John Austen

John Austen is a happily retired former senior official of Infrastructure Australia living in Western Sydney. Details are at thejadebeagle.com.

John's recent articles

40,000 infrastructure defects reported in Sydney Trains maintenance backlog

40,000 infrastructure defects reported in Sydney Trains maintenance backlog

It took a Ministerial review to say what should have been blindingly obvious to each of Sydney Trains, the Transport Asset Holding Entity, Transport for NSW and Treasury: the timetable is defective and there is a maintenance backlog evidenced by a reported 40,000 infrastructure defects.

An update on Sydney Trains' little review

An update on Sydney Trains' little review

The little review of Sydney Trains has revealed more than some, including the Minister, might like. This is the first of two posts on the subject.

Another quiet little review into Sydney Metro

Another quiet little review into Sydney Metro

Without the open-air scrutiny of a public inquiry into NSW transport, Labor is vulnerable to the misinformation and deceit that infects every part of NSW transport policy.

The NSW governments quiet little review of Sydney transport crises

The NSW governments quiet little review of Sydney transport crises

The new NSW Government is riding its luck with quiet little piecemeal reviews of Sydney transport crises.

Sydney transport: formidable task ahead for NSW Labor?

Sydney transport: formidable task ahead for NSW Labor?

In NSW, Labor is favoured to end the Coalitions 12 years in office at the forthcoming election. If it wins it faces a formidable task.

Infrastructure policy Pearl Harboured

Infrastructure policy Pearl Harboured

The Governments response to the independent review of Infrastructure Australia involves a surprise attack on public policy which should be rebuffed.

Infrastructure Australia should be abolished

Infrastructure Australia should be abolished

A review of Infrastructure Australia risks putting the cart in front of the horse. It should consider whether the organisation should exist.

Restoring integrity to Commonwealth infrastructure spending

Restoring integrity to Commonwealth infrastructure spending

The new Parliament should take responsibility for dealing with pork barrelling not pass the buck to an integrity commission.

Dont believe what you hear about fuel excise and road funding in the forthcoming election campaign

Dont believe what you hear about fuel excise and road funding in the forthcoming election campaign

It is impossible to avoid the conclusion that road spending is way too high, priorities are wrong, and there is a roads empire which is out of control.

Policy wreck: we're being told two contradictory stories about NSW trains

Policy wreck: we're being told two contradictory stories about NSW trains

Stories about Gladys Berejiklians private life or bureaucratic fights might sell papers, but they distract from grave problems in transport policy.

John Austen: Time to call time on Infrastructure Australia? It has failed

John Austen: Time to call time on Infrastructure Australia? It has failed

The latest Australian Infrastructure Plan avoids the key issue: Commonwealth (lack of) direction. It seems aimed at bureaucratic empire building and should herald the end of Infrastructure Australia.

Newcastle Port decision: overreach, misunderstanding or both?

The Federal Courts rejection of the ACCCs case against Government-imposed penalties facing Newcastle Port seemed to misunderstand transport policy matters and give more weight to the Governments latest excuses than to logic and observed actions.

Car parks: certainly corrupt and probably illegal

An Audit Office report led to condemnation of processes behind Commonwealth funding of commuter car parks. This is like merely looking at not even touching deckchairs on the Titanic.

NSW rail policy: more than cooking the books

Media reports claimed changes to NSW railways artificially inflated State Budget results. Yet cooked books are the least of the concerns.

Australia's infrastructure plans: why can't we get it right? Thorough inquiries are needed.

Recent reports confirm severe problems with plans for transport infrastructure in at least Australias two biggest cities. The Commonwealth, as well as State Governments, is blameworthy.

The curious case of the new airports metro

Infrastructure Australia recently announced its refusal to include the proposed Western Sydney Airport Metro in its lists. That apparently reasonable result is surrounded by a range of murky matters.

Fool's paradise: 'independent' advisers promote lie that transport infrastructure can lead a Covid recovery

A recent report for Infrastructure Australia confirms what many suspect some transport infrastructure projects should be shelved. Yet IA refuses to reassess any transport projects, including those it knows or should know are wrong.

