What’s in the Turnbull government’s first budget for cities, defence, social services, the ABC and more?
AAP/Lukas Coch
Mei 3, 2016
Natalie Mast , The University of Western Australia ; Andrew Dodd , Swinburne University of Technology ; Carolyn Whitzman , The University of Melbourne ; Daniel Baldino , University of Notre Dame Australia ; Jago Dodson , RMIT University ; Janine O'Flynn , The University of Melbourne ; Kate Fitz-Gibbon , Monash University ; Matthew Beck , University of Sydney ; Merlin Crossley , UNSW Sydney ; Peter Whiteford , Australian National University ; Susan Harris Rimmer , Griffith University , dan Thas Ampalavanapillai Nirmalathas , The University of Melbourne
On reform, the 2016-17 budget is a holding one, with tinkering on the sides.
Value-for-money is a concept that surprisingly isn’t at the forefront of infrastructure planning.
Image sourced from www.shutterstock.com
Big infrastructure projects are seen as an electoral and economic drawcard; but the history of management of these assets is mixed.
It’s become conventional wisdom that Australia has an infrastructure deficit – with remarkably little discussion of what that even means.
AAP Image/Dave Hunt
How can we tell whether we have an infrastructure deficit? And if we do, how big is it?
Victorian treasurer Tim Pallas unveiled a record $1.2billion in budget announcements.
AAP/AAP Image/NEWZULU/David Hewison
Victoria’s big-spending budget will fund education and services, but infrastructure is the big winner.
from www.shutterstock.com
Cycling could be a major part of the solution to London’s transport problems – it’s a shame the main mayoral candidates don’t see it that way.
Angus Taylor
In his ministerial reshuffle earlier this year, Malcolm Turnbull made Angus Taylor, an up-and-coming Liberal MP, the assistant minister for cities and digital transformation.
Politicians may like to cut ribbons, but there’s also good evidence public spending on infrastructure drives productivity.
Image sourced from Shutterstock.com
The work of David Aschauer could help the government put a more positive spin on spending.
Are we there yet?
Mattinbgn/Wikimedia Commons
A fast rail link between Sydney and Melbourne was first proposed in 1984. So why haven’t we done it yet?
State Premiers like Daniel Andrews are always keen to point out any inequality in federal funding decisions.
David Hewison/Newzulu/AAP
If the system was fixed project funding would be more likely to be based on merit.
Major development banks are funding logging, mining and infrastructure projects that are having enormous impacts on nature. Here, forests are being razed along a newly constructed road in central Amazonia.
William Laurance
Big new investors such as the Asian Infrastructure Development Bank are key players in a worldwide infrastructure, and that could be bad news for the environment.
The politicisation of road funding decisions can make for wasteful spending.
Tracey Nearmy/AAP
Poor project selection is undermining economic growth in Australia.
Maintenance has been pushed off so much that the D.C. Metro needs to shut lines down for months for repairs.
momentsnotice/flickr
How did urban public transport in America, like much of our infrastructure, get to be in such bad shape? Will millennials help turn it around?
Roberto Maldeno
Would you take a longer route to work for the good of all?
Drivers make some suboptimal routing decisions when they’re traveling around town.
A. Lima et al. J. R. Soc. Int. DOI: 10.1098/rsif.2016.0021
No wonder you’re always late. Drivers use a route that minimizes travel time on only a third of their trips. Here’s how real-world data can help planners fight traffic congestion.
The vehicle-based microwave system, making the streets safe again.
Zanko et al., 2016
Crews patch them, just to see these recurrent potholes come back again. New research focuses on microwaves zapping patches to make a more permanent pothole fix.
The report criticises the state’s failure to adequately integrate the planning of land use development and transport priorities, but falls into the same trap itself.
AAP/Melanie Foster
Infrastructure Australia’s latest report is substantial but, critically, it fails to incorporate the transport thinking needed to develop more compact cities that work better for everyone.
The public are increasingly keen to trespass on corporate land.
MollyBob/Flickr
The UK spent much of the late 20th century voting to sell off public services – but now support is growing for a renationalisation programme.
A White House proposal to tax crude oil would address the U.S.’s perennially underfunded highway maintenance program.
scottummy/flickr
Obama’s proposal to add $10 tax to crude oil raises the thorny question of whether the U.S. can continue to fund its highway infrastructure with a fuel tax that hasn’t changed since 1993.
Electricity pylons from Cape Town’s Koeberg nuclear power plant. State-owned companies help to provide infrastructure for economic development.
Reuters/Mike Hutchings
State-owned companies are not generally needed to provide goods. Rather, they are needed to provide the foundation for a well-functioning economy and a healthy, well-informed populace.
Here come the rains to Hollywood and Southern California.
skinnylawyer/flickr
The flood-control infrastructure built to weather heavy rains in Los Angeles sends runoff to sea – a poor design for drought-worried California.