10/11/04

Mr Peter Jorss
President
IE Aust (Qld)

Mr Tom Pinzone
c/- GHD

Queensland Infrastructure Report Card

I noted with interest a Courier Mail article about the Queensland Infrastructure Report Card that you reportedly authored on behalf of the IEAust, and the Premier's apparent negative reaction to it.

My interpretation of the article: Long term planning of Queensland's major infrastructure has been badly neglected - and a crisis in electricity, water and roads is faced in 10 years - according to Queensland Infrastructure Report Card by IEAust. Electricity is worst - and even the best areas were seen to require changes. IEAust Queensland president (Peter Jorss) blamed absence of coordinated strategic planning between three levels of government. Some sectors are better than Australian average, but still need work to be satisfactory. Without changes Brisbane residents in 2015 will face traffic congestion, power outages and future water shortages. Report suggests creation of infrastructure council to monitor problems. Authors also suggested that GOC Boards also required members with technical experience - rather than just governance experience. GHD (Tom Pinzone) said governments had to see infrastructure as investment in the future - not cost. Political pressures in different levels of government inhibit coordination. Lack of long term planning and of funding for maintenance / renewals will create long term problems. Tax increases were a real possibility to fund infrastructure. Premier labelled report outdated - as it said nothing that was not known and being acted on. (Watt A. and Wardill S 'Vital services decade away from a crisis', Courier Mail , 9/11/04)

May I suggest that:

• the Premier's dismissive reaction points to the fact that technical changes (eg coordinated planning / more funding) would not be enough to close the infrastructure gap. For reasons outlined below, Queensland has deeply embedded obstacles to dealing with infrastructure properly;
• the claim that the infrastructure problems are fully understood and being acted on seems unlikely to be correct.

In explaining infrastructure under-investment in Queensland, I submit that the most important factors have been:

• a general erosion of Public Service professional competencies. You were quoted as highlighting the need for technical competence in GOC boards. Such competence is also vital in the Public Service if government is to successfully understand and act on infrastructure requirements. However the simple fact is that professional merit has not really been a required consideration in making 'senior' Public Service appointments (see Ombudsman's Reasons);
• the serious Defects in the Planning and Delivery of Infrastructure that emerged in Queensland in the 1990s as a result of amateurish 'reforms' of government machinery; and
• the much longer-term impact of Australia's unbalanced federal financial relationships which have made it essentially impossible for states to take real responsibility (or be held accountable) for their nominal functions. Financial dependency (especially after the escalation of special purpose funding in the 1970s) created a predicament in state agencies similar to that in industries subjected to tariff protection (ie a culture in which it was more important to be good at lobbying the federal government than at actually doing the job).

A lack of proper infrastructure planning has been a consequence of such factors - not the primary cause of the infrastructure backlog.

In relation to the Premier's claim that the problem is being acted on I should like to draw your attention to my review of the SE Queensland Regional Plan - which suggests that the Plan will prove unworkable for reasons which include: inadequate depth of understanding of what is really involved in coordinating planning in government; and financial obstacles to funding the necessary infrastructure.

In conclusion I strongly suggest that the IEAust needs to look much more deeply at the reasons for the infrastructure backlog that the Report Card identified.

Regards

John Craig