Labor MPs on the Coast are concerned a tolling review being undertaken by the State Government could result in commuters facing heavy increases if distance-based tolling is introduced.
MPs Liesl Tesch (Gosford), David Mehan (The Entrance), Yasmin Catley (Swansea) and Shadow Minister for the Central Coast and Member for Wyong, David Harris, said tolls were already set to rise by 2 per cent, placing more financial strain on Coast commuters at a time when cost-of-living pressures are already smashing household budgets.
The review will consider a shift to distance-based charges, which would jack up the cost of tolls for the thousands of Coast residents who commute to Sydney, they said.
Harris said fuel taxes already added to travel costs and a move to distance-based tolling would be a further unfair impost.
Catley said a shift to distance-based tolling would unfairly target workers on the Coast.
“What the Government needs to make clear is how they can justify increasing tolls on the workers of the Coast at a time when the cost of everything but wages is going up,” she said.
Mehan said the Government should be looking at toll relief, not an increase.
And Tesch said the Government was looking to take more money from Coast residents with the cost-of-living already through the roof.
“Premier Dominic Perrottet increased our tolls by more by 5 per cent in April and now he wants to slog Coasties with even more taxes,” she said. “This plan must be stopped.”
Parliamentary Secretary for the Central Coast, Adam Crouch, confirmed that NSW Treasury, supported by Transport for NSW, was currently undertaking a tolling review for consideration by the Government.
“The final details of the review, including any option of distance-based tolling, are yet to be determined,” Crouch said.
Terry Collins