for the states/territories is vehicle registration fees with an average of 8.3 billion dollars per year over 10 years and a maximum of 9.1 billion dollars in 2020-21.
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Chapter 6
This chapter provides the following information on Australian roads: road distances, road length in kilometres, licence registration transactions over different vehicle types, electric vehicles attributes and registration transactions.
A variety of sources are used for this data, including data from the Australian Bureau of Statistics, the Department of Infrastructure, Transport, Regional Development, Communications and the Arts, Federal Chamber of Automotive Industries (FCAI), VFACTS, BITRE estimates and State and Territory Governments.
- Australia’s total estimated paved road length was 427,000 kilometres in 2022.
- An estimated 254 billion vehicle kilometres were travelled on Australia's roads in 2022-23.
- In 2022-23, Sports Utility Vehicles (SUVs) comprised 55% of new motor vehicle sales (excluding motor cycles) compared with only 28% 10 years earlier.
- In 2022, there were 33 000 electric vehicle sales in Australia, up from 17 000 the previous year.
Figure 1 Map of national road network
Figure 1 shows Australia’s national road network. The lines and dots shown here are the roads and town points that were open for traffic at December 2021.
Figure 2 Sales of electric vehicles
Figure 2 shows the sale of registered battery electric vehicles and Plug-in Hybrids over time. Fully battery electric vehicles sales increased by 93 per cent between 2021 and 2022.
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Road-related Revenue and Expenditure
Chapter 3
This chapter provides information on the Government's total expenditures and sources of revenue for road-related activities for the Commonwealth, state and local Government (noting only expenditure is shown at the local level). A general overview for the Commonwealth is presented first, before expenditures (Table 3.1) and revenues (Table 3.2) are broken down at state/territory level. A variety of sources are used for this data, including data from the Australian Tax Office, the Australian Bureau of Statistics, the Department of Infrastructure, Transport, Regional Development, Communications and the Arts, the Commonwealth Budget, BITRE estimates and State and Territory Governments. For a more detailed breakdown, please refer to the endnotes for Chaptere 3.
- The public sector (National, state and local) spent $39 billion in roads in 2022–23.
- $31 billion in road-related revenue was collected (excluding road-related revenue from the Goods and Services Tax, Fringe Benefits Tax and the Luxury Car Tax).
Public sector road-related expenditure over time can be seen in Figuree 6.
Figure 6 Road-related expenditure, by level of government (constant 2022–23 prices, adjusted by CPI)
Figure 7 shows selected road-related revenues
Figure 7 Selected road-related revenues
Figure 8 illustrates that the majority of revenue for the states/territories is vehicle registration fees.
Figure 8 State and Territory Government Road-related revenues (excluding tolls)
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- Road-related Revenue and Expenditure—Yearbook 2024 (234 KB) - Download Excel file
- Australian Infrastructure and Transport Statistics—Yearbook 2024 - Download PDF
Also see
Chapter 6
This chapter provides the following information on Australian roads: road distances, road length in kilometres, licence registration transactions over different vehicle types, electric vehicles attributes and registration transactions.
A variety of sources are used for this data, including data from the Australian Bureau of Statistics, the Department of Infrastructure, Transport, Regional Development, Communications and the Arts, Federal Chamber of Automotive Industries (FCAI), VFACTS, BITRE estimates and State and Territory Governments.
- Australia's total estimated paved road length was 463,000 kilometres in 2023.
- An estimated 260 billion vehicle kilometres were travelled on Australia's roads in 2023–24.
- In 2023–24, Sports Utility Vehicles (SUVs) comprised 56% of new motor vehicle sales (excluding motor cycles) compared with only 30% 10 years earlier.
- In 2023, there were 87 thousand fully electric vehicle sales in Australia, up from 33 thousand the previous year.
Figure 13 shows the sale of registered battery electric vehicles and Plug-in Hybrids over time. Fully battery electric vehicles sales increased by 161 per cent between 2022 and 2023.
Figure 14 shows Australia's national road network.
