Infrastructure
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House prices are not necessarily correlated with changes in supply and demand
A recent research report, Regional Housing Supply and Demand in Australia, by the ANU’s Centre for Social Research and Methods, has reignited the debate about the relationship between house prices and imbalances in the supply of and demand for housing. Few would dispute that steeply rising prices in some of our largest cities have made Continue reading »
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JOHN AUSTEN: What will it take to kick off a serious enquiry into the Sydney transport mess?
While readers relax over the Christmas break, Commonwealth advisers and politicians should be asking about the Sydney infrastructure mess. Continue reading »
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LAURIE PATTON. Setting the Record Straight – The Australian newspaper publishes rebuttal to Internet Australia attacks
For former journalist and media executive Laurie Patton, spearheading Internet Australia’s campaign for #BetterBroadband meant becoming accustomed to the occasional sledge from the pro-NBN Co forces. However, a series of false and defamatory newspaper articles led to an out-of-court settlement and the publication of an ‘op-ed’ setting the record straight. Continue reading »
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LUKE FRASER. Is Sydney in thrall to an infrastructure cargo cult? Part 2 of 3
This is the second of three articles considering transport infrastructure spending levels, shortcomings in transport governance and strategy and the potential for doing better. Continue reading »
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GRAHAM HAND. No, Gladys, build it and they will not come
The NSW Government has announced it will knock down and rebuild Allianz Stadium at Moore Park at a cost of $700 million and the Olympic Stadium at Homebush, only 17 years old, at a cost of $1.6 billion. However, there is little ‘business case’ evidence that new stadiums would make a material difference to attendances Continue reading »
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JOHN AUSTEN. The NSW infrastructure mess keeps getting worse
This is an update on Sydney’s infrastructure puff piece saga. Previous articles in Pearls and Irritations pointed out that the NSW Government led by the Hon. Gladys Berejiklian MP does not understand infrastructure. The draft 40-year plans for transport and for the Sydney region are a mess, involve kindergarten errors and contradict each other. It Continue reading »
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BOB SORBY. Of Pipes and Pipedreams
Life is an equation in hydrocarbons was a favourite aphorism of the late RFX Connor, Minister for Minerals and Energy in the Whitlam Labor governments of 1972-1975. The phrase belied a deep understanding by Connor of the Australian petroleum and natural gas industry at the time together with a suggestion of big ideas waiting to Continue reading »
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JOHN AUSTEN. Trouble in NSW infrastructure paradise, Part 2.
This is a second instalment about the onslaught of NSW infrastructure puff pieces. Continue reading »
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LAURIE PATTON. Smart people make smart communities.
Many of my friends and colleagues have remarked on how my new role as inaugural CEO of the Australian Smart Communities Association (ASCA) is a natural extension of the work I’ve been doing promoting the need for #BetterBroadband. Connectivity is the cornerstone of Smart Communities. Innovation cannot occur without it, and innovation is key to Continue reading »
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PAUL BUDDE. And so the NBN blame game starts
It has taken four years for the government and the nbn company to finally admit what many people have been warning for since the very beginning of the change in NBN plans from FttH (fibre to the home) to FttN (fibre to the node). Continue reading »
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JOHN MENADUE. The NBN and the wholesale/network arm of Telstra that should never have been sold.
Yesterday Malcolm Turnbull , perhaps unwittingly,sheeted home the real responsibility for the NBN debacle to the privatisation of Telstra by the Howard Government. In his attempt to blame the Rudd government for the current problems, he really let the cat out of the bag. He said If you want to look at a country that Continue reading »
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JOHN AUSTEN. Trouble in infrastructure paradise, NSW Part 1 of 2
Sydney readers are being subjected to an onslaught of infrastructure puff pieces featuring former Transport Minister now Premier the Hon. Gladys Berejiklian MP. It coincides with a desire to ‘showcase the Government’s infrastructure credentials’ and raise the Premier’s profile. It also coincides with big swings against her Government in by-elections. But the major projects currently underway Continue reading »
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JOHN AUSTEN – Road pricing; an update
Reports about the Grattan Institute’s assessment of Sydney and Melbourne traffic is the latest re-ignition of road pricing arguments. However, the risk that policy falls further into the hands of vested interests needs to be addressed. There is an urgent need for Commonwealth advisers to lift their game. Continue reading »
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PAUL BUDDE. The future NBN might look rather different.
Some of the new technologies that are now arriving on the horizon could well mean that a different NBN scenario might unfold – a merging between fixed and wireless broadband. Continue reading »
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JULIAN CRIBB. Our Parliament: an unqualified failure for the future
Australian politicians have next to no qualifications or skills when it comes to deciding the focal issues of our time. No wonder the decision making of recent years has been so poor. Julian Cribb argues that a continued political bias against science, technology and education risks placing Australia among the also-rans of the 21st Century. Continue reading »
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JON STANFORD. Australia’s Future Submarine. Part 3 of 3. Responding to the criticisms
At the National Press Club in Canberra on 27 September 2017, Hugh White, Professor of Strategic Studies at the ANU, launched an independent report by Insight Economics on Australia’s future submarine (FSM). The report, Australia’s Future Submarine: Getting This Key Capability Right, was commissioned by Gary Johnston, a Sydney businessman and owner of the website, Continue reading »
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JOHN AUSTEN. Priorities for Infrastructure Australia.
