5.45 The table titled 'Infrastructure Priorities' was not the Final Priority List, but the List formed a subset of this table. Divided by seven themes, the table comprised four separate categories:
• the development of national strategies in five areas (energy, ports, freight network, infrastructure for indigenous communities and water) together with documented support for the proposed National Broadband Network;
• nine 'priority' projects (with a total estimated cost of $17.3 billion) that the Minister was advised had passed 'the four stringent tests' conducted by Infrastructure Australia:
- the projects fit one of Infrastructure Australia's seven themes for action and are of national significance;
- the projects contribute to Infrastructure Australia's strategic policy goals-supporting growth, protecting the environment and promoting social inclusion;
- the projects had demonstrated significant long‐term national benefits (in particular, each project was reported as having a BCR 'very significantly' above 1.1); and
- the projects had demonstrated robust delivery mechanisms to ensure they can be successfully implemented;
• the Ipswich Motorway Upgrade (Dinmore to Goodna) which Infrastructure Australia advised the Minister had been assessed as meeting the Building Australia Fund evaluation criteria (in order for increased costs to be funded through that Fund);156 and
• 28 projects (with a total estimated cost of some $40 billion) which Infrastructure Australia intended to form the 'front end' of a pipeline of potential future projects.
5.46 Whilst careful reading of the full document would enable readers to identify which projects included in the table were on the Final Priority List and which were not, the inclusion of the National Broadband Network and the Ipswich Motorway Upgrade in the table of 'infrastructure priorities' resulted in uncertainty amongst key stakeholders (including Parliamentarians) concerning the extent to which Infrastructure Australia had evaluated these initiatives, and the purpose of any such evaluation. In June 2010, the Chair of the Infrastructure Australia Council informed ANAO that:
In presenting a complete list of projects in the table on page 10 and 11 of the Infrastructure Australia Report, parties were required to read the text of the report to understand the status of the National Broadband Network and the Ipswich Motorway upgrade. It is considered that the distinction between Priority and Pipeline Projects was very clear in both the table and the text.
___________________________________________________________________________________________
156 On page 23 of the document, the Ipswich Motorway project with an estimated cost of $1.95 billion was included as one of five freight road projects.