It has recommended road users be individually charged based on their location, time of travel and road congestion, with the money raised under such a framework going straight back into road construction, maintenance and safety costs.

Under the proposal, every road in the nation would have a toll, with cost tied to what, where and when we drive.

The argument is many of us wouldn’t end up paying anymore than we already do because the likes of fuel excise and registration charges would be lowered in line with the new system of cost recovery.

Those who drive less, would pay less, designed to encourage more of us onto public transport and off the roads at peak times, when higher charges would apply.

While many have cautiously welcomed the move, for those in rural and regional areas where more long distance travel is the norm and public transport networks are generally poor, questions need to be asked.

By living in the areas we do we are automatically relieving the congestion in our cities, so it would seem reasonable to expect cost breaks or lower toll fees in the event such a system was ever introduced.

For our cities though, a user pays framework, in theory, could make a lot of sense and ultimately make people’s lives better.

Charging people more for driving at peak-hour times, when parts of cities such as Sydney come to a gridlocked standstill, would hopefully encourage more people onto public transport networks.

Of course the onus then would fall onto our governments to provide the kind of networks many European cities take for granted.

In line with such a massive change, it’s also been suggested companies and businesses would have to start considering offering more flexible working hours and provide facilities to work from home, so employees had the option of choosing to travel outside peak times.

The state of many of our roads, too, particularly those in non-metropolitan areas, is declining so a new funding framework, like the one that’s been suggested by the Australian Competition and Consumer Commission may be timely.

Of course, governments would have to make their own assurances, guaranteeing funds from a user pays system did indeed come back to our roads and wasn’t funnelled off into other sectors, as is often the case.

All that aside though, the discussion is one we need to have because simply building more roads that encourage more cars and just contribute to higher levels of congestion is no solution.