Land transportation & border securityAustralia to invest in land transportation

The government of Kevin Rudd in Australia has presented its 2008-9
budget, which it says marks its commitment to investing in preparing the
Australian economy to meet future
economic challenges. The budget provides for the establishment of three new
nation building funds — the Education Investment Fund, the Building Australia
Fund, and the Health and Hospitals Fund. Here we will take a brief look at the
government’s plans to invest in infrastructure.

The government says that neglect of critical
infrastructure over the past decade has pushed up the costs of doing business
and contributed to inflation and interest rates pressures in the economy. The government
says it wants to tackle infrastructure bottlenecks that are constraining our
economy. In particular, the newly formed Infrastructure Australia will develop a strategic blueprint to unlock
infrastructure bottlenecks and modernize the nation’s key infrastructure
assets. The budget will make a major long-term investment in Australia’s nation’s productive capacity by having the new Building
Australia Fund finance the current shortfall in critical economic
infrastructure in transport and communications, such as road, rail, ports, and
broadband. The Building Australia Fund will receive an initial allocation of
around $20 billion, and will absorb the Communications Fund. The government
wants investment in the nation’s future can begin early, so it is planning to
fast-track infrastructure feasibility studies on high-priority projects at a
cost of $75 million in 2007-8. In
addition, the Government will roll-out a National Broadband Network that will
offer high speed broadband to 98 percent of Australian households and
businesses. The budget also includes substantial commitments to land transport
infrastructure investment under Auslink 2.