POPULAR WORDS

Prime Minister John Howard says the government today will decide how much extra money will be spent on road and transport initiatives, following a larger than expected surplus identified last week by Treasurer Peter Costello. Howard defends the government's decision to put money into roads instead of freezing the February fuel excise, saying if he has made the wrong decision he will suffer the consequences. The money will be distributed among local and rural roads instead of being spent on one project, he says. Howard says there is little point cutting excise by a couple of cents a litre and a substantial cut in the excise is not financially viable for the government. "We have conscientiously looked at this and we do think it's a better investment to spend the money on road funding because good roads continue for a long time (while) a minor adjustment in the price of petrol can disappear overnight."