On 7 September 2012, BCA Vice President Graham Bradley delivered a speech titled ‘Making It Happen: Will Our Infrastructure Pipeline Really Flow?’, to the Infrastructure Partnerships Australia ‘Partnerships 2012: Infrastructure and Investment Conference’ in Melbourne.

I have been asked today to comment on the fundamental importance of an improved labour market to our chances of successfully delivering many of the projects included in the unprecedented potential project pipeline which our leaders so often assert will underpin our economic growth over the next decade. I’ll cover three main themes:

Firstly, I want to address the opportunities and also the risks associated with the pipeline.

I’ll then look at the key issues related to labour markets.

Finally, I’ll talk about what can be done to generate more support for growth from the Australian community who don’t always see these big investment projects, including urban infrastructure projects as benefiting them.

At the conference, Graham Bradley released a new BCA guide titled Policy Essentials: Cost–Benefit Analysis. It is the first in a series of practical resources to be released by the BCA to help promote good public policy governance and practice in Australia.

Making It Happen: Will Our Infrastructure Pipeline Really Flow? Speech by Graham Bradley to the Infrastructure Partnerships Australia 2012 Conference