16 minute read
The Hon Darren Chester MP | Minister for Infrastructure and Transport
Darren Chester MP
The Hon Darren Chester MP
On behalf of the Australian Government, I thank Infrastructure Partnerships Australia (IPA) for its ongoing work in the infrastructure space, particularly in promoting genuine, cohesive partnerships between governments and industry.
Today, I’ll outline the Australian Government’s position on infrastructure investment in the transport sector.
You may have heard the Prime Minister say that this will be a term of delivery. The bottom line is that we are building for the future.
Our record $50 billion infrastructure investment is changing and saving lives. We are investing in our cities, getting a fair share for our regions and working across all modes of transport.
We are also on board with the many advances in technology that we know will change the way we plan, deliver and use transport services now and into the future.
In building for the future, we are addressing three major areas. The first is safety, which is paramount. It must be integral to everything we do, and while Australia has made some great gains in road safety since the early 1970s, in the past two years the trend has gone in the wrong direction. In the past 12 months, 1292 Australians have died on our roads. We’re seeing 30,000 serious injuries per year, at an annual cost of $30 million. We should not accept the road toll as an inevitable cost of roads, and I challenge you to work with the Government in relation to road safety.
The second major area is that as Australia grows, our choices about the transport infrastructure we build must be informed by each project’s capacity for economic growth and productivity at local, regional and national levels.
• Australia’s growing and ageing population provides a ‘burning platform’ for infrastructure and broader policy reform. • A rationalised user-pays model for road transport would deliver transparency, equity and fairness, while also providing a sustainable funding model for road transport. • In advance of major structure changes to road transport, robust project selection is the most important factor to ensure high-quality, economically beneficial projects.
Darren Chester MP
Thirdly, this term of government is about delivery; not just writing and reading reports, but delivering on actions.
By effectively establishing a long-term project pipeline, as well as delivering ongoing reforms to project planning, prioritisation and funding, we are enabling a strong national investment programme.
There are some great projects on the go – but don’t worry, I won’t bring out the list that makes up our $50 billion Infrastructure Investment Programme.
We’re working with the Victorian Government to address congestion in the nation’s fastest-growing city, as well as investing in the regions. We’re setting up western Sydney to achieve its growth potential with an airport, improving road connections and looking into rail. And almost 70 per cent of the Pacific Highway is now a four-lane divided road, and fatal crashes have almost halved, down from the mid40s annually to now in the 20s. It’s good that the trip from Sydney to Brisbane will be two hours quicker, but it will also be safer.
We will also change the face of our eastern seaboard with the Melbourne to Brisbane Inland Rail project. It is truly game changing and will transform how we move goods around the country.
Inland Rail is the smart solution. It is in the nation’s best long-term economic interests, and also features on Infrastructure Australia’s priority list.
Industry can plan on Inland Rail happening. My challenge in this term of government will be to make this project inevitable. One of my first achievements as Minister was to secure an additional $594 million in the 2016–17 Budget to advance pre-construction, acquire necessary land and engage with stakeholders along the route.
The benefits will start accruing from day one. Inland Rail will create around 800 jobs per year during construction, and 600 operational jobs per year thereafter, mostly in regional centres along the corridor.
It will get 200,000 truck movements off our roads each year, improve market access, lower supply chain costs and enhance commercial opportunities for producers.
We are actively market-testing to get private sector expertise and financing ideas on board in partnership with the Australian Rail Track Corporation.
In short, we are looking at whole-of-project strategies to better manage risks, lower costs and drive new business prospects.
Australia has an infrastructure funding problem, which is a significant challenge for the Government. The current approach to infrastructure funding is unsustainable.
The cost of building and maintaining roads is growing at a faster rate than the income we receive from road-related revenue because revenue models are based on an old-world order.
Advances in vehicle technology, such as improved fuel efficiency and driverless cars, point to a long-term decline in road-related revenue at all levels of government.
A growing and ageing population, and competing budgetary pressures on all levels of government, make it hard to fund the required infrastructure, especially as the demand for road services increases.
Long-term sustainability, efficiency and value-formoney must now form the basis of any infrastructure investment decision by governments.
