INFRASTRUCTURE AUSTRALIA —
2019 AUSTRALIAN INFRASTRUCTURE AUDIT
1128. Hon CHARLES SMITH to the minister representing the
Minister for Transport:
I refer to ''An Assessment
of Australia's Future Infrastructure Needs: The Australian
Infrastructure Audit 2019'', recently published by Infrastructure
Australia, which shows that infrastructure in Perth is clearly failing to keep
pace with rapid population growth, particularly on the urban fringe, and that a
mounting maintenance backlog is putting unprecedented pressure on the
infrastructure services on which our residents rely.
(1) Does the
state government accept that infrastructure and service provision is failing to
keep up with population growth and that this is negatively impacting residents'
quality of life, as well as economic productivity and competitiveness?
(2) Does the state government accept that without a massive
and sustained increase in infrastructure spending, the situation is only
likely to worsen?
(3) Does the
state government concede that any sizeable increase in infrastructure spending
will inevitably put immense pressure on the state budget and lead to a blowout
in state debt levels?
(4) Will the
state government now consider adopting a sustainable population policy and call
on the commonwealth to reduce immigration to more normal levels?
Hon
STEPHEN DAWSON replied:
I thank the honourable
member for some notice of the question.
(1) The
Australian infrastructure audit 2019 results show that the cost of road
congestion in Western Australia is growing at a slower rate than in the
previous audit due to sustained investment in congestion-reducing projects. The
2015 audit predicted that by 2031, seven of Australia's top 10 most
delay affected road corridors would be in Perth; the 2019 audit shows that WA
now has just one road corridor in that list.
(2)–(3) The
government's 2019–20 state budget includes $4.2 billion in road
investment and a further $4.1 billion to deliver Metronet, while returning the
budget to surplus.
(4) The government has been proactive in planning for
future population growth by delivering on its vision of a strong integrated
infrastructure and urban development program centred on Metronet. Further,
through the release of ''Our Priorities: Sharing Prosperity'' and
the Perth and Peel@3.5 million suite of documents, the government has
established the strategic framework to accommodate anticipated growth.