Infrastructure plan pulls no punches
The long-awaited Infrastructure Australia 15-year plan is a “wake-up call” to policy makers that the nation needs a pipeline of planned projects.
The plan, released last week, sets out 78 recommendations for reform needed to drive productivity growth, maintain living standards and improve the function of Australia’s cities.
Infrastructure Australia’s Chairman, Mark Birrell, says without significant action, Australia “faces a future of congestion and constraint.”
Property Council of Australia chief executive Ken Morrison agrees.
“This plan pulls no punches on the logjam of infrastructure projects that Australia needs,” he says.
“All too often we see a gap between planning and action. The end result is that the infrastructure that our nation needs is not built, nor is it ready to go.”
A list of 93 “priority projects” have been identified, which Infrastructure Australia says will provide “structured guidance to decision makers, visibility to industry and transparency for the community.”
Morrison says the fact that just two high priority infrastructure projects are ready to go is “a damning indictment on the adequacy of our infrastructure planning.
“We need infrastructure and urban plans which reinforce each other, and that will work best if we hardwire this into our governance arrangements,” Morrison says, adding that the governance proposals in the Infrastructure Australia plan are a start, but that “more can be done in this space.”
The Property Council is supportive of the UK-style ‘City Deals’ model, which seek to unlock economic growth in cities through partnerships between all three levels of government.
While welcoming the report, Morrison says the Property Council is concerned that the ‘value capture’ concepts currently being floated will become another impediment to growth and investment.
“Introducing new infrastructure taxes has the potential to stifle the very growth that any new infrastructure is set to create,” Morrison warns.
Download the Australian Infrastructure Plan.