The role of fast-growing cities should be reconsidered whilst resilience and sustainability should be embedded into infrastructure planning and a more mature approach should be adopted to risk and procurement for infrastructure projects, according to a 29-point plan to deliver infrastructure success in Australia over the next fifteen years.

Infrastructure Australia has released the 2021 edition of its Australian Infrastructure Plan.

All up, the plan contains 29 recommendations across nine areas (see below).

This includes two new areas of social infrastructure and waste which were not separately considered in the 2016 plan.

The plan aims to respond to 180 infrastructure-related challenges which were identified in a 2019 audit of Australia future infrastructure needs.

It also responds to additional challenges which have been identified as being more urgent to address as a result of COVID in Infrastructure Australia’s Infrastructure beyond COVID-19 report released in December last year.

To support implementation of the proposed reforms, each reform area includes a recommendation which is supported by interim outcomes, a series of enabling activities, identification of parties responsible for reform efforts and the time period for reform adoption.

Infrastructure Australia chief executive officer Rommily Madew said the importance of the plan should not be underestimated.

“The 2021 Australian Infrastructure Plan is being delivered at a critical moment in our history. The pandemic, bushfires, drought, floods, and cyber-attacks have tested our collective resilience during recent years, while the most recent outbreaks have devastated our CBDs and put us at risk of a recession,” Madew said.

“The 2021 Plan outlines the reforms that will underscore future Australian economic growth. It is focused on identifying the actions required to deliver infrastructure for a stronger Australia and support our national recovery from the still-unfolding COVID-19 pandemic.”

“Building back better requires collective action from governments and industry, which combines both investment and reform. We have seen significant investment in the infrastructure sector since the start of the pandemic, but to drive the next phase of the national recovery, we need to pursue reforms that unlock the full benefits of stimulus spending.

“Infrastructure investment is at record levels across Australia, demonstrated by the Australian Government’s historic $110 billion infrastructure commitment. The 2021 Plan highlights the importance of leveraging this investment through targeted reform to deliver better infrastructure services for our communities.”

Construction and infrastructure lobby groups welcomed the plan, but cautioned that the plan needs to be accompanied by action.

“The 2016 Australian Infrastructure Plan set the destination for infrastructure reform in Australia, and now the 2021 Plan gives us the route to get there,” Infrastructure Partnerships Australia Chief Executive, Adrian Dwyer said.

“The challenge for policy makers is now to get infrastructure reform moving.

“You can make a career out of writing reports, but you can’t build a 21st Century economy out of them without actually doing what they say.”

Australian Constructors Association CEO Jon Davies said the pandemic has created a once in a generation opportunity for reform.

Davies called on the Commonwealth to help to coordinate and incentivise the reform effort.

He said a particularly important area of focus revolves around the skills, capability and sustainability of the construction industry as it works to deliver upon the reforms.

“All levels of government are relying on the construction industry to lead the economy forward on the basis that every dollar spent on infrastructure has a $3 kick on to the wider economy—but our industry is broken,” Davies said.

“Construction accounts for almost 25 per cent of all insolvencies in Australia, only 12 per cent of the workforce are women and construction workers are six times more likely to die from suicide than a workplace incident.

“The Infrastructure Plan contains good recommendations that, if enacted, would improve industry culture, create increased capacity and capability, and ensure that commercial frameworks are equitable and align the interests of all parties.

“What we need now is for the Federal Government to get more involved.

“As the direct procurer of major projects and as a significant source of funding for jurisdictionally led projects, the Federal Government is best placed to coordinate and incentivise reform—and it needs to do this now.

“We cannot afford to wait 5, 10 or 15 years, the record spend is happening now, companies are going out of business now, people are leaving our industry now.”

Recommendations At a Glance

1) Place-based outcomes for communities

• Deliver globally competitive quality of life in Fast-growing Cities by growing economies and populations, enabled by place-centric infrastructure investment and reform.
• Attract growth to Smaller Cities and Regional Centres while maintaining quality of life by enhancing local identity, leveraging social infrastructure and improving digital and economic connectivity to Fast-growing Cities and neighbouring regions.
• Support a better quality of life by aligning funding and minimum standards with principles for sustainable infrastructure delivery in Small Towns, Rural Communities and Remote Areas.
• Ensure Northern Australia and Developing Regions fulfil their economic role, attract and retain skilled workers and enable participation of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people through greater collaboration between governments on infrastructure needs across the region.

2) Sustainability and Resilience

• Build community resilience to all hazards by considering systemic risks, interdependencies and vulnerabilities in infrastructure planning and decision-making.
• Meet Australia’s present and future needs by establishing the quadruple bottom line as a goal for all infrastructure policy and investment.
• Build community trust in infrastructure decision-making and institutions by ensuring infrastructure decisions are transparent and reflect place-based community needs and preferences.

3) Improving planning, portfolios and pipelines

• Improve industry productivity and value for money by having a coordinated project pipeline with a mature approach to procurement and risk management.
• Improve value for money and reduce risk by consistently adopting appropriate best-practice front-end due diligence for projects.
• Reduce uncertainty for industry and improve value for money by improving engagement with industry and the supply chain
• Increase productivity and embed a culture of innovation in the infrastructure sector by adopting an evidence-based digital by default approach to infrastructure planning, delivery and operations.
• Deliver a greater return on investment by ensuring governments act as model clients and custodians of industry health and productivity

4) Transport

• Maximise the overall benefits of transport investments by aligning transport programs with place-based objectives.
• Improve the livability and economic sustainability of regional, rural and remote areas by developing, maintaining and operating integrated freight and passenger transport networks that meet end-to-end access needs.
• Free people from relying on driving for door-to-door mobility by ensuring urban transport services are managed as an integrated, inclusive, user-responsive and smart transport system.
• Ensure the price paid for mobility supports the efficient movement of people and goods by leading the transition to a nationally coordinated and multimodal transport network pricing regime.

5) Energy

• Help households and businesses reduce electricity bills by making sure they have the right information and incentives.
• Transition to a smart, affordable, reliable future grid by implementing regulatory reforms, introducing incentives for customer participation in energy system management and planning cross-sector integration.
• Transition Australia’s exports and domestic energy demand to high-tech, low-cost, low-emission energy sources through a coordinating national strategy.

6) Water

• Secure long-term water supply for urban, rural, environmental and cultural users by developing a national approach to water security, including independent national ownership.
• Value water in communities by prioritising a whole-of-water-cycle management approach and applying fit-for-purpose, fit-for-place and fit-for-people approaches.

7) Telecommunications and Digital

• Value water in communities by prioritising a whole-of-water-cycle management approach and applying fit-for-purpose, fit-for-place and fit-for-people approaches.
• Give Australians improved telecommunications coverage, quality and access by taking strategic actions to improve digital inclusion, regional telecommunications and broadband quality levels.
• Fully realise the digital economic dividend by better enabling emerging technologies such as 5G, the Internet of Things and smart cities across Australia through regulation, investment and coordination.

8) Social infrastructure

• Support Australians to enjoy a healthier, safer, more connected and fulfilled quality of life by facilitating targeted investment in the right physical and digital social infrastructure.
• Maximise social and economic community benefits by supporting shared use of social infrastructure through future agreements and capital funding programs prioritising shared use of facilities.
• Support economic development by recognising the value of investment in social infrastructure.

9) Waste

• Avoid waste, improve resource recovery and build demand and markets for recycled products by integrating the circular economy in national waste policy and infrastructure projects.
• Encourage market development through government and industry partnerships to accelerate and extend the implementation of the National Waste Strategy’s data actions and bring national consistency to the household waste collection and landfill levy system.