Figure 13 Sales of electric vehicles
Figure 14 Map of national road network
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- Road—Yearbook 2024 (XLSX 291 KB) - Download Excel file
- Australian Infrastructure and Transport Statistics—Yearbook 2024 - Download PDF
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Transport Energy and Environment
Chapter 11
This chapter provides information on the Australian measures of transport energy and the environment. Data is sourced from the Department of Climate Change, Energy, the Environment and Water's petroleum statistics and BITRE estimates.
- Road vehicles made up 84 percent of full fuel cycle greenhouse gas emissions from all domestic transport modes in 2023–24, compared to 9 per cent from aviation.
- The national average price for petrol was 196 cents per litre in the 2023–24 financial year.
- In 2023–24, domestic road vehicle full fuel cycle greenhouse gas emissions estimates (carbon dioxide equivalent) reached a record high level of 108 000 gigagrams of CO2 equivalent.
- In 2023–24, there was an estimated 58 billion litres of transport petroleum sold in Australia.
Figure 22 shows full fuel cycle greenhouse gas emissions by transport mode in gigagrams of CO2 equivalent. Transport emissions in Australia have risen steadily since 1974–75, except over the COVID-19 pandemic period, which saw them dip temporarily for road vehicles and domestic aviation. Domestic aviation emissions were most affected, almost halving from 11 116 gigagrams of CO2 equivalent in 2018–19 to 5 955 gigagrams of CO2 equivalent in 2020–21, while road vehicle emissions fell by roughly 3 per cent over the same period.
Figure 22 Transport full fuel cycle greenhouse gas emissions
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- Transport Energy and Environment—Yearbook 2024 (161 KB) - Download Excel file
- Australian Infrastructure and Transport Statistics—Yearbook 2024 - Download PDF
Also see
Road-related Revenue and Expenditure
Chapter 3
This chapter provides information on the Government’s total expenditures and sources of revenue for road-related activities for the Commonwealth, state and local government (noting only expenditure is shown at the local level).
A general overview for the Commonwealth is presented first, before expenditures and revenues are broken down at state/territory level. A variety of sources are used for this data, including data from the Australian Tax Office, the Australian Bureau of Statistics, the Department of Infrastructure, Transport, Regional Development, Communications, Sport and the Arts, the Commonwealth Budget, BITRE estimates and State and Territory Governments.
- The public sector (national, state and local) spent $44 billion on roads in 2023-24.
- $36 billion in road-related revenue was collected by all governments (excluding road-related revenue from the Goods and Services Tax, Fringe Benefits Tax and the Luxury Car Tax).
Public sector road-related expenditure over time can be seen in Figure 5.
Figure 5 Road-related expenditure, by level of Government (constant 2023-24 prices, adjusted by CPI)
Sources: ABS (2025), Consumer Price Index, Australia
ABS (2025), Government Finance Statistics, Australia
BITRE estimates
Figure 6 illustrates that the majority of revenue for the states/territories is vehicle registration fees, and Figure 7 shows how road-related excise and registration revenue has changed over time.
Figure 6 Selected road-related revenues
Sources: ATO (2025), Statistical Inquiry Service
ABS (2025), Consumer Price Index, and Taxation Revenue
Treasury (2022), Final Budget Outcomes 2021-22
State Governments and private toll-road operators
Figure 7 Road-related excise and registration revenue (2023-24 prices)
Sources: State and territory Governments, 2025
State Government reports and publications, 2025
ATO, BITRE estimates
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- Road-related Revenue and Expenditure—Yearbook 2025 (153 KB) - Download Excel file
- Australian Infrastructure and Transport Statistics Yearbook 2025 - Download PDF
Also see
Chapter 4
This chapter provides information on Australian roads including length, use, the vehicle fleet, and the number of vehicle licences.
- An estimated 264 billion vehicle kilometres were travelled on Australia's roads in 2024–25.
- In 2024, there were 476,000 km of paved roads in Australia.
- 20 million Australians had vehicle licences at 2024–25.
- In 2024–25, Sports Utility Vehicles (SUVs) comprised 59% of new motor vehicle sales (excluding motorcycles) compared with only 33% ten years earlier.
Figure 8 shows total vehicle kilometres by vehicle type. Figure 9 shows Australia’s national road network. Total vehicle kilometres travelled fell significantly during the COVID pandemic, only surpassing their previous 2017–18 peak in 2023–24.
