The wheels have fallen off the new Land Transport Amendment Bill, and the Federal Government is blaming the opposition for putting the valuable Roads to Recovery Programme at risk.

Deputy Prime Minister and Minister for Infrastructure and Regional Development Warren Truss said the Government could not accept plans by Labor, the Greens and other Senators for amendments to the bill during negotiations last week.

The potholes mean the Bill has failed to pass the Senate.

Labor and the Greens wanted cost benefit analyses to be made public ahead of approval for transport infrastructure projects, including those under the Black Spot and the Heavy Vehicle Safety and Productivity programs.

They also wanted a requirement for the Government to consult with Infrastructure Australia if a project would exceed $50 million, evaluating the project against the agency’s infrastructure priority lists.

But, those moves would Government said that would slow down approval of new road projects.

As a result, no funding for the $2.1 billion for the Roads to Recovery programme can be paid to Councils around the country, after the programme expired on June 30.

“We know how important this funding is for councils, which is why we added $350 million to the Roads to Recovery Program so we could double the payment to each and every council across Australia for the 2015-16 financial year,” federal infrastructure minister Warren Truss said.

“The amendments would have added bureaucracy to the operation of the Government’s infrastructure investment program and made significant changes to the way Infrastructure Australia would be required to operate, which are issues that are more appropriately dealt with by amendments to the Infrastructure Australia Act.

“This is why we will have to pick up the pieces and fight to get the Bill through Parliament when it resumes in late August,” Truss said.