The release of the Infrastructure Australia Plan is a wake-up call to South Australia’s policy makers that must not be ignored, according to the Property Council of Australia.
“This report is direct, honest and it doesn’t sugar coat its calls for the infrastructure projects or policy settings that South Australia needs,” said Daniel Gannon, SA Executive Director of the Property Council.
“It’s a wake-up call to South Australia’s policy makers that we need a pipeline of planned infrastructure projects and we need to better align planning and infrastructure.
“For too long now we’ve seen a gap between planning and action, and that’s why we need to prioritise professionalism and productivity with the Planning Bill currently before Parliament.
“Ultimately that means removing elected representatives from Development Assessment Panels and encouraging efficiency and innovation.
“Failure to do so will mean the real losers could be job creation, small business and economic development.
“We’ve talked about reinstating a metropolitan light rail network for too long now, but without significant progress. Our state needs it to boost productivity and connectivity.
“The property sector – the state’s largest private sector employer – fully supports the work of Infrastructure Australia in seeking to turn this around.
“Capital cities like Adelaide face a significant challenge going forward, with three quarters of Australia’s population growth in the next 20 years set to occur in our four largest cities – Sydney, Melbourne, Brisbane and Perth.
“That means Adelaide needs to get cracking on sustainably increasing our state’s population.
“As the infrastructure Australia report highlights, getting our infrastructure right is vital if we are to improve living standards and productivity.”
Mr Gannon said the Property Council was supportive of the UK style ‘City Deals’ which seek to unlock economic growth in our cities through partnerships between all three levels of government, and welcomed the report’s focus on amalgamation of local government in some areas to further unlock local infrastructure responsibilities.