Statement 1: Budget Overview (Continued)
Infrastructure — expanding our productive capacity
The 2011‑12 Budget includes innovative measures to improve opportunities for private sector investment in infrastructure and to increase the quality of infrastructure development, in order to expand capacity and boost productivity.
This builds on the Government's Nation Building Program which is rolling‑out around $36.2 billion of Australian Government funding over six years to 2013‑14.
The package of measures in this Budget:
- helps remove impediments to private sector investment in infrastructure through improved tax provisions;
- enhances the transparency of planning, implementation and evaluation of infrastructure projects; and
- increases the role and independence of Infrastructure Australia.
Leveraging private sector investment in infrastructure
The Government will provide relief from impediments in the tax system that discourage private investment in infrastructure designated to be of national significance.
Investors will have greater certainty that:
- tax losses can still be accessed where project ownership and business structures change; and
- that the value of any accumulated losses are maintained by indexing them at the government bond rate.
These changes will reduce the risks faced by private investors by providing certainty about their ability to access losses generated by their investments in designated infrastructure projects.
Enhanced transparency and evaluation
The Government will establish a National Infrastructure Construction Schedule listing large infrastructure projects with Commonwealth, State, Territory or local government funding. This will help guide investment in the national pipeline of projects and provide greater certainty for the construction industry.
Infrastructure Australia
The Government is enhancing Infrastructure Australia, providing funding of $36 million over four years to allow it to focus on identifying nationally significant projects by undertaking a top‑down strategic view of infrastructure needs in the Australian economy. Infrastructure Australia will also be given the role to work closely with the States and Territories and the private sector to promote infrastructure development linked to the National Priority List.
Meeting infrastructure needs in regional communities
The Government will help meet the infrastructure needs of Australia's regions and to connect our distant communities.
The Government is providing $6 billion to the new Regional Infrastructure Fund (RIF) over the eleven years to 2020‑21. Of this, $916 million is being committed in this Budget to specific transport projects:
- $434 million for six projects in Queensland, including the Gladstone Port Access Road, the Blacksoil Interchange, the Townsville Ring Road, the Peak Downs Highway, upgrades to the intersection of the Bruce and Capricorn Highways and the Mackay Ring Road Study;
- $480 million for the Gateway Western Australia project; and
- $2 million for the Scone level crossing study in New South Wales.
Infrastructure Australia will also review existing regional infrastructure plans to ensure they complement national infrastructure objectives.
The Regional Development Australia Fund is providing around $1 billion over five years to 2015‑16 for a range of economic and community infrastructure projects, funded by a dedicated $573 million stream of the RIF and funds from previous Priority Regional Infrastructure Program.
The Budget also includes additional funding of $1.0 billion of support for the planning, route assessment, design and other work for the duplication of the Pacific Highway in NSW.
Infrastructure of the future — the NBN
The National Broadband Network (NBN) is the single largest nation building infrastructure project in Australia's history. The Government has prioritised the roll‑out of the NBN in regional areas of Australia. Twenty‑three of the thirty‑three early release sites are located in regional Australia. The NBN will benefit communities by delivering economic and social benefits, including through improving access to information, health, education and government services.
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