General News
5 November, 2025
Rural road speed limits feedback deadline extended
THE Australian Government has extended the public consultation period for its proposal to drastically lower default speed limits on rural roads.
The new deadline for submissions is November 10, extended from the original closing date of Monday.
The core of the proposal is to reduce the current default speed limit of 100 kilometres an hour on sealed roads outside built-up areas that lack signposted limits.
The government has floated three options: 90km/h, 80km/h, or 70km/h.
For unsealed roads, which currently have no defined default limit, a new cap of either 80km/h or 70km/h would be introduced.
Government modelling has highlighted a significant difference in projected safety benefits between the proposed limits.
A reduction to 70km/h on sealed roads is estimated to avoid up to 1087 fatalities and 17,646 serious injuries over a decade.
For unsealed roads, a drop to 70km/h is projected to prevent 248 deaths and 8847 serious injuries, while an 80km/h limit would avoid an estimated 123 deaths and 4182 serious injuries.
A cost-benefit analysis found an 80km/h limit on sealed roads would deliver a better financial return ($1.50-$2.20 per dollar spent) than a 70km/h limit ($1.30-$1.90 per dollar spent).
Mallee MP, Anne Webster said on Monday the extension was welcome, but the idea remained “an outrageous, lazy solution to a serious issue facing cars and trucks across the country”.
“The consultation now runs for the usual length of 42 days, not the abysmally short 28 days,” she said.
“I said yesterday and repeat today, this looks like a Clayton’s consultation. The Government appears to want to bring regional Australia to a grinding halt.
“As I have said all along, ‘how about they just fix the bloody roads?’ Labor is cutting the Local Roads and Community Infrastructure program from 1 July next year, which councils and shires rely upon to improve local roads.”
The Government said speed remained the single most significant contributor to road trauma, with 65 per cent of Australia’s road fatalities over the last decade outside of major cities, with 85 per cent of them occurring on roads with speed limits at and above 80km/h.
With a $30 billion annual cost of road trauma nationally, the road fatality rate per 100,000 population was 8.5 per cent higher than the OECD median fatality rate in 2023.
The website for the feedback is bit.ly/rurroad100