Infrastructure exists to provide a service. Services provided by Australia's infrastructure must be aimed at supporting Australians' aspirations, expectations and needs.
This raises an important question for the Audit - what is it that Australians want from their infrastructure? The question is just as relevant at the broad, strategic level being addressed in the Audit as it is at a project level.
Recent commentary and reviews of the infrastructure sector have questioned the quality of project selection processes.8 Infrastructure Australia shares these concerns. As part of its own project assessment processes, the organisation encourages project proponents to clearly articulate what a project is aiming to achieve, and to consider what other options may exist to address that aim.
The Audit has examined the strategies, plans, goals and objectives of governments, industry and non government bodies with the aim of shedding light on what various parties believe to be important or are aiming to achieve.
In the main, the statements made by these parties represent 'higher order' aims concerning the future of the nation or a state/territory. The statements are not specific views about infrastructure in general, much less about specific projects. Rather, they are statements of the 'purpose' to which public policy, not just infrastructure decision making, is directed. Analysis of the statements is set out in an associated report: National Aspirations, Goals and Objectives: Australian Infrastructure Audit Background Paper.9
What stands out from the analysis is that, although the precise formulation of words may vary, all governments and most organisations are aiming to maintain and, if possible, improve Australians' 'quality of life'. In summary, they are looking to pursue the following broad aspirations:
■ growth of the Australian economy;
■ promotion of social equity and inclusion; and
■ acting in a manner that is environmentally sustainable.10
It follows that infrastructure policy and decision making at all levels should be aimed at supporting these shared aspirations. Although pressures may emerge that challenge Australians' quality of life, the task across the four infrastructure sectors is to ensure that decisions taken now and in the foreseeable future maximise the prospects for maintaining and enhancing the high quality of life enjoyed by most Australians today.
Audit findings 1. Australians expect their infrastructure networks to support a high quality, first world standard of living. They expect infrastructure to improve their quality of life in the future, notwithstanding significant population growth and major economic, social and environmental change. 2. There are grounds for concern that Australia's infrastructure networks and the systems under which they are managed are not meeting these expectations. 3. Infrastructure exists to provide services. The focus of governments and the private sector must be on the quality of infrastructure services, and their cost to users and the community at large. 4. Inadequate attention is being given to the level of service Australians need and expect from their infrastructure, how much different service levels cost, and how they will be paid for. In some sectors, there is insufficient public data and information to support informed public discussion about these questions. |
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8. See for example Productivity Commission (2014a)
9. Infrastructure Australia (2015a)
10. A number of jurisdictional strategies and plans also recognised that, in order to achieve those aspirations, standards of governance will need to be improved.