DCN May Edition 2019

Ian Ackerman
FIXING ROADS
High-risk areas on our roads – such as
narrow stretches, low-capacity bridges,
and areas with deteriorating bitumen –
damage the efficiency and capacity of our
freight network to extend as far as it has
the potential to do. Unless governments
invest in maintaining and upgrading
regional roads, connectivity between the
regions will be compromised and everyday
individuals and families living in the
regions will have that much more trouble
getting from A to B. That’s an issue that
has long needed addressing – and under our
government, it’s being addressed right now,
all over Australia.
With Australia’s freight task expected to
nearly double, we need forward-thinking
governments to focus on improving
efficiency, particularly throughout regional
Australia, to better connect our cities and
their populations with the regions and each
other. All of this is and will be achieved
without increasing taxes.
A PLAN IN PLACE
We have a plan in place to deliver for
Australia’s future, the Liberals and
Nationals are doing just that. Through our
strong economic management and getting
the budget back in the black, we have
ensured that Australia can afford to do so.
VISION KEY TO EFFICIENT TRANSPORT
SYSTEM
ANTHONY ALBANESE
If you look at the most successful leaders
in Australian and world history, there’s a
common factor in their success – vision.
Vision is about imagining a better future
and taking the steps now that are required
to achieve it. It’s about taking decisions
which establish building blocks for future
prosperity, even if they don’t provide an
immediate political benefit. This approach
will be at the heart of the infrastructure
policies the Labor Party will take to the
election.
Like Bob Hawke and Paul Keating with
their economic reforms of the 1980s and
1990s, a Labor Government would focus
on the long game. Governments need to
stop making short-term decisions and
ensure that decisions lay the foundations
for future growth, beginning with basing
those decisions upon evidence. In 2008,
the former Labor Government established
Infrastructure Australia to provide
independent, evidence-based advice to
the government about infrastructure
policy and projects. The organisation
was designed to produce a pipeline of
properly assessed projects capable of being
embraced by both sides of politics on the
basis of demonstrated merit. We wanted
to break the nexus between the shortterm
political cycle and the long-term
investment cycle.
But upon coming to government, the
Coalition immediately cancelled a series
of Infrastructure Australia-backed projects
aimed at reducing traffic congestion and
improving the movement of freight within
and between our big cities. The next Labor
Government would return to an approach
where we fund projects on the basis of
their potential to drive economic growth,
rather than their political utility. The
former Labor Government also worked
with Infrastructure Australia to improve
transport planning, which led to IA
producing Australia’s first-ever National
Ports Strategy and the National Land
Freight Strategy. This meant that when the
current government took office, it had at
its disposal a blueprint for a more efficient
transport and logistics system. But instead
of grabbing the ball and running with it,
the Coalition did nothing until 2016, when
it began preparing its National Freight and
Supply Chain Strategy, due for completion
later this year.
TIME FOR ACTION
The logistics sector does not need more
plans. It needs more investment in our
roads and rail lines, as well as public
transport in cities to reduce traffic
congestion and allow for faster movement
of road freight. For nearly six years, the
Coalition government has overseen a
reduction in infrastructure investment.
Prior to delivery of the 2019-20 budget,
annual Federal infrastructure funding was
on a downward trajectory. While this year’s
budget finally did include the promise of
“new’’ spending, the bulk of the spending
is not scheduled to appear until years into
the future. Indeed, the Coalition would
need to be re-elected twice more before
the promised extra investment appeared.
For example, of new investment promised
for New South Wales, just 4% will flow
over the next four years. The budget was
a political document designed to get the
Coalition re-elected, not a blueprint for a
more productive economy.
Anthony Albanese, shadow minister for
infrastructure, transport, cities and regional
development
INFRASTRUCTURE INVESTMENT
Australia needs to increase infrastructure
investment now, not four years from now.
And that would be a priority of an incoming
Shorten Labor Government, particularly
when it comes to rail. We must work to
capitalise on rail’s existing advantages by
ensuring our rail infrastructure is up to
the task. In this area, the former Labor
Government got the ball rolling. We
invested heavily in separating passenger and
freight lines to Sydney’s north and south.
We rebuilt one third of the interstate rail
network. We kicked off work on Moorebank
Intermodal Terminal. We also allocated
funding to duplicate the Port Botany Line
– another investment cancelled by the
incoming Coalition Government, but later
revived when they realised their mistake.
INLAND RAIL
When it comes to Inland Rail, Labor
supports this project. However, I remain
sceptical about the current government’s
financing model. The use of an equity
investment in the Australian Rail Track
Corporation to fund Inland Rail is
based on the Government’s assertion
that the project will somehow stack up
on a purely commercial basis. This fact
was recognised by former Deputy Prime
Minister John Anderson’s 2015 Inland Rail
Implementation Study, which found that
the project’s revenues would not cover its
capital cost in its first 50 years. Inland Rail
is a visionary project. It is critical that we
get the planning right.
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