By Corey Everitt
The Federal Government is preparing to pull back on infrastructure projects across the country, as the long-awaited findings of the infrastructure review, which put two local projects at risk, is set to be released “shortly”.
Federal Minister for Infrastructure, Catherine King has finally addressed the 90-day review into federally-funded projects, which began in May and has now extended to 190 days with no finding published yet and many projects still halted.
The review put hundreds of soon-to-be started infrastructure projects on hold, as the Federal Government infrastructure spending had reportedly blown-out by at least $33 billion.
Two local projects could get the axe from the review, the Clyde Road Upgrade and two-thirds of the Pakenham Roads Upgrade package which would see upgrades to Racecourse Road and McGregor Road.
Ms King spoke to reporters on Monday 6 November confirming that the review had made suggestions to cancel yet-to-be named projects, as well as potentially delaying others.
“The review looked at around 250 projects overall and has made recommendations around cancelling some,” Ms King said.
“It’s made recommendations around making sure we’ve got planning money and we slow the process down so we know what the costs are before we commit to construction.”
The comments come before the Reserve Bank of Australia raised interest rates on Tuesday. The official cash rate is now at 4.35 per cent.
The rise has been blamed by some on the level of infrastructure spending driving inflation, as the International Monetary Fund (IMF) claimed in a report on Wednesday 1 November that inflation will continue at high levels in Australia over the next several years in part due to high infrastructure spending.
The rate rise and the IMF’s report may put more pressure on the Federal Government to make cuts.
“We want to make sure we do everything we possibly can to get inflation down. We know that people need to have cost of living relief,” Ms King said.
The findings of the report are set to be announced in the coming weeks, as Ms King confirmed the Federal Government is in talks with State Governments on the matter.
The discussion may have states jostling to keep their projects, as Queensland Treasurer took to X – formerly Twitter – to say Queensland was a “growth state” needing “more infrastructure” and cuts should go to “southern states” with “low growth and high debt”.
In October, La Trobe MP Jason Wood defended the Clyde Road and Pakenham Roads Upgrade saying the former was crucial for the area, something the Federal Government must “commit to and deliver”, while he said it was “disgraceful” that the Pakenham Roads Upgrade may not go ahead for a community which already “put up with such poor roads”.
