Governments urged to invest in roads, water, telecoms to protect against natural disasters

Infrastructure Australia has urged federal and state governments to invest billions of dollars shoring up the country's water supply, roads and telecommunications networks to protect them from national disasters and climate change.

Infrastructure Australia says the summer's fires and the drought have
 highlighted the need to build resilience into the nation's infrastructure.

Releasing its latest priority list, IA chief executive Romilly Madew said years of drought and the summer's bushfires had highlighted the need to ensure the nation's infrastructure was more resilient.

"Compounding issues of unprecedented infrastructure demand, severe drought and other environmental changes require a focus on our resilience strategies and a consensus on where to invest now for our nation's future prosperity," she said on Tuesday.

IA identifies the most pressing major infrastructure needs of the country each year and ranks them in terms of importance. Proposals from governments, councils, lobby groups and the private sector are vetted by the agency.

Read the story from The Age by Shane Wright - “Governments urged to invest in roads, water, telecoms to protect against natural disasters.”

Motorists could pay to reach Labor target for electric cars

Federal and state governments would have to consider waiving stamp duty and car registration on electric vehicles as well as giving them the special use of transit lanes to reach Labor’s ambitious new target for electric car sales.

The Commonwealth faces a $2 billion annual budget
blow if it encourages a shift from petrol and diesel vehicles.

Motorists might also have to accept “preferential parking” for the plug-in vehicles under a detailed report to the federal government on how to ensure half the nation’s new cars are electric by 2030.

Read the story from The Age by David Crowe - “Motorists could pay to reach Labor target for electric cars.”

Harder stance on our waterways could cost us dearly

Five years ago, after much serious argy-bargy, federal and state governments finally agreed on a comprehensive, $13 billion plan to manage the rivers of the Murray Darling Basin system. It took more than a century to reach a basic consensus on managing a complex water system that had been grossly abused.

Achieving this historically significant reform in the current political climate, I think, would be simply impossible. One must recognise that this was arguably one of John Howard's most positive and tangible achievements (the final plan was signed under Prime Minister Julia Gillard).

Before you yawn and stop reading any further, allow me to remind you, in case you don't know, that the Murray Darling Basin is not some ill defined, marginal little space out there populated by redneck irrigators. True, many state water ministers in the past used to like this portfolio because it meant getting out of the city and going on a country rampage of steak and beer, all the while ignoring how this delicate natural construct was being irreparably damaged by rogue, ignorant irrigation practices.

Read Stefano de Pieri’s comments in today’s Melbourne Age - "Harder stance on our waterways could cost us dearly.”