The 2019 Australian Infrastructure Audit has called for a new wave of investment and planning reform to ensure Australia’s infrastructure continues to support our quality of life and economic productivity over the next 15 years.

The Audit presents a forward-looking view of our infrastructure challenges and opportunities over the next 15 years and beyond. It examines the changes facing Australia, including a changing climate, growing population, re-ordering of the global economy and technological change, and recommends that Australia adopt a robust approach to infrastructure planning.

It notes that progress has been made since the last Australian Infrastructure Audit was released in 2015, with more than $123 billion of construction work having commenced since 2015, with a committed forward pipeline of over $200 billion. However, the Audit also finds that that infrastructure in Australia’s four largest cities – Sydney, Melbourne, Brisbane and Perth – are failing to keep pace with rapid population growth, particularly on the urban fringe.

The 2019 Audit puts the community at the centre of infrastructure planning, using user-focused measures of access, quality and cost, it also highlights how service quality varies greatly for Australians depending on where they live. Social Infrastructure and waste are also examined in the Audit for the first time, alongside other major infrastructure sectors of energy, transport, telecommunications.

The Audit does not seek to identify solutions, but rather to identify issues, gaps, problems and untapped potential in the form of challenges and opportunities.

More information here

Infrastructure Australia media release here