The New South Wales government has denied breaking an election promise after it confirmed it will introduce two-way tolling on the Sydney Harbour Bridge from 2028, to fund making a $60 toll cap permanent.
In an update on Thursday on its negotiations with Transurban to reform the state’s tolls, the Minns government said it would make the toll relief permanent, as well as scrap hundreds of millions of dollars in costly “administration fees” – issued by post to people without a tolling account when they drive on a toll road.
The now premier, Chris Minns, campaigned on ending “tollmania” before the 2023 election, and was a frequent critic of the former Coalition government’s plans for two-way tolling on the bridge, which has not had a northbound toll since 1970.
The new NSW opposition leader, Kellie Sloane, told 2GB on Thursday that the announcements reflected a “move to break one election promise to pay for another”.
The state’s transport minister, John Graham, was asked if his government had broken a commitment.
“I don’t accept that,” he replied, telling reporters the government had received advice it should implement two-way tolling by the time the two-way tolled Western Harbour Tunnel opened in late 2028. This was “always the plan under the former [Coalition] government”, he said.
“To have two-way tolling on the Western Harbour Tunnel and one-way tolling on the bridge and the tunnel would lead to traffic chaos.”
Graham said eradicating administration fees would also save motorists “significant money”. In the 2024-25 financial year the administration fees across 46m toll notices totalled $618m.
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Last month, Minns previewed the announcement the government would seek to permanently extend the $60 cap, which allows drivers to claim up to $340 back a week.
The cap, under which $211.4m has been claimed since early 2024, was due to expire at the end of this year.
But on Thursday, the government also said it would introduce a $5,000 annual limit for claims under the cap, which it said would “ensure no misuse”. A $5,000 annual limit would allow a driver to claim back an estimated average of $96 a week, much less than the $340 weekly limit.
On Thursday, Graham downplayed concerns this would hurt the western Sydney drivers the toll cap was designed to help, saying it was an “integrity measure” rather than a cost-saving one.
“It will affect very few drivers. Most people fall well below that,” he said.
Labor campaigned in 2023 on reducing the controversial administration fees, which start at $10 for each toll notice but can often eclipse the toll itself if left unpaid.
A 2021 parliamentary inquiry heard one road user had incurred a debt of $22,000 on top of unpaid tolls of $8,000.
Transurban has previously said it supports the reform of administration fees. From Monday, motorists will also receive digital reminders for the first time if a toll goes unpaid.
Transurban owns a direct or indirect majority in all the state’s privately tolled roads and tunnels, while the government controls tolling for the Harbour Bridge and tunnel, as well as the M6 motorway and Western Harbour Tunnel when they are completed.
The government has not yet achieved the central recommendations of the 2024 independent review: to unify all tolling under a newly created body, NSW Motorways, and to introduce uniform “declining distance-based tolling” across all toll roads.
It said on Thursday that negotiations were ongoing on “some motorway pricing changes”.
Graham said another update was expected in April. He said “nothing was off the table”, but said the government would not “be using taxpayer funds to buy out Transurban’s toll roads”.
The update follows a public blame game between the government and Transurban last week after the temporary closure of the privately tolled M4 tunnel, following a bulge in the concrete – or “shotcrete” – roof, left some drivers stuck for as long as four hours.
