Everald, you haven’t mentioned the most significant factor:

We have very rapid population growth, which means we have a constantly rapidly increasing demand for infrastructure!

We are building infrastructure, at a great rate. Enormously so. New houses, hospitals, schools, upgraded roads, and everything else that we need.

But all of this is just pandering to the ever-increasing demand. It is just duplicating everything for more and more people, and is NOT leading to significant improvements.

We are chasing the tail of demand, which is always staying a big step ahead of supply!

THIS is the number 1 issue here!

If we want to properly address the infrastructure issue, then we ABSOLUTELY need to address the demand side of the equation, not just the supply side!

If we were to significantly reduce the immigration rate, with all else being equal, we’d make a HUGE difference in the effective provision of infrastructure.

We are currently spending in the order of 80b$ annually just to duplicate all the necessary infrastructure for the annual immigration intake!!

This is just obscene.

You make a number of interesting worthwhile points Evald, but I have some issues!
Why in heaven's name, would you sell an income earning asset, that was adding money to a pool of funds, that remained exclusively, the property of infrastructure Australia!
Which would then allow the authority to borrow against, in order to unlock essential capital, and remember, Governments can raise money for less than half of that of private enterprise; and private enterprise traditionally borrow their own investment funds, as a tax minimizing strategy, which means a lose/lose outcome for Australia.
What we haven't tried, are thirty year self terminating bonds. And we stand almost alone in that aspect.
These bonds would allow us to raise foreign investment capital, while retaining ownership, and or, our own economic sovereignty!
And any and all income earnings.
Thinking within a fixed circle of ideas limits the questions. When the questions are limited, so also are the answers; and selling of the national estate is just not one of them; and MUST BE resisted by all who retain the ability to think critically, and for themselves.
If only were were led by people with a modicum of vision, we would have retained our own iron ore and coal mining industries, with hundreds of billions retained, along with quite massively enlarged tax receipts, which in turn, could have been invested in essential infrastructure.
Rapid rail, an inland canal, a fleet of nuclear powered roll on roll off ferries, hugely expanded, low cost housing?
Rhrosty.

Please add the appalling nature of federal administration: political appointments, partisan ministers (over priorities, the transparency or not of process, industrial millstones over maritime labour etc), intimidated industry lobbies always praising even idiotic policy pronouncements, and a top-down approach to "taxes and levies" as opposed to regional assemblies "happy to pay for OUR priorities".

ITS THIS ONSESSION WITH POPULATION 'GROWth'
more grow=MORE INFASTRUCTURE..[a chance to gold plate it]
a chance to privatise it[so we can build more that then can be privatised til everything is proffit based and service a thing youi only get for capitalists gain.

we just want just governance
govt is govt
and private capitalists do as they want..with their own cash

but it used to be we had builders/building things[often with govt assistance]
but now we got richly income positive know nuthings do nuthings just looking to by some aqsset with all that lovely compulsory super that rolls in each payday.

govt NEEDS TO EXTRACT THE MINERALS
not build the future toll ways..[its pathetic how big mONEY LENT BIG MONEY TO COUNLCIL..TO PUT IN WATER METERS/THAT STATE GOVT TOOK OVER ONCE IT WAS DONE[AND THE COST TIED BACK TO RATE[PAYERS

THEN LIKE THEY DID WITH SEWERS POWER WATER THEY TAKE THAT CASH..BUILD THE NEXT CASH COW[AND OUR POWER DOUBLES..]THE THINKING IS WE MANY CAN FIND THE EXTRA ..SOMEHOW..[AND YES WE DO..OK SO WE DONT SP[END MONEY ON GOING BOATING OR GOING TO THE GAME..OR FORGO THE HAIRCUT..OR EXTRA BOTTLE OF BOOZE

THING IS THATS REFLECTED BY THE CLOSED SHOPS
EACH ONE A VICTIM OF LAZY GOVT POLICING MORALITY OF ITS PEOPLE WHILE GIVING UNLIMITED LICENSE TO EXPLOIT THE PEOPLE[WHO FORMED GOVT TO SERVE AND PROTECT..THEM*

BUT THEY[THEM]/THE CRIMINALS HAVE SUBVERTED GOVERNING INTO SERVING THE DEAD COOPERATE CORPSE..PROTECTING THE DEAD FROM THE LIVING..

stop wasting our money on infrastructure you only going to sell OFF
FOR CENTS ON THE DOLLAR..TO SAME INSANE MONEY ADDICT..THAT OBTAINED BY FRAUD ..NEVER GAINS A CLEAR TITLE
http://forum.onlineopinion.com.au/thread.asp?article=16076&page=0
PROCEEDS OF CRIME WILL REVERT BACK TO THE PEOPLE
BEGOTTEN BY THOSE WITH UNLIMITED GReED WHo got rich..by creating need

pul ya head in..if you build it..you own it
stop growing by importing ignorant savages its dumbing the lot of us down..there comes that time where survival becomes more importanT..THAT GROWING

