Report warns on infrastructure bottlenecks as economy recovers

By Jennifer Perry

The report, ’Groundwork for Growth: Building the Infrastructure that Australia Needs' argues that if Australia is to meet its infrastructure challenges it needs to make better use of existing infrastructure, improve investment signals, make sure the “right” projects are built and increase the transparency of publicly funded works, it was reported.
“We have an opportunity to lay the groundwork for sustainable growth over the next decade by setting a clear national ambition for Australia’s growth and by planning for the infrastructure to support it,” BCA sustainable growth task force chair Rod Pearse said.
Supporting the findings of the report, the Australasian Railway Association (ARA) rates a freight rail network that efficiently links all of Australia’s capital cities as a matter of priority.
“It is not a nice ‘to do’ project but a must for our economic survivability,” ARA chief executive Bryan Nye said.
While Pearse said that both the federal and state governments understand the significance of infrastructure supporting future growth, Nye said that we’ve only “just started on the journey” of investing in rail.
“You can’t just improve one line you have to improve the lot. That’s what’s missing at the moment; we’re doing it ‘bit by bit’,” Nye said.
“We need a national freight plan – a plan that enables the ‘total package’ to be put together.”
He said that the linkages between ports and terminals remain a major problem.
“The dedicated freight corridor though Sydney is one of the biggest priorities for rail but then you have the future terminals to sort out, Moorebank still hasn’t been approved – where are the future terminals going to be? You can add an extra wharf at Botany but how’s the freight going to get out of there?”
The BCA report also says the role of Infrastructure Australia (IA) needs to be refined, and argues that it should be the Productivity Commission’s role to conduct regular independent audits of Australia’s infrastructure and its capacity to support growth.
Nye disagrees.
“We’ve finally got a body [IA] that’s trying to draft a national freight plan – COAG’s record of doing things hasn’t been great – let’s make it work and give IA a chance to get on before we get another new body in,” he said.
In response to the BCA report, a number of business leaders reportedly said they wanted to see measures introduced to encourage private investment in infrastructure.
“PPPs are fine,” Nye said, “but where does the risk lie?”
“For a PPP to work in the future somebody, or governments, will have to take more of the risk and that’s something that hasn’t occurred, that’s why people are a bit reluctant.”

To download the report visit: www.bca.com.au