Paying the right price for infrastructure, and being more accountable to the public for the revenue that is collected, is important.
Part of this is about getting the best use out of our existing infrastructure. We should leverage and improve the capacities of our current systems, such as hot lanes, variable speed limits and traffic management systems. This will lead to better value for money and increased efficiencies.
But faced with increasing budgetary pressures, we also need to factor in the long-term maintenance costs of infrastructure so that we are not left worse off.
If we know what the issues are, what are we doing about it?
In addition to investigating road pricing as a longterm reform option, we are increasingly looking to the private sector for funding partners.
The Turnbull Government is actively investigating road pricing. Our responses to the Competition Policy Review and the 2014 Productivity Commission Public Infrastructure Inquiry are on the public record.
The progression of the Heavy Vehicle Road Reform means that the time is right to start having conversations with states and territories around road pricing.
In December 2015, COAG agreed that governments would work together to investigate the high-level costs, benefits and options of extending direct user charging to all vehicles.
In August 2016, transport ministers had a very useful conversation about how to progress this work.
A reform of this type is substantial. This is longterm micro-economic reform.
Darren Chester MP
Given that the Commonwealth is not a primary road owner – that is a role for the states and territories – to be successful, we require a strategic, wholeof-government approach involving all levels of government and partners in the community.
We need to bring the public with us and have an informed debate. The last thing that any of us needs is a front-page headline about a new ‘road tax’ that will erode any chance of getting this done.
We will need to have broad agreement across industry, and across the political spectrum, to ensure that this reform is not hijacked by simplistic arguments and scare campaigns. We will need strong, rational industry advocates to help governments to make the case. We’re going to need many more voices than Members of Parliament.
The benefits of reform measures, such as revenue, access and equity, need to be explored in further detail in an Australian context, and then explained to the broader public.
The first response in my regional community when you start talking about road user charges is going to be, ‘I’m going to pay more than those people in the city’.
In regional areas, for example, we have identified that $1,700 per capita is spent on roads from funds specifically raised by local governments, compared to $200 per capita raised by local governments in urban areas. For regional areas, this means that there is less money to spend on other services.
This isn’t something that will be fixed with a simple grants programme: it is structural market failure. Market reform requires proper price and service management – it needs to be transparent.
For governments, understanding how that impacts with the tax transfer system is going to be a challenge, and how we could address issues like equity is of absolute importance.
In summary, an explanation to people that it’s going to be fair, and it must pass the ‘pub test’, is necessary.
Market reform is usually accompanied by innovation, and innovation facilitates the growth of new technologies, enhances competition and provides greater benefits to consumers.
This has been the case with the reform of the aviation and telecommunication sectors, which led to high levels of innovation – for example, integrated ticketing systems and logistics for airports, private sector investment, competitive pricing, user choice and a renewed focus on service delivery.
The best technology solutions are not necessarily the best fit for purpose. Governments still need to be clear about what they want to achieve through technology and weigh this up against other considerations, such as the potential costs to users.
Work still needs to be done to understand the impacts of reform on all users of the road system, with particular regard to community service obligations, service level standards and how best to structure charges across road networks.
Governments will not be in a position to make credible decisions on this reform without targeted analysis. Transurban’s work in this regard should be acknowledged.
This is the work that is underway in the Department of Infrastructure and Regional Development, hand in hand with the Federal Treasury. There is a lot of work to be done and room for many voices on these issues. Transurban’s Road Usage Study is a welcome contribution to this debate.
Ultimately, we must be satisfied that the benefits of a broader use of road pricing would exceed the costs.
This is a reform journey that started many years ago and, given its complexity, we’re not going to reach the destination tomorrow. I appreciate the desire for urgency, but we’re talking in the 10-year time frame rather than the five-year one.
We will, however, get there as long as we work together, collectively realise that communication is crucial and bring the community with us.
Earlier this year, Infrastructure Australia released its 15-year Australian Infrastructure Plan. This plan sets out a priority list of 93 potential projects around the country at different stages of development, and it offers an extensive set of recommendations about reforms to improve the delivery of infrastructure nationwide.