The new Infrastructure Australia chair said the organisation is open to ideas and seeks priorities from the public. Sitting in the public gallery I suggest three priorities: (1) revisit some of its advice; (2) set out the Commonwealth’s role; and (3) become more independent. The aim is to improve its reputation as a Commonwealth adviser. Continue reading »
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LUKE FRASER. Congestion charging: – Stockholm, Melbourne and Turnbull’s legacy-a repost
On congestion charging. There are three lessons: first, congestion charges are devilish hard to put in place, even when they work demonstrably well; second, don’t try to implement this in a city where there is no serious traffic congestion, or people will smell it for the revenue grab that it is – and respond accordingly. A Continue reading »
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JOHN AUSTEN. Doubts about infrastructure go beyond Sydney Metro.
John Menadue recently asked for an open public inquiry into the NSW Metro scheme. Given the momentous questions about that scheme and its supposed evaluation there is no doubt such an inquiry must be Australia’s highest infrastructure priority. Continue reading »
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MUNGO MacCALLUM. An energy emergency after ten years!
Malcolm Turnbull assures us that he is concentrating on energy and its three pillars – cost, security and environment. Well, at least the first two; it must be said that the environment has not had much of a look in during the last frenzied week. Continue reading »
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MICHAEL LAMBERT. Australia’s electricity markets policy: The shambles continues.
Over the last week we have been treated to the depressing spectacle of the Prime Minister and his government reacting in a knee jerk, wrong-headed manner to two sensible and useful reports that have been released by the Australian Energy Market Operator (AEMO). This highlights the folly of not having a national plan for transitioning Continue reading »
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JOHN Menadue. It is scandalous how infrastructure spending escapes proper scrutiny
The gathering infrastructure mess in Australia requires open public inquiries, starting with the Sydney Metro. Continue reading »
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ROD TUCKER AND JOHN DE RIDDER. How to fix the NBN pricing model: An open letter to Bill Morrow.
Dear Bill, The NBN pricing model is in urgent need of repair. In this letter, we offer our thoughts on how an overhaul of the pricing model can solve a number of problems facing the NBN. Continue reading »
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LAURIE PATTON. The Australian shoots the NBN messenger, as usual.
Three years ago, Internet Australia, the not-for-profit peak body representing the interests of Internet users, embarked on a mission to foster more informed debate about the National Broadband Network and its importance to Australia’s future. It was – and is – the view of our board and members that we need something better than a network deploying ageing copper wires. Continue reading »
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LUKE FRASER. Federal Court decision at Port of Newcastle: a failure of bureaucratic leadership.
A recent episode of ABC television’s satire Utopia saw political spivs trying to convince the fictional Nation Building Authority to endorse anti-competitive conditions on a multi-billion-dollar port asset sale. Head of that Authority Tony Woodford – played beautifully by Rob Sitch – resisted valiantly. Shortly thereafter, a newspaper review criticised Utopia thus: ‘…the writers Continue reading »
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STEWART LITTLE. Titles registry sale a super storm.
NSW Premier Gladys Berejiklian will bequeath the state a financial disaster for millions of property owners thanks to her government’s leasing of Land and Property Information’s 150-year-old Land Titles Registry. Continue reading »
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IAN MCAULEY. Electricity discounts for some, price rises for others
If we follow the government’s suggestion that we should hunt around for cheaper electricity there will be no net benefits, just a re-shuffling of who cross-subsidises whom in the market. We have been brought to this absurd situation by a blind faith in privatisation and “competition”. Continue reading »
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JOHN AUSTEN. Infrastructure advice – worse than expected.
Previous articles in this blog suggested serious problems in Australia’s infrastructure assessment and approvals arrangements – upon which tens of billions pivot. The recent Sydney and South-West Metro Rail review by Infrastructure Australia provides troubling evidence of this problem. Continue reading »
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GILES PARKINSON. Super cheap solar – and why that’s good for Australia’s mining sector
Australia’s most pre-eminent solar researcher, Dr Martin Green, says the cost of solar PV technology will fall substantially in coming years, and while bad for the country’s thermal coal industry it will spell good news for other Australian mineral and materials exports.’ Any loss in thermal coal sales due to strong solar PV uptake will Continue reading »
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MICHAEL LAMBERT. The shambles of Australia’s national electricity policy.
Australia has rich energy resources, both fossil and renewable, and a well considered electricity market design, as evidenced by the National Electricity Market (NEM), so why is our electricity market policy overall in such a shambolic state? Successive national governments have failed to address the core policy issues that are fundamental if the ‘trilemma’ of Continue reading »
