Infrastructure and Growth Committee

Sustainable growth, underpinned by planned-for population growth, is essential to improving Australia’s productivity and living standards and addressing an ageing population. Its success relies on having the right infrastructure in place.

The importance of infrastructure can be seen across the economy, including the transport of exports to international markets, our growing reliance on telecommunications and the range of infrastructure needed to give Australians a good quality of life in cities and towns across the country. Infrastructure reform will make a big difference to the way we do business by helping us to innovate, to expand our markets and improve logistics. 

The BCA’s Sustainable Growth Task Force researches and advocates a path forward that takes a long-term view of Australia’s growth. We identify and argue for infrastructure reforms relating to economic, social and environmental factors that will improve the health, living standards, efficiency, convenience and productivity of our communities.

Priorities

• Research and advocate the need for governments to set and pursue growth targets and back them up with microeconomic reform to drive appropriate pricing and regulatory policies.
  
• Inform and influence the debate on the optimum size of Australia’s population to sustain our economy and enhance living standards.
  
• Advocate the need to lift the pace of reforms already underway in our freight, road, water, telecommunications and electricity sectors.
  
• Encourage governments to develop integrated plans for our cities and towns which reassure citizens that growth will be managed properly, and their living standards enhanced.
  
• Monitor and contribute to the ongoing debate on how Australia should respond to climate change by explaining and reinforcing the BCA’s core principles, that emissions reduction policy must:  
   
  • be at least cost to the economy
  • use market-based mechanisms, where possible
  • maintain the reliability and viability of our domestic electricity industry
  • protect the competitiveness of our trade-exposed and export industries.

The BCA Secretariat contact for this task force is Simon Pryor, Director Policy.

The BCA Secretariat contact on energy policy, including climate change and emissions trading policy, is Maria Tarrant, Deputy Chief Executive.