11 May 2018
The Planning Institute of Australia (PIA) has welcomed the Turnbull Government’s Budget commitment to lifting infrastructure spending – particularly for projects aimed at boosting rail and freight movements in our larger cities.
The continuing absence of a strategic planning focus in the Commonwealth’s infrastructure spend was regrettable however, PIA Chief Policy Officer Rolf Fenner said.
“In his Budget Speech, the Treasurer stated the Government’s infrastructure initiatives would deliver significant economic benefits and help reduce the congestion pressures building in our towns and cities.
“But there’s little real understand of how these proposed investments support each other, and what implications they will have on how our built environments as they evolve spatially.”
The evidence is clear, Mr Fenner said: “You simply cannot build your way out of congestion.”
Mr Fenner said a broader, more comprehensive perspective was needed to ensure land use/transport infrastructure approaches were better integrated and met long-term national needs.
“There’s no real indication the initiatives outlined by Mr Morrison on Tuesday have been thoroughly evaluated – either for their wider ramifications, or for their urban design attributes,” he said.
“As for opportunity costs, no one is the wiser. It shows a lack of national integrated planning and engagement.”
“Infrastructure is not provided for its own sake. The way infrastructure needs are determined, projects scheduled, financed and delivered is integral to achieving the planned outcome for a place,” Mr Fenner said.
Planners as a profession have an important role in devising and communicating scenarios that take account of growth and change, expressing visions, spatial outcomes and the implications of trade-offs to set realistic infrastructure priorities for communities and business.
“Governments have to move away from prioritising big one-off infrastructure projects and instead focus on those that are more aligned with regional and local planning outcomes and which are embedded in a ‘place-based’ strategy,” he said.
To do that effectively, governments must determine where our cities and regions are failing their communities in terms of providing infrastructure, adequate health, recreational and education facilities, affordable housing, and meaningful jobs.
PIA believes governance reforms and a national urban settlement strategy are an imperative.
Mr Fenner said: “Sydney and Melbourne are booming, but Australia’s other cities, towns and regions are growing, stabilising or declining at various rates.
“It therefore makes sense that the Commonwealth accept there are widespread national, regional and local benefits in developing a strategic settlement framework that helps to coordinate urban development activities at all levels of government.”
Future Federal Budgets must reflect larger and more bolder visions for the country, starting with a national settlement strategy.
“We should not forget that the Budget is essentially a financial statement of the federal government’s revenues and expenditures for the next financial year,” Mr Fenner said.
“But it should also be viewed as a milestone on the roadmap of where we’re headed as a country.”
With strong Commonwealth leadership and support, a national settlement strategy is readily achievable, Mr Fenner said.
A national discourse on Australia’s long-term future using scenarios and acknowledging the implications of the current megatrends shaping the form and function of our cities, towns and regions would be an appropriate starting point, he concluded.
ENDS