Australian Communities in urban and regional areas face increasing challenges in deciding where and how to build new infrastructure that will increase productivity and support our living standards. Population growth, demographic change, extreme weather events, increasing fuel costs, housing affordability, technological change, and resource limitations, make dealing with these challenges all the more difficult.
The Committee will consider:
- What initiatives are operating around Australia at local and state government levels that might lower the cost of planning approvals and reduce timeframes for delivery of projects?
- Of those initiatives that the Committee has considered, are any able or appropriate to be implemented on a broader basis, including at Federal level?
- Are local, state and federal governments adequately considering the infrastructure challenges that they face and do they have long term plans in place to deal with those challenges?
- For governments that are engaging in long term planning for future infrastructure investment, are they taking steps to protect the land and corridors that are needed to deliver those infrastructure projects in the future?
- What is industry doing to reduce the regulatory and other costs that it faces in competing for infrastructure projects?
- How can Australia increase or deepen the competitive market for infrastructure provision and funding in Australia?