Government responsibilities

Place-based approaches to infrastructure are heavily driven by local governments, which deliver a range of traditional and innovative infrastructure projects beyond roads and waste management.

While they have infrastructure delivery abilities, local governments across Australia are constrained by resources, budget and individual council capabilities.102 This is particularly true for local governments in small local government areas or population bases.

Shared services models could deliver better outcomes to these communities, reduce investment by infrastructure providers and lead to more affordable costs for government. Yet their adoption so far has been limited and uncoordinated.

A more collaborative approach between all levels of government is critical to ensure long-term place-based infrastructure outcomes are delivered for communities in these locations, despite varying funding, regulatory, legislative and policy challenges.103

Integrated place-based strategies developed by Australian, state and territory government agencies for infrastructure delivery, particularly in regional communities, could identify opportunities for shared and coordinated infrastructure delivery.

Governments must also seek to build skills and capacity in delivering shared services. They could leverage existing partnerships and networks that can implement shared service delivery models, such as council groups, or partner with not-for-profit and community groups that could provide multiple forms of social infrastructure. For more reforms relating to this topic, refer to the Social infrastructure chapter of this Plan.