The federal government should not shy away from borrowing for public infrastructure investment, particularly while interest rates are low and Australia’s economic credibility remains competitively high, argue a group of influential peak bodies.
The Australian Local Government Association (ALGA), Planning Institute of Australia, National Growth Areas Alliance, Institute of Public Works Engineering Australasia, Australian Logistics Council, Green Building Council of Australia and National Farmer’s Federation have issued a joint statement on Australia’s infrastructure future in the lead-up to the May budget.
While the organisations support fiscal discipline to reduce budget deficits, they argue this discipline should not come at the expense of good debt used to invest in productivity-enhancing nation-building.
The seven peak bodies also said that Infrastructure Australia has made a good start on national infrastructure identification and prioritisation, but a 30-year funded pipeline of quality infrastructure projects is essential to provide investment certainty and stability for the private sector.
ALGA President, Mayor David O’Loughlin, said, “Australia’s prosperity depends on increasing its productivity and that requires long-term commitment to investment in productive infrastructure by all levels of government and across all regions.”
President of the Planning Institute of Australia, Brendan Nelson said, “The timely provision of accessible, sustainable, effective and well-integrated infrastructure is critical to our liveability and productivity. However, such infrastructure can’t simply pop up and meet the needs of a growing and changing society overnight. PIA supports an extension of Infrastructure Australia’s projects pipeline to 30 years.”
Romilly Madew, Chief Executive Officer, Green Building Council of Australia said, “We should invest in our cities like we would a business, borrowing when it’s prudent to invest to lock-in benefits for the long-term.”
The joint statement has urged for cross-party support and calls for immediate action to invest in productivity-enhancing infrastructure projects that consider wider economic whole-of-life costs and social benefits such as growing jobs and boosting housing supply and affordability.
A copy of the full joint statement is available online.
