[Peakoil] Peak Oil in Crikey

[W & C Steensby]

On 2012/05/18, at 14:06, Alex Pollard wrote:

> Fares and fairness:
> ...
> That is a good question, but would it not be equally valid to ask why the public purse pays for roads and makes them freely available to all, a huge non-means-tested benefit to all who drive?
 
Correct me if I'm wrong, but as I understand it, under the Australian Constitution all roads, existing in 1901 and in the future, are dedicated in fee simple, meaning that money cannot be charged directly for the use of a road. Perhaps a reaction against some then-unsatisfactory pricing arrangement in the Mother Country. This means that road tolls and parking meters are unconstitutional, being collected and used ultra vires.

If this is the case, then to alter it it would require a change to the Constitution. We all know the probabilities of that succeeding.

Walter