South Australia Freight Council (SAFC) executive officer Evan Knapp says the federal election campaign was a disappointing one for his state.
Writing to Council members prior to the past weekend’s Federal Election, Knapp said with the number of South Australian seats “in play” and the rise of the Xenophon party, many in industry were hoping for some big infrastructure announcements to boost productivity.
“This hasn’t happened,” he wrote.
“It seems that both major parties believe that the (submarine construction) decision was enough for SA, even if the benefits of that decision won’t be felt for many years.”
Knapp suggested such lack of investment reflected the nature of the ‘all deficits are bad’ argument that appeared to be holding sway, noting that infrastructure project costs are currently low, providing “great bang for our infrastructure buck”.
“The second key point is that with the ability of governments to lock interest rates in at generational lows for the long term, there has never been a better time to be borrowing for productive infrastructure,” he added.
“While Australia might not be getting German bond rates – where investors are actually paying the German government to look after their money – borrowing now to lock in high cost-benefit ratio projects that will deliver the economic growth that SA desperately needs is a very compelling argument.
“Let’s hope that in the near future we see a Government with the courage to make this argument to the Australian (and South Australian) people.”
This article was originally published by Rail Express affiliate Lloyd’s List Australia.