Sydney's Metro mania is policy based on vanity

Is it of interest that a 2018 study by Transport for NSW and its federal counterpart into rail connections to Sydney's second airport was made at roughly the time the same the federal portfolio spent $30 million to buy land near Leppington worth only $3 million?

Transport infrastructure: our States biggest waste

The Reserve Bank governor recently asked States to support jobs by spending $40 billion more on infrastructure. Please dont at least not on the usual transport projects!

JOHN AUSTEN. High Speed Rail shooting a corpse?

The Grattan Institutes recent condemnation of high-speed rail is fair enough. However, its further speculations on renovating regional rail and urban commuting need questioning.

JOHN AUSTEN. Transport infrastructure in a Covid world

Governments made dramatic responses to challenges posed by Covid-19. New ideas are being sought in many areas of public policy. However, transport infrastructure is a lamentable exception instead of a reassessment of plans in light of the new realities, the reaction of its boosters has been to double down their egregious rent-seeking.

JOHN AUSTEN. Another year of record waste on roads

In the past few years Pearls etc carried posts on how road spending vastly exceeded road related revenue even though road use had not much increased a perversion of public policy helping the infrastructure lobby at the expense of Australia. Statistics for the latest year suggest this continues unabated.

JOHN AUSTEN. Placating the Infrastructure Club

Infrastructure Australias 2020 priority list doesnt recognise let alone address fundamental problems.

JOHN AUSTEN. Sydney Metro developments

Are recent developments with Sydneys Metro railway straws in the wind or embers heralding an infrastructure inferno?

JOHN AUSTEN. Electric Vehicle Charging

Recently the question of road charges for electric light vehicles cars - hit the headlines. Opinions split into: those who want such charges to collect funds for road building; those opposed to such charges because they might slow the take-up of electric vehicles.

JOHN AUSTEN. Sydney and the mock Metro

The Sydney Metro saga continues, with renewed and still unrealistic - promises of a $20bn west Metro giving travellers a 20-minute trip from Parramatta to the CBD. Talk of this, and progress with tunnelling under the CBD, must be a welcome distraction from a Parliamentary Inquiry into part of the plan.

JOHN AUSTEN. Infrastructure Claims - Above the law?

Ongoing urging of infrastructure proposals for Commonwealth funding exacerbates already high moral hazard. Yet nothing is done to discourage the possibility of illegal behaviour costing Australia dearly.

Infrastructure Australias believe it or not audit

Last week saw media coverage of Infrastructure Australias 2019 infrastructure audit. The hype was short lived. The audit was another analytically deficient step towards a transport policy abyss into which the infrastructure club wants to throw vast amounts of your money.

JOHN AUSTEN. Post-election infrastructure review

The NSW and Federal 2019 elections saw the return of Coalition Governments. My perspective from western Sydney is: Coalition infrastructure policies have been dreadful, Labors offerings werent any better.

JOHN AUSTEN. Fast rail - apologies please from perpetrators.

A recent post said politicians should not bite the bullet on high speed rail but apologise for money wasted; unrealistic expectations fanned; incompetence. It suggested a start with Newcastle a city dudded by bureaucrats.Better still would be policy that doesnt just provide fodder for TV satires; instead infrastructure proposals should be examined in public inquiries prior to decisions.

JOHN AUSTEN. NSW infrastructure: who is fit to govern?

Readers of Pearls and Irritations may have followed the transport infrastructure fiasco in NSW under conservative governments led first by Mr OFarrell, then Mr Baird and now by one-time Transport Minister and Treasurer, Ms Berejiklian.Several reports last week put an exclamation mark to the debacle and raised questions about the fitness of either side to govern.

JOHN AUSTEN. High speed rail - Please don't bite the bullet.

The Federal Opposition recently got media attention for high speed rail by exhorting Australia to bite the bullet. Australians should indeed bite the bullet on high speed rail by demanding public apologies for failures: large amounts of public money wasted; false expectations fanned; bureaucratic misbehaviour rewarded and aversion to a reasonable approach urged by a Prime Minister! The Opposition might lead off, apologising first to Newcastle.

