UDIA National is broadly supportive of Infrastructure Australia’s Australian Infrastructure Audit. The document serves as a crucial stocktake of the state of the nation’s infrastructure, the mega trends driving demand for infrastructure, our capacity to meet the future requirement for infrastructure and public policy frameworks needed to enable delivery.
It extends the analysis that underpinned the nation’s first Audit in 2015 and should serve a critical role in defining the public policy response and informing the prioritisation of initiatives, projects and reforms that will follow.
Importantly, the independence of Infrastructure Australia and the Audit means there should be comfort taken in the credibility of its analysis and the urgency of advancing recommendations contained in the document.
We are particularly pleased to see there is bipartisan consensus around the role and value of Infrastructure Australia and its work; however, UDIA National believes there is a greater opportunity for governments to reinforce the transparency, consistency and durability of decisions arising from your work.
We do however urge Infrastructure Australia, governments and policy makers to better seize the opportunities arising from the continued reform and investment in infrastructure policy frameworks and pipelines to deliver the housing supply essential to support population growth.