Figure 8 Vehicle kilometres travelled by vehicle type
Source: Table 4.2
Figure 9 Map of national road network
Source: DITRDCSA, 2022
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- Road—Yearbook 2025 (266 KB) - Download Excel file
- Australian Infrastructure and Transport Statistics Yearbook 2025 - Download PDF
Also see
Transport Energy and Environment
Chapter 9
This chapter provides information on the Australian measures of transport energy and the environment. Data is sourced from industry participants, the Australia Petroleum Statistics, the Australian Energy Statistics, the Department of Environment, Energy, Climate Change and Water and BITRE’s own estimates.
- Road vehicles made up 84 per cent of full fuel cycle greenhouse gas emissions from all domestic transport modes in 2024-25, compared to 10 per cent from aviation.
- In 2024-25, domestic road vehicle full fuel cycle greenhouse gas emissions estimates (carbon dioxide equivalent) reached a record high level of 108 megatonnes of CO2 equivalent.
- The national average price for petrol was 181 cents per litre in the 2024-25 financial year.
- In 2024-25, there was an estimated 59.2 billion litres of transport petroleum sold in Australia.
This chapter provides information on the Australian measures of transport energy and the environment. The methodology for this year’s estimates has been updated to incorporate new data sources and respond to changes in data availability and quality.
Figure 17 shows the full fuel cycle greenhouse gas emissions in megatonnes of CO2 equivalent. Transport emissions in Australia have risen steadily since 1974-75, except over the COVID-19 pandemic period, which saw them dip temporarily for road vehicles and domestic aviation. Transport emissions rose again in 2024-25, but at a slower rate than previous years post-pandemic.
Figure 17 Transport full fuel cycle greenhouse gas emissions
Source: BITRE estimates
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- Transport Energy and Environment—Yearbook 2025 (131 KB) - Download Excel file
- Australian Infrastructure and Transport Statistics Yearbook 2025 - Download PDF
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Infrastructure and the Economy
Chapter 10
- Infrastructure and the Economy—Yearbook 2025 (113 KB) - Download Excel file
- Australian Infrastructure and Transport Statistics Yearbook 2025 - Download PDF
This chapter provides data on the Australian economy, including the gross value added and employment in the transport and storage industry.
- 4.5 per cent of Australia’s GDP was accounted for by Australia’s transport, postal and warehousing industry in 2024-25.
- 273 thousand people were employed in the road transport industry compared to 47 thousand in the rail industry.
- 80 per cent of people employed by the road transport industry identify as male.
The gross value added of transport, postal and warehousing as a percentage of GDP has remained relatively stable since 1974–75, generally ranging between 4-5% of GDP. In terms of employment, although employment in the transport, postal and warehousing industry has grown in overall terms, as a percentage of total Australian employment, it has stayed at around 5% for the last 30 years.
Figure 18 shows employment statistics for various transport industries as at August of each year.
Figure 18 Australian employment numbers in selected major infrastructure industries
Note: This data refers to employment in August of each reference year.
Source: ABS (2025), Labour Force Australia, detailed, Canberra
Figure 19 shows employment in the road and rail industries by gender from 2023 to 2025. In 2025, there were around 230 thousand male employees compared with fewer than 50 thousand female employees. In contrast, the rail industry has a smaller workforce overall, but displays a somewhat more balanced distribution. Male employment in rail industry is consistently higher than the female employment, though the gap is narrower than in the road transport sector. Over the past three years both road and rail workforces have been declining.
Figure 19 Employment in road and rail industries, by gender
Source: ABS (2025), Labour Force Australia, detailed, Canberra
This release provides statistics relating to the number of vehicles registered for road use in Australia on 31 January 2024. The statistics encompass all vehicles that were registered with an Australian state or territory motor vehicle registry for unrestricted use on public roads, and reported by jurisdictions to the National Exchange of Vehicle and Driver Information System (NEVDIS). This is the third annual release of Road Vehicles Australia, which replaces the ABS Motor Vehicle Census, discontinued in 2021. More statistics are available on the BITRE website and data.gov.au.