Budget Review 2019–20 Index

Dr Jonathon Deans

Australian Government expenditure on communications and transport infrastructure in 2019–20 is estimated to be $9.0 billion, representing 1.8 per cent of the Australian Government’s total expenditure.  

Expenditure included under this function includes:

• transport infrastructure spending, including infrastructure spending on roads ($5.6 billion in 2019-20) and rail transport ($1.0 billion in 2019–20)
• air and sea transport ($0.8 billion in 2019–20) including the funding for safety regulators including the Civil Aviation Safety Authority, the Australian Maritime Safety Authority, and the Australian Transport Safety Bureau and payments under the Tasmanian Freight Equalisation scheme and
• expenditure related to communications programs and support for the digital economy ($1.5 billion in 2019–20), including the Regional Broadband Scheme, Digital Transformation Agency, and the Regional and Small Publishers Innovation Fund.  Equity investments in communications projects, such as the National Broadband Network, are not included as an expense measure with the Budget.

Table 1: total communications and transport expenditure

($ million)	2018–19 (est.)	2019–20 (est.)	2020–21 (est.)	2021–22 (proj.)	2022–23 (proj.)
Communication	964	1 466	1 478	1 394	1 341
Rail transport	1 134	1 001	991	1 439	1 818
Air transport	355	350	317	300	277
Road transport	5 016	5 587	5 773	5 925	7 033
Sea transport	438	444	448	450	475
Other transport and communication	198	190	219	209	205
Total	8 105	9 038	9 226	9 717	11 149

Note: Figures may not add due to rounding.

Source: Australian Government, Budget strategy and outlook: budget paper no. 1: 2019–20, 2019, p. 5–31.

Figure 1: breakdown of communications and transport infrastructure expenditure

Source: Australian Government, Budget strategy and outlook: budget paper no. 1: 2019–20, 2019, p. 5–31.

Total expenditure on transport and communications is expected to grow by 15 per cent in real terms between 2019–20 and 2022–23, primarily reflecting increases in funding for rail and roads infrastructure.

• Rail transport funding is expected to grow by 69.3 per cent in real terms between 2019–20 and 2022–23. This includes new funding for projects such as the Melbourne Airport Rail Link and the Western Sydney North South Rail Link.
• Road transport is expected to grow by 17.3 per cent in real terms between 2019–20 and 2022–23. This includes new funding under the Infrastructure Investment Program, such as the Urban Congestion Fund and the Roads of Strategic Importance project.

Table 2: significant policy announcements

$million	2018–19	2019–20	2020–21	2021–22	2022–23
Building Better Regions Fund–round four	-	39.7	108.3	48.3	9.9
Infrastructure Investment Program — New South Wales infrastructure	25.0	25.0	32.0	49.0	135.5
Infrastructure Investment Program — Queensland infrastructure investments	-	-	5.0	105.0	203.0
Infrastructure Investment Program — Road Safety and Upgrade Package	-	200.0	200.0	200.0	200.0
Infrastructure Investment Program—Roads of Strategic Importance— next priorities	-	-	100.0	150.0	200.0
Infrastructure Investment Program—Urban Congestion Fund—next priorities	-	400.0	400.0	400.0	400.0
Infrastructure Investment Program—Western Australian infrastructure	-	17.5	60.0	233.5	132.0

Source: Australian Government, Budget strategy and outlook: budget paper no. 2: 2019–20, 2019, p. 123–146.

Transport

The Government has announced that infrastructure spending will increase to $100 billion over 10 years but there has been comparatively little change to spending over the current budget period:

• road transport expenditure rises sharply between 2018–19 and 2019–20 and again between 2021–22 and 2022–23. This reflects increasing expenditure under the Infrastructure Investment Program, such as the Urban Congestion Fund and the Roads of Strategic Importance project and
• rail transport expenditure rises sharply between 2020–21 and 2022–23 due to projects such as the Melbourne Airport Rail Link and the Western Sydney North South Rail Link.

Equity investments in infrastructure projects, such as the Western Sydney Airport and Inland Rail, are not included as an expense measure with the Budget.

Communications

The Regional Broadband Scheme was announced in 2017 to fund certain loss-making NBN services through a levy on profitable NBN services. The Government has reduced the levy cap on the service from $10 to $7.10 per month per premises and has provided certain exemptions. This has a negligible impact on the Budget. The Scheme is the main driver of communications expenditure over the Budget period.

 

All online articles accessed April 2019

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