Foreword
On behalf of Infrastructure Partnerships Australia, I am delighted to launch our new magazine, Future Building. I hope that this publication will provide a forum for the leaders of the national infrastructure sector to reflect on the future directions, challenges and opportunities facing our sector. The launch of this industry journal comes at a time of tremendous change. Australia shows good signs of emerging strongly and quickly from the Global Financial Crisis; but while we have emerged relatively unscathed, we have not emerged unchanged. The lessons of recent times are driving new thinking across government and industry about how risks can be best shared. The public sector is showing a renewed awareness of the need to meet the appetites and abilities of the market, and we are seeing renewed vigour toward a better functioning, better designed infrastructure market. Major projects such as the Port Phillip Bay channel deepening, the Sydney desalination plant and the Clem Jones Tunnel in Brisbane demonstrate how a spirit of cooperation and partnership has sustained the infrastructure market through a period of great challenge. Infrastructure Partnerships Australia has a busy agenda of policy, research and industry events over the coming year, and we seek the input and active engagement of the sector to ensure that key challenges facing the sector can be addressed. I hope that you find this journal a useful contribution and I would welcome any feedback you may have. This edition particularly celebrates the recent National Infrastructure Awards and the spirit of partnership that brings together the best of the private and the public sectors.
Mark Birrell Chairman - Infrastructure Partnerships Australia
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futurebuilding
EDITION 1
