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Infrastructure - the end of an era of no vision

By Everald Compton - posted Monday, 18 July 2005


What will they plan?

Their aim must be to determine what infrastructure Australia will need 25 years from now; how it can be achieved by that date; what it will cost to build and operate profitably, and how it can it be financed by a combination of private and government equity.

The plan must cover the entire nation, not just congested cities, and be designed to give people and industries an incentive to live away from congested areas. It must be based on a user-pays system, ie, no free infrastructure. Australia is so far behind with its infrastructure that taxes alone would not be able to finance the enormous infrastructure backlog.

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Clearly it must cover roads, rail, ports, power, water and telecommunications as absolute basics, as well as planning the establishment of innovative new industries. In the view of many, the two most important priorities are railways and water, so far the most neglected, but which can bring the greatest long-term benefits to the nation.

There is no doubt that a national standard gauge rail system is needed which can accommodate double-stacked freight trains about two kilometres in length, and capable of an average speed faster than trucks. This will take thousands of trucks off crowded highways and create far less atmospheric pollution. For similar reasons, we urgently need faster, safer, more efficient and more frequent metropolitan and interstate passenger rail systems.

But the greatest crisis is water. Even though we live on the driest continent on earth, our expenditure on the storage and efficient use of water is pitiful. We need more reservoirs and desalinisation plants, plus some visionary diversions of water from wet to dry areas, together with connecting pipelines. We also need leaders with the courage to tell voters they must pay far more for their water and with further restricted access.

One can go on and talk about a nationally controlled and expanding power system, as well as the rapid development of alternative sources of power, plus investment in communications, which are so far behind world standards as to be ridiculous.

It is essential we have a national infrastructure plan on the table as soon as possible, then appoint an Australian infrastructure authority, which must be given the power to do the job without interference from state governments, raise the capital required, enter into partnerships with the private sector and charge competitive prices to pay for it all - in a hurry.

Nothing less will suffice.

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Some will say that it is all politically impossible, given all the restraints that exist within our out-of-date constitution which encourages parochial rivalries between states.

It must be remembered that the transcontinental railways of America were built despite enormous opposition from powerful political lobbies simply because Abraham Lincoln decided that it was going to happen regardless. We need the same sort of leadership today.

China is showing the way by taking all the tough decisions that an overpopulated nation has to make when it has an underdeveloped economy. This ability to make big decisions, such as plans to build 50 new nuclear power stations, has caused them to become the fastest growing economy in the world. We can do likewise, even though we will be doing it for different reasons.

So what we need now is a visionary corporation that will step in to the void and take on this task before politicians and bureaucrats have time to look for a respectable reason to stop them.

Our children's children will then be able to look back at our era and say, with some pride and awe, that this was the age when visionaries and risk-takers took over the national agenda from spin doctors and paper shufflers who were past masters of the art of just staying in power.

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About the Author

Everald Compton is Chairman of The Longevity Forum, a not for profit entity which is implementing The Blueprint for an Ageing Australia. He was a Founding Director of National Seniors Australia and served as its Chairman for 25 years. Subsequently , he was Chairman for three years of the Federal Government's Advisory Panel on Positive Ageing.

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