Australia’s $120 billion infrastructure program will be subject to an independent review using the metric of ‘national significance’.

The Albanese Government says it will review its multibillion-dollar Infrastructure Investment Program to ensure projects of national value and significance can be delivered.

It was prompted by the immense pipeline of projects, which jumped from 150 to 800 under the former Coalition government.
Labor says around a quarter of those projects were only allocated a commitment of $5 million or less, and many projects were not started.

The review will look at scrapping or clearing the backlog of delayed, unfunded projects.

Engineers Australia’s Romilly Madew AO says reviewing this pipeline will provide an opportunity to target investment to ensure best value for money is achieved.

“This is critical to helping ensure spending doesn’t further fuel current economic challenges,” Madew says. 

“Australia’s construction sector is already at breaking point, rising materials costs and labour shortages has caused budgets to blow out and project slippage.  

“Over the past two years, engineering vacancies have grown by 80 per cent nationally. A significant contributor to this increase is infrastructure projects.”

Beyond the economic and societal challenges facing the nation, population growth, space limitations, national net zero emissions targets and more prevalent and extreme natural disasters are major factors impacting Australia’s transport system.  

Engineers Australia says investing in transport infrastructure based on past ways of delivering projects will not meet the needs of the future.  

“Collaborative, long-term planning of infrastructure is vital to economic prosperity and the wellbeing of the community,” Ms Madew said.