JOHN AUSTEN. Transport for an incoming NSW Government.

NSW faces an election in March. This note to help an incoming government - draws on transport matters identified in Pearls etc. It wont be in the incoming governments briefs. Never mind people who matter read Pearls!

JOHN AUSTEN. WestConnex inquiry report.

The Parliamentary inquiry into WestConnex is the type of thing that should happen before any major infrastructure project starts. However, it let the project off too lightly.

JOHN AUSTEN. Public inquiries into NSW infrastructure projects.

The former NSW Opposition Leader proposed a judicial inquiry into WestConnex and Sydney Light Rail. The new Opposition Leader wants public inquiries into major infrastructure projects.The NSW Transport Minister called this a hairbrained idea saying projects are already subject to independent oversight. He is wrong.

JOHN AUSTEN. NSW farce rail

NSW Premier Berejiklian says her Government will deliver a fast rail network slashing travel times across the State.' Work will commence in the next term of Government and wont wait for the Commonwealth NSW will go it alone!

JOHN AUSTEN. A report by Infrastructure Australia on outer urban transport.

A recent report on outer urban public transport by IA provides some interesting information .But much better understanding and analysis is needed before more resources are wasted and communities made worse off .

JOHN AUSTEN. Pain before more pain and then no gain in Berejiklians growing Sydney transport mess

The NSW Government says there is an amazing light at the end of the tunnel with the closure of the Epping-Chatswood line that is part of the Metro project. The analogy is apt. An approaching light in a railway tunnel heralds big trouble.

JOHN AUSTEN - A public Inquiry into Sydney Metro is essential (Part 2)

Only a public inquiry can cut through the nonsense surrounding Sydney Metro and advise on what to do.

JOHN AUSTEN - Inquiry into Sydney Metro (Part 1)

We are told Sydney Metro will overcome capacity constraints on Sydneys rail network. This is false. Only a public inquiry can reveal the truth and advise on what to do. This is the first of two articles following-up John Menadues call for a Sydney Metro inquiry.

JOHN AUSTEN. Sydney's transport mess will now envelop Badgerys Creek Airport

Instead of turning sods at Badgerys Creek airport, the new Prime Minister should order a public inquiry into Sydney Metro and the mess it will create.The newly helmeted Prime Minister recently appeared in the media turning first sods at the site of Sydneys second airport - Badgerys Creek.While that seems good news the ability of the public to get to the airport remain even more up in the air.

JOHN AUSTEN. Bill Shorten and Western Sydney Rail.

Mr Shorten has the right intentions about Western Sydney Rail but he needs to read Pearls and Irritations more carefully!

JOHN AUSTEN. Sydney Metro: the $60billion dollar deception

Here are some starters for the Sydney Metro inquiry.

JOHN AUSTEN. Australian freight policy: after the chainsaw? Part 3

A recent report on freight and supply chains leads Governments astray. This is the last of three articles seeking to put them back on course.

JOHN AUSTEN. Australian freight policy: where is my chainsaw . Part2.

A recent report on freight and supply chains leads Governments astray. This is the second of three articles seeking to put them back on course.

JOHN AUSTEN. Australian freight policy: where is my chainsaw? Part 1 of 2.

A recent report on freight and supply chains leads governments astray. This the first of two articles challenging its view that more bureaucracy and data is needed to deal with a supposedly ubiquitous task.

JOHN AUSTEN. Revolving doors at the infrastructure club

Infrastructure Australia should be made a Commission and do its work in public.

JOHN AUSTEN. Newcastle port restriction action not words please!

Instead of handwringing politicians should act to reverse the outrageous restriction on Newcastle port.

JOHN AUSTEN. Trouble in infrastructure paradise NSW revisited.

The mixed reception for the infrastructure works of NSW Premier the Hon. Gladys Berejiklian MP continues. It is mostly bad news punctuated by the odd piece of what the NSW Government considers good news.

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