It is a key tool to inform decisions by the Commonwealth Government, and state and territory governments, about which projects to progress and, over time, which ones will be funded.
The Federal Government has also released Principles for Innovative Financing. These principles make it very clear that our priority is to fund projects that are capable of delivering on national priorities, and of maximising the benefits to the Australian economy and communities.
These principles also set out our commitment to drive greater use of innovative funding and financing mechanisms to assist in delivering our infrastructure agenda, including how value capture can fairly provide an alternative funding stream.
Darren Chester MP
The Government also announced the establishment of an Infrastructure Financing Unit, which is to work closely with the private sector in order to develop funding and financing solutions.
On this basis, there is a distinct preference for proposals that have looked into and, where appropriate, applied innovative funding and financing solutions beyond capital grants.
The concessional loan for WestConnex, the equity injection for the Moorebank Intermodal Terminal, and the Asset Recycling Initiative are all good examples of alternative funding arrangements currently in use.
The core message remains: robust project selection, rather than selection of the financing mechanism, is the most important factor in ensuring that governments make high-quality, economically beneficial investment decisions.
Infrastructure has a long life. It’ll be there for our kids and grandkids, and we want them to know that we had the foresight to think and plan not just for today, but for future generations.
What we are doing today – in terms of safety, growth and delivery – is how we will get to that future.
Darren Chester was elected to Federal Parliament as the Member for Gippsland on 26 June 2008 in a byelection following the retirement of the Hon Peter McGauran.
He was re-elected in 2010 and served as the Opposition’s Shadow Parliamentary Secretary for Roads and Regional Transport, and was an active member of various Parliamentary Committees until the most recent federal election.
Following a successful campaign in 2013 and the introduction of the Abbott-Truss Government, he was appointed the Parliamentary Secretary to the Minister for Defence.
Mr Chester continued as the Assistant Minister for Defence under the new Turnbull Government, and in February 2016, he was appointed to Cabinet as the Federal Minister for Infrastructure and Transport.
Prior to entering Federal Parliament, he worked as a newspaper and television journalist throughout Gippsland, and then became Chief of Staff to the Leader of The Nationals in Victoria, Peter Ryan.
OPEN SPATIAL’S GROUNDBREAKING TECHNOLOGY LEADS THE PACK
Geospatial engineering software improves return on infrastructure assets.
Global leader in geospatial engineering software Open Spatial is helping infrastructure companies to harness the power of big data in order to better manage assets and serve customers.
More than 100 organisations worldwide use Open Spatial’s state-of-the-art technology to capture and maintain infrastructure data. These organisations manage critical assets in utilities, transportation, government, mining and education.
By enhancing and safeguarding data integrity, Open Spatial helps infrastructure companies to make better decisions about their assets. Clients report a strong return on investment from its solutions – from cost savings, efficiency gains and fewer outages, to better customer service.
‘We offer best-of-breed geospatial software,’ says CEO Wanda Skerrett. ‘Geospatial data is a key foundation of bigdata analysis in the infrastructure sector. Consistently reliable geospatial data drives better infrastructure outcomes.’
Some infrastructure companies, however, still underestimate the value of geospatial technology, says Skerrett. ‘They use generic systems, or those that combine several packages, or are not compatible with other systems. Open Spatial is the premier provider of geospatial technology specifically designed for infrastructure assets.’
These solutions are timely. Geospatial data, which refers to an item’s location and its spatial data attributes, is attracting more attention. Infrastructure companies are recognising the value of geographic information systems (GIS), which share information in real time with stakeholders, and they are also beginning to appreciate the role of GIS in big-data analytics in infrastructure.
A water utility, for example, will use Open Spatial’s software to record and manage information on every pipe in its network. Data on the pipe’s location, length, diameter, material, gradient, install date and contract/job number, for example, provide key inputs to the utility’s big-data analysis technology, which determines when the pipe should be replaced.
Almost half of Victorian water utilities use Open Spatial technology. ‘They recognise the value of high-quality geospatial data, and use our products as a bridge between their GIS and CAD (computer-aided design) systems,’ says Skerrett. ‘In doing so, they optimise network maintenance, achieve better reporting outcomes and provide greater transparency.’
