Global experts that recently attended a workshop in Melbourne concluded that parts of Australia’s decision-making processes lag behind some other first world countries when it comes to decisions regarding infrastructure.
The comparison was made with nations that have a similar land mass and transport issues.
This verdict was just one of a number of findings that came out of a workshop hosted by the Australian Academy of Technological Sciences and Engineering (ATSE) and Infrastructure Australia.
After the event participants said that both Canada and the US employ 10 year budgeting which supports the development of long term projects as compared to Australia that works on a four year budget time frame.
They said that the Canadian government commits to keeping the funding supplied to the Building Canada Fund for ten years.
Participants at the meeting also suggested that the federal and state governments could implement stronger long term planning that would enable them to honour any pledges that they make.
A statement released after the workshop said that it is essential for governments to honour their commitments to the development of long term strategic planes – 15 to 30 years.
It is also necessary that they plan to deliver on the commitment to ptioritised infrastructure and land use plans in the medium term. This enables industry to develop the confidence to invest in the community.
They also referred to reforms needed in financing in the statement that was released and developing new ways of looking at funding like user charging, beneficiary charging in the form of value capture and levies.
It is possible to recycle capital via selling assets that are already existing and then investing the proceeds in new projects. This effectively provides deal flow for investors according to the released statement.
Peter Cutforth is a Director at Urban E-Learning, a global elearning and web strategy firm based in George St Brisbane. Peter's interests extend to training, safety and compliance, online marketing, and Mobile Apps.
