Australia has $20 billion a year to gain from smarter spending on new infrastructure investments, and from making more efficient use of existing investments.

Australia faces several major blockages to efficient infrastructure investment:

• We are not planning enough for future infrastructure needs and projects.
• We do not have enough information on the infrastructure we will need and the projects that could deliver it.
• Our national infrastructure markets have not developed far enough to support efficient infrastructure investment.

Spending money fast should not be the government’s main infrastructure priority. Infrastructure proposals should receive tough scrutiny, to make sure that they are efficient and that Australia gets the most economic growth for its infrastructure dollar.

Infrastructure Australia will play a central role in ensuring efficient infrastructure investment, both by advising on key infrastructure reform issues and by bringing independence and rigour to the analysis of reforms.

Submission to Infrastructure Australia on Australia’s Future Infrastructure Requirements