Wanda Skerrett, CEO, Open Spatial The benefits of geospatial data
Geospatial software has a critical role in network maintenance, says Skerrett. ‘Utilities can better schedule preventative maintenance and optimise asset performance when they are basing decisions on up-to-date network information. When things go wrong, such as water leaks, they know exactly where the problem is, and can track the locations for future planning and recording of customer water outages.’
Reliable infrastructure data also supports capex programs. ‘It’s easier to know which parts of the network require maintenance in the next budgeting cycle when data is captured and maintained properly,’ says Skerrett.
Improved financial reporting is another benefit. ‘Infrastructure companies have a better understanding of their network’s value, and greater insights into maintenance spending and asset depreciation for financial-reporting purposes.’
Skerrett says Open Spatial technology facilitates better stakeholder communication and transparency. ‘Our software helps infrastructure managers with planned and unplanned outages, and shut-off reporting. The technology has unrivalled network trace functionality: utilities managers know every valve that has to be shut off, every
land parcel affected and for how long, and an automatic notification service alerts customers to any shutdown.’
A pioneer in its field
Open Spatial’s core technology was developed in the mid 1990s and began as a utilities management system for South African municipalities. The flagship product, the Munsys Asset Intelligence Suite, was written to capture data using open standards and engineering best practices – an approach that has stood the product and its continuous refinements in good stead for two decades.
Munsys is a rapidly deployable spatial application technology that ensures data integrity, and provides multi-user accessibly to infrastructure asset information throughout the organisation.
It contains all of the technology necessary to administer an asset-mapping and management system, capture all spatial data, distribute the data to necessary personnel and integrate the information with other departments for optimum efficiency.
Unlike proprietary systems, Munsys seamlessly integrates with other technology through open data access and open standards. Using the proven technology of AutoCAD and Oracle, Munsys solves the problem of information captured in design drawings being lost when transferred to GIS.
‘Munsys’s compatibility is a huge advantage when infrastructure companies are putting data from various sources into a central repository and using big-data software to analyse it,’ says Skerrett. ‘The more bespoke or closed the geospatial software, the less chance the organisation has of optimising output from the data.’
Open Spatial’s enlighten technology brings Munsys data to life through powerful web-based visualisation capabilities. Enlighten, a map-centric visualisation portal, incorporates aerial imagery, mapping data, picture, CCTV and video into a single viewpoint.
‘Enlighten’s cloud-based technology enables users to access information on infrastructure assets from hand-held devices, such as iPads and smart phones, and better understand the data through maps, charts and other illustrations,’ says Skerrett.
Open Spatial’s as-constructed design certification software, ACDC, enables validation of design submittals and asconstructed drawings prior to submission to local government authorities on infrastructure developments. ACDC then automates the extraction and loading of data from valid CAD drawings into GIS. The software’s processes ensure that valuable engineering data is not lost or diminished in value, clarifies data requirements and improves communication between infrastructure stakeholders.
‘Ensuring that assets are correctly recorded and scheduled for maintenance reduces public risk and improves the organisation’s ability to better manage valuable infrastructure,’ says Skerrett.
Open Spatial’s strong validation
From humble beginnings, Open Spatial has expanded to the Asia-Pacific region and North America. Headquartered in Sydney, it has offices in Melbourne and Brisbane, and all research and development is conducted in Australia.
Australian-owned and -operated, the company has grown to 30 staff and has a blue-chip client base ranging from Australian local governments and water utilities, to United States airports and African telecommunication companies.
Skerrett is President of the Geospatial Information & Technology Association (GITA) in Australia and New Zealand. GITA is a worldwide not-for-profit organisation that provides education and information on the use and benefits of geospatial information for location-aware technology for infrastructure management.
Skerrett’s industry standing is also befitting from Open Spatial’s reputation for excellence. ‘Right from the start, our technology has been ahead of the pack,’ she says. ‘By specialising in infrastructure asset data, Open Spatial developed a niche expertise that we continue to build upon to benefit clients in Australia and overseas.’
