The International Monetary Fund and the Australian Government have recently said that infrastructure is the key to the way out of the current debilitating global financial crisis.

In 2005, Engineers Australia released its ‘qualitative’ analysis of the state of Australia’s infrastructure, together with a series of recommendations including the critical need to establish a national infrastructure council. The current government acted – creating Infrastructure Australia. Its recommendations are widely expected to form the basis of the Government’s third stimulus package in the May budget.

Engineers Australia has released today a series of ‘quantitative’ Engineering Construction reports for each state and territory to complement the infrastructure report cards. This will provide another tool for improving the infrastructure decision-making framework.

Engineers Australia has compiled an analysis of real infrastructure spending per head of population for each state and territory using the ABS statistics on engineering construction. The statistics in the reports provide a sound historical perspective on new infrastructure activity in states and territories and how this compares to Australia as a whole.

In releasing the reports, the Chief Executive of Engineers Australia, Peter Taylor, said that the Federal Government’s initiative of establishing Infrastructure Australia to address better longterm integrated strategic planning is long overdue, and is consistent with the Government’s commitment to evidence based policy and expenditure decisions.

“The value of the analysis of statistics in the Engineers Australia reports lies in more clearly identifying actual new activity each year, by stripping away components from expenditure that often include maintenance of existing assets and land values, as well as the avoidance of the double counting that stems from multiple announcements. While the component of maintenance of existing infrastructure is important, it is not appropriate to include in an analysis of new activity,” Peter Taylor said.

Taylor says that in business there is an expectation that senior executives have at their finger tips sound information about the size, physical and economic condition of capital assets, and whole of life costs.

“While, there are some limitations in measuring infrastructure using engineering construction, the challenge to infrastructure agencies is simple - provide better information in line with conventional corporate reporting.

“We have released today’s reports as another contribution to building better information on the nation’s infrastructure,” Peter Taylor concluded.

Attached are brief summaries for each state and territory and copies of the detailed each reports are available at www.engineersaustralia.org.au.

Further Information: John Bright – 0407 234 490 jbright@engineersaustralia.org.au Engineers Australia is the common name of the Institution of Engineers, Australia with a membership of 86,000

Engineers Australia - Engineering Construction reports - State/ Territory Summaries

News South Wales

NSW trends in engineering construction on economic infrastructure closely followed national trends until 2005-06 when activity abruptly slowed. Activity in NSW is now much lower than for Australia as a whole, a major concern given that the condition of the State’s infrastructure in 2003 was assessed as less than adequate by Engineers Australia in its Infrastructure Report Card.

Victoria

Victorian trends in engineering construction on economic infrastructure have been consistently below national trends throughout the 20 years to 2007-08. A particular concern is that since 2005-06 Victorian trends have been downwards while national activity continued to increase. This is not a good sign given that in 2005 the State’s infrastructure was assessed as just adequate by Engineers Australia in its Infrastructure Report Card.

Queensland

There has been particularly strong growth in engineering construction on economic infrastructure in Queensland during the past 20 years. State trends have been well above national trends throughout and the gap is now at an all time high. What sets Queensland apart from other jurisdictions is that growth has been driven by public sector activity. Queensland infrastructure was assessed by Engineers Australia in its Infrastructure Report Card as marginally better than adequate in 2004 and the indications suggest that the State is actively addressing areas under pressure.

Western Australia

Until 2000-01, the Western Australian trend in engineering construction on economic infrastructure tracked slightly above the national trend. Since then, activity in the State has grown much faster than nationally. While promising when seen against the State’s “good” infrastructure assessment in 2005 by Engineers Australia in its Infrastructure Report Card, a key issue is where the growth was located.

South Australia

The trend in South Australian engineering construction on economic infrastructure has been consistently below the national trend during the 20 years to 2007-08. Over the last 5-6 years, the gap between the two trends has widened even though activity in South Australia increased, suggesting that the State is losing ground compared to Australia as a whole.

Tasmania

During the decade prior to 2000-01, engineering construction on economic infrastructure in Tasmania was well below the national trend. Since then, the State’s activity has increased and followed the national trend, rising above it in some years. However, a sharp reversal occurred in 2005-06, a discouraging sign given the slightly less than adequate infrastructure assessment for Tasmania in 2005 by Engineers Australia in its Infrastructure Report Card..

Northern Territory

The Northern Territory’s trend in engineering construction on economic infrastructure has been above the national trend except for isolated years. A feature of the analysis was the extraordinary impact that large projects, such as the Alice Spring to Darwin railway and lumpy investments in electricity generation and gas pipelines, have on a small jurisdiction.

Australian Capital Territory

The ACT economy, as measured by GDP is now larger than Tasmania, but ACT engineering construction on economic infrastructure is about half of that in Tasmania. In part, this is explained by the circumstances of the ACT, which draws electricity from NSW and has no requirement for infrastructure necessary in other jurisdictions such as harbours and railways. However, ACT trends in road construction are below levels from 1988-89 to 1993-94 and are falling at a time when the national trend is rising. Similarly, the ACT trend in water and sewerage construction is not encouraging, even when compared to a decidedly unimpressive national trend.