The Malinauskas Government will put a pause on annual increases for metroCARD public transport fares to provide Cost of Living respite for South Australian commuters as the conflict in the Middle East continues to drive uncertainty in the international fuel market.
Public transport fares would normally be set to rise under annual indexation from July 1 – however the Malinauskas Government is now putting in place a three-month interim pause on any increase to costs for public transport commuters.
metroCARD fares will be maintained at 2025-26 levels until at least 1 October 2026, and the Government will further review at that point when it is appropriate to apply standard indexation of 3.3 per cent in the context of the ongoing war in the Middle East.
The annual increases on a range of public fees and charges are below the current national inflation rate of 4.6 per cent, with changes gazetted this week to come into effect from July 1. The annual increases take place to reflect the increasing costs of delivering important government services.
South Australian motorists will pay $693.52 for 12 months registration for a four-cylinder car, an increase of 3.4 per cent. The total registration bill is inclusive of the Compulsory Third Party (CTP) premiums, with the CTP metropolitan class 1 premiums to rise from the lowest available of $264.31 to $274.73 – an increase of 3.9 per cent.
The competitive CTP insurance regime was legislated by the previous Labor Government in 2017. Just before its introduction in 2019 owners of an average four-cylinder car in the metropolitan area were paying $411.25 per year. From 1 July 2026, they will be paying almost $137 a year less than that.
Some examples of fees commonly paid by South Australians include:
As put by Tom Koutsantonis
Plenty of South Australians are struggling with the Cost of Living.
While we all understand that various Government fees and charges always increase with CPI, we try wherever we can to minimise those increases, and in the 2026-27 financial year, we are keeping that increase below the rate of inflation – in some cases, well below.
But that's not all.
We know the ongoing conflict in Iran has caused ongoing uncertainty. While we have seen the cost of filling up a tank come down substantially from the peaks we saw in March, we believe it is appropriate to put a pause on the indexed increases to public transport fares.
That pause will last until at least October 1, and the government will consider extending it if the conflict and associated uncertainty remains ongoing.
Announcing increases to fees and charges is never popular, but we are being transparent, keeping cost increases down and deferring the impact of these changes for commuters on our public transport network.
