The things we agree on – panel discussion
L–R: Paul Fletcher, Brendan Lyon and Anthony Albanese
Fireside chat: The things we agree on Key points: • • •
Western Sydney Airport is succeeding because of bipartisan support from Paul Fletcher and Anthony Albanese. Road pricing reform will need even greater bipartisan support to succeed. ‘Smart cities’ are about using information to understand infrastructure and urban planning problems – and testing solutions.
Panellists: ►
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The Hon Anthony Albanese MP, Shadow Minister for Infrastructure, Transport, Cities and Regional Development, and Shadow Minister for Tourism The Hon Paul Fletcher MP, Minister for Urban Infrastructure
Moderator: ►
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Brendon Lyon, Chief Executive Officer, Infrastructure Partnerships Australia
We worked out that there is actually a fairly high degree of similarity between Paul Fletcher and ‘Albo’ right from the outset – remember that this is the work of your staff and not me. The list we came up with is: ► they both like to claim credit for each other’s work ► they both speak with a higher-than-average nasal tone ► they both cut their teeth in student politics at the University of Sydney. Your nearest and dearest staff were the ones who came up with that list.
Brendan Lyon (BL): This is a tremendous opportunity to bring together two people who are both good friends of mine, and good friends of the sector, to have a chat about what’s what in infrastructure, and how we can agree on things that we need to do.
Nonetheless, you were both avid university activists at the same university, at the same time. Paul, you were a worldchampion debater. I think that you left that off your resume Anthony, but it was similar at the time.
This is the brainchild of several telephone calls, not actually with Paul and Anthony, but with their respective chiefs of staff.
The Hon Anothy Albanese (AA): No. I was a brawler.
futurebuilding
BL: World-champion though.
