The Business Council of Australia (BCA) appreciates the opportunity to provide input into the Committee’s inquiry into financial support for state and territory infrastructure projects.
Last year, the BCA released a report titled ‘Building Australia’s Tomorrow‘, which examined several matters directly relevant to the inquiry’s terms of reference, including:
- The need for continued investment in infrastructure to support national economic growth. State and territory government budgets can no longer sustain the level of infrastructure spending seen over the past decade. While the recent boom in public infrastructure investment tested the limits of industry’s capacity to deliver, a significant decline in investment would also be detrimental. The Federal Government therefore has an essential role to play in supporting this ongoing investment in high -quality public infrastructure projects.
- The essential role of public infrastructure investment in lifting national productivity, and the importance of directing funding to projects supported by robust business cases that clearly demonstrate economic and productivity benefits . Given limited infrastructure budgets, funding projects that do not deliver proven net benefits risks crowding out projects that would.
- The importance of Federal Government funding being guided by clear strategic priorities that align with broader infrastructure planning. This does not imply competing plans between Federal and state/territory governments, but rather a coherent approach where Federal priorities align with state and territory strategies.