Purpose
On 14 November 2023, the Australian Government introduced the Infrastructure Policy Statement (Policy Statement). The Policy Statement defines nationally significant transport infrastructure, sets out three strategic themes that guide infrastructure investment decisions and outlines how the Government will implement these themes.
‘Nationally significant’ transport infrastructure projects
‘Nationally significant’ transport infrastructure projects are projects that have a clear role for the Commonwealth and include at least two of the following:
- the Government’s contribution of at least $250 million; and/ or
- alignment with Government priorities in the Policy Statement; and/ or
- situated on or connected to the National Land Transport Network and/ or other key freight routes; and/ or
- supporting other broader national priorities e.g. housing, defence and Closing the Gap.
Strategic themes
The guiding strategic themes are:
Productivity and Resilience
(a) Productivity
Strong population growth has put pressure on urban transport systems. Increased road congestion and public transport crowding in Australian cities continue to impair productivity and global competitiveness. The Government will invest in projects that:
- improve national productivity;
- improve Australians’ ability to move around quickly and safely in their cities and regions, including prioritising investments that increase the role of mass transit in the urban commuter task to help develop more productive central business districts; and
- help grow economies and communities in regional Australia, including by providing connections between regions, communities and major gateways.
(b) Resilience
Due to the increasing frequency and severity of extreme weather events, the Government will invest in projects that improve the resilience of critical road and rail corridor, by upgrading existing assets that are vulnerable to risks, enhancing networks to achieve greater redundancy and building to a higher standard to create more resilient infrastructure.
To support resilient supply chains, the Government will invest in projects that:
- contribute to the goals of the national Freight and Supply Chain Strategy; and
- improve the efficiency of supply chains by removing bottlenecks, ensuring reliable links between producers and markets, and improving network resilience.
Liveability
(a) Equity and connectivity
The Government will invest in land transport projects that:
- advance equity for Indigenous Australians and vulnerable communities;
- improve prosperity, accessibility and liveability of communities, which better connect people and where they live and work;
- create and support local jobs during construction and as a result of the project; and
- ensure the planned development of cities and regions, by linking infrastructure investment with strategic planning, population and employment growth and the availability of housing.
(b) Safety
The Government is committed to improving the safety of users and workers of the nation’s transport network. The Government will prioritise investments that enhance operational safety, through:
- the road safety measures in the National Road Safety Strategy 2021-30and Action Plan 2023-25; and
- via reform to rail interoperability to improve rail safety by reducing reliance on human factors.
Sustainability
The Government is committed to reducing emissions and will focus on decarbonising transport operations, as well as in the design and construction of transport infrastructure. The Government will invest in projects that:
- enable integrated and more sustainable approaches to land use and town planning; and
- encourage more efficient and less polluting freight networks.
The Government will work with states and territories to support the use of lower emissions materials in infrastructure construction and encourage projects that facilitate low or zero emission transport technologies.
Implementation
Collaboration
The Government will work in partnership with states, territories, and stakeholders. State and territory governments are the Government’s primary funding and delivery partners for its land transport infrastructure investments.
Achieving policy outcomes
This Policy Statement will provide strategic direction in decision-making.
Consideration for project delivery
The delivery of major projects allows the Government to pursue its policy goals, with priorities including:
- Equal funding split - the Government will provide funding for projects on a 50:50 basis with state and territory delivery partners.
- Recycled materials - project procurement practices should encourage sustainable resource management. State and territories should maximise the use of recycled materials.
- First Nations participation and heritage management - the Government commits to leveraging its infrastructure investment to increasing employment opportunities for First Nations job-seekers and businesses. Any potential impacts to Indigenous heritage sites during project delivery will be mitigated.
- Women's participation - project delivery partners to support increased women’s workforce participation in the construction of Government funded projects.
- Decarbonisation and embodied carbon - emissions reduction and decarbonisation should be factored into project delivery.
- Local employment and procurement - project delivery partners should maximise opportunities for Australian businesses and workers on major projects to help build domestic industry capability.
- Infrastructure resilience - the resilience of road and rail corridors should be considered in project delivery. Project design should involve risk management and disaster resilience measures.
- Construction industry sustainability - project procurement practices should support the long-term sustainability of the construction industry e.g. the adoption of collaborative models of procurement.
- Increased access to data - data should be made available by jurisdictions for the purposes of policy and project proposal decisions and evaluations.
