Roads Australia (RA) has congratulated Hon. Anthony Albanese MP on his election as Prime Minister over the weekend and says his expertise in transport infrastructure will help the industry to progress its reform priorities.
“The new Prime Minister’s experience as a previous Minister in the transport and infrastructure portfolios is undoubtedly advantageous for this sector,” said RA CEO Michael Kilgariff.
“During the previous Labor government, the now-Prime Minister was instrumental in establishing Infrastructure Australia (IA) and developing key national transport strategies that provided solid foundations upon which successive governments have built.”
“At a time when our industry is delivering a record pipeline of transport infrastructure projects across the nation, it will be more important than ever for decision-makers in the new government to have an innate understanding of the challenges we face, particularly around capacity.”
“As the new Prime Minister frequently noted throughout the election campaign, lifting national productivity growth is central to improving economic prosperity and incomes for all Australians.”
“RA is therefore also pleased that key elements of the Labor Government’s policy platform reflect views and recommendations we have already put forward as part of our submission to the 2022 Productivity Inquiry, which is ongoing.”
“We encourage the new Federal Government to pursue that objective via the means put forward in our submission. These include procurement reform and addressing skills issues, hastening the uptake of zero emissions vehicles, embedding greater sustainability and circular economy opportunities in the construction and maintenance of transport infrastructure and making transport infrastructure more resilient in the face of climate change.”
“RA looks forward to working with the new Prime Minister and his incoming ministerial team to deliver progress across these areas.”