Minister for Major Projects Breakfast

With the release of the Federal Government’s Infrastructure Plan it was timely for the Property Council to host Hon Paul Fletcher MP, Federal Minister for Major Projects, Territories and Local Government, last week for an industry breakfast. 

The Minister took the opportunity to outline the strong role that the Turnbull Government intends to play in the development of major transport infrastructure in our cities. The Federal Government sees its responsibility as optimising the performance of our cities as generators of economic value to the country. 

In linking the importance of transport infrastructure, the value of property and the economic success of our cities, the Minister demonstrated the need for Commonwealth investment in improving urban productivity. The Cross River Rail project was highlighted by the Minister as a key priority project that fits into the Government’s vision for better performing cities. 

Although the Federal Government has expressed strong interest in ‘value capture’ mechanisms to fund infrastructure, the Minister laid out policy parameters that the Government would utilise to assess these proposals. The Minister defined the need for value capture proposals to be “win-win” propositions.

Following the Minister’s presentation, the Property Council’s Chief Executive, Ken Morrison, used the opportunity to further question the Minister on the Government’s plans for value capture, his thoughts on asset sales, and other investigations being conducted by the Government into alternative mechanisms for financing infrastructure.

The Property Council thanks the Minister for his time, and major sponsor Dexus Property Group for their generous support of this event.

Photos from the event can be found here.

Event sponsors: