Initiatives should address clearly identified and specified problems (or challenges): they must have an impact on the problem and lead to medium or long-term results. The identification of the problem being addressed was not clear in many submissions provided to Infrastructure Australia in 2008/09.
The focus of Stage 2 is on the identification of problems that are preventing (or are likely to prevent) the goals and objectives defined in Stage 1 from being achieved.
The process of problem-identification sets the platform to ensure a broad range of interventions are investigated in the Options Generation stage. Crucially, this stage, which is similar to a 'gap' analysis, should look not only at current problems, but also future or emerging issues.