What Will Bolster Australia’s 1 Comment Economy?€¦ · The 201516 Federal Budget outlines...
Transcript of What Will Bolster Australia’s 1 Comment Economy?€¦ · The 201516 Federal Budget outlines...
advertisement
MoreConstructionThe 201516 Federal Budget outlines
projects including upgrades of the Bruceand Pacific Highways, a new WesternSydney Airport and supporting roadspackage, a $300 million Bridges RenewalProgramme and $350 million allocated forconstruction and maintenance of localroads.
Treasurer Joe Hockey claims hisGovernment is “rolling out the biggestinfrastructure programme in Australia’shistory, with new road and freight corridorsbeing built right across the country.”
Northern Australia is atop the agenda with a
The Federal Government describesitself as “nation building” and in itsrecent budget says it’s investing tobuild worldclass infrastructure for astronger Australia. But is it enough?
What Will Bolster Australia’sEconomy?1 Comment
Add your comment to this story
25SHARED
THIS
Contributor:SarahBachmannPublished: 23June 2015
Engineers CanCapitalize onAustralia’sSluggishTransportation
Key sectorsof theAustralianeconomycould behard...
ChineseInfrastructureProjects Flounder
Domesticsteelmanufacturing
in Australia
Is Australia’s SteelIndustry Doomed?
Wednesday, June 24
advertisement
RecentlyPublished
Some of the 22,000 precast concrete segments for the Narrows
Crossing Tunnel under Gladstone Harbour.
Image courtesy NPCAA
Northern Australia is atop the agenda with anew $5 billion Northern AustraliaInfrastructure Facility. The Governmentplans to partner with the private sector andstate governments of Western Australia, theNorthern Territory and Queensland. Itpromises large concessional loans for theconstruction of ports, pipelines, electricityand water infrastructure.
But at a time when the unemployment rateis a relatively high 6.1 per cent and interestrates are at an alltime low, now should bethe time to borrow big and give oureconomy a vital boost through even moreinfrastructure. Cashstrapped governmentsare loath to increase debt or raise taxes butinfrastructure spending can significantlyboost growth. It’s a winwin. Not only doesthe infrastructure provide jobs, but thegovernment gets income tax from theworkers and communities get betterfacilities for the future. But there’s a catch –any spending on infrastructure has to be onthe right projects.
VictoriaCommuters FaceFrustratingFuture Travel
TradespeopleWin inConstructionFriendly Budget
MelbourneFreeway TunnelTwice the Priceof Sydney’s
Are We Makingthe Most of LandNear TransitCorridors?
Public TransitSolutions forCities of theFuture
in Australiahas no longterm...
Around onein fiveworkingarrangementsinvolvingforeign
One in Five 457Visas Cause forConcern
BIMEducationandTrainingOptions inAustralia
Engineering
Has NSWUndervaluedtheEnergySavingsScheme?
Engineering
Let’s Build
a Better
Engineering
The Productivity Commission InquiryReport into Public Infrastructure (handeddown last year) found that although efficientinfrastructure provides services that bothimprove productivity and the quality of life,poorly chosen infrastructure can do theopposite by reducing productivity andfinancially burdening the community fordecades. The Commission highlights justhow important it is to properly assess andprioritise infrastructure investments.
To that aim, Infrastructure Australia hasjust completed its Australian InfrastructureAudit Report. It found some massive gaps.Urban transport service quality is at the topof the list, as is the quality and reliability ofwater services in some rural towns. That’s agood place to start with infrastructureimprovements. In a country as developed asAustralia, every community should have areliable and good quality water supply.
Another issue raised by the audit is the needfor integrated infrastructure and landuseplanning across all levels of government.You’d think that would be a given, butinstead all levels of government are failingto meet community expectations forstrategic decisionmaking. We should bedemanding better.
The audit has found so many areas thatcould benefit from funding. Just anotherexample is the demand for key urban roadand rail corridors. Current projectionsindicate demand will significantly exceedcurrent capacity by 2031. That’s only 16
years away, but what are we doing about it?
a BetterEnergyPlan ForAustralia!
JV3EnergyModellingLeads theWay
Property
What doresilientcities andRugbyLeaguehave incommon?
Architecture
It’s time to prioritise, borrow and build,engage with local communities and have ourthree tiers of government working efficientlytogether. We need to invest in essentialfacilities and services better roads, rail,harbours, water, power, hospitals andschools. While interest rates are so low, it’sthe ideal time to borrow billions and investin Australia.
Published on 23 June 2015
CONTRIBUTED BY:Sarah BachmannSarah has been in her current role of CEO of theNational Precast Concrete Association for the last 11years. Now running the Association’s national officefrom Adelaide, she has spent 16 years in state andnational association management roles and 10 in seniormarketing/public affairs positions,...
SHARE
COMMENTS
Post Comment
Your Name (required)
Your EMail (will not be
published) (required)
*Please refer to our comment policy before submitting
1200 characters available