Roundabouts and car parks? The major parties are promising much on transport, but they should stick to their jobs

In the seat-by-seat slugfest that is the federal election, transport infrastructure is once again at the forefront. Small, hyper-local projects are a favourite of both major parties this time around. That’s even though small local projects, such as roundabouts and carparks, simply aren’t the job of the federal government, and in practice often go badly.

A better deal for taxpayers would be for whichever party wins government on Saturday to halt this spending on small local infrastructure, and focus instead on nationally significant projects that have been properly assessed by Infrastructure Australia.

There’s a big difference in what the parties are promising. The Coalition has committed an exuberant $18.1 billion worth^[1]; Labor a much more restrained $4.7 billion^[2]. In both cases, these transport promises are a pale shadow of the 2019 campaign^[3], when the Coalition promised $42 billion worth, and Labor an eyewatering $49 billion.

Source: Guardian Pork-o-Meter data. Notes: Data downloaded 13 May, 2022. Includes promises from 1 January to 10 May, 2022., Author provided (no reuse) The Coalition is sticking with the dominant strategy of the past 15 years, which is promising more funding to Queensland – the state where elections tend to be won and lost. It has promised nearly $900 per Queenslander in transport funding, compared with about $500 for each person in New South Wales and Victoria. Labor hasn’t overlooked Queensland either; although its promises favour Victoria, at close to $400 per person, Queenslanders are next in line, with about $200 worth of transport spending each.