IGNORE THE ENDING
BUT SEE THAT SAID RE POWWER..APPLIES TO ALL THE SILVER THE INVESTERD SUBVERTED FROM SERVICE INTO CAPITALIST GAIN

http://power4patriots.com/video/ll/index-l.php?subid=lumkhyth_51_13932324

As a young man, I spent a few years [summer holidays,] in New Zealand, chasing construction projects, and high wages.
While there, I noted that the Christchurch City council, built an International air terminal at Harewood, during the 60's and retained all and any income.
Then built a toll tunnel connecting Christchurch and Lyttleton harbor.
The ten and twenty cent toll, was less than the cost of the fuel used taking the much longer tortuous alpine route over the hills, and cut hours off the journey.
Because of the much lower funding paradigm and no international tax avoiding parasites to accommodate, the tunnel, [traffic,] paid for itself inside three years and thereafter, raised increasing revenue, for the council, which responded to people power, by removing the toll?
They then build some bridges etc/etc, that eliminated dangerous level crossings, and the usual delays, that had contributed to peak hour gridlock.
I'm informed the tunnel and those [pre-stressed steel reinforced bridges etc/etc, survived the worst earthquake in Christchurch's living memory.
The death toll was, I believe, largely down to quite risible heritage listings, and private enterprise, money saving building shortcuts, undertaken in a known earthquake area?
Rhrosty.

I note an assumption that private ownership is essential.

I see not a word of justification for this opinion.

Methinks the author may be beating his own drum.

Besides which, since when has infrastructure meant only land transport of the kind which crosses state borders - ie road and rail?

Why not:
Revisit the now crippled and visionless National Broadband Network,or
Improve urban transport in the major cities; or
Breathe some life into effective national responses to climate change, or
Put proper tourist facilities into and adjacent to our many inaccessible national parks?

Each one of these will help Australia to have a prosperous future as well as to be a nicer place to live or visit.

The recently announced Northconnex road tunnel for Sydney is to cost $3 billion. By my calculation, something like $600 for every car in NSW. Hailed as a private enterprise project, it will never the less, attract a government subsidy of about $800 million. So much for industry standing on its own feet. The tunnel is to have a projected life of thirty years. No mention is made in any of the documents about declining oil supplies, these will be substantially depleted before the end of the next decade.
This mindless development is only necessary because of Australia’s out of control immigration policy. No more local cars, therefore imported cars will be cheaper, more migrants, more cars. A dog chasing its tail.
Everald, I think you would do better to confine your lobbying efforts to refurbishment and expansion of our rail infrastructure. As the end of the age of oil approaches, it’s the only one that makes sense

We are spending much money on road works and the planning documents do
not even consider whether the cost of fuel by the time they are
finished will make them unviable. One would have thought that the
experience of the Cross City,the lane Cove tunnel, and the two
Brisbane bankruptcies would have made realistic traffic estimations
a number one priority.
The proposal documents never mention the war, err petrol costs.
They make inflated traffic estimates just ensure that the project goes ahead.
Start reading here and you will find all about how stupid our politicians have been, it is in three parts;

http://crudeoilpeak.info/

For the future electrified railways are essential and all road projects should be abandoned.

Everald Compton,

It is offensive to use a metaphor of a person who has "no money" and also has "no teeth" to descriptively express his opinion on how lack of proper infrastructure and economic planning and sense results in our Nation having "NO TEETH" [i.e. no 'bite' or no ability for economy to get an good outcome].

In other words - "no teeth, no money" equals "NO HOPE".

But this is offensive to me and to anyone out there who has, often through no fault of their own but instead as a result of being raised in uneducated and problematic cultural and family environments (e.g. Indigenous Australians) may find themselves at age 25 already physically showing CLEAR SIGNS that he/she has come from lowest of lowest of classes as who else has missing teeth and some discoloured and rotten teeth by age 20-30?

Essentially the offense is that author Everald Compton casually uses a metaphor he knows will be descriptive and also that to most if not all of his readers, he knows the metaphor will not be something that might have actually touched reality in their lives BUT instead is merely an image of "some other distant thing".

Yet there are REALLY people in our very suburbs in this nation who have "no teeth, no money, NO HOPE" where the last of these 3 is what results usually from "no teeth, no money".

I realize many people may be wondering why I am so concerned here.

Imagine this and you might get an answer to that:

Had the author used some metaphor like "Jews in Nazi Germany - No chance = Australian business potential in Asian environments" . . .

OR . . . "As Much chance of Spotting Investment Possibilities in Australia as there is of Spotting a Christian or Jew in Mecca, Suadi Arabia" . . .

Essentially it is RUDE to openly state as FACT that a person without teeth and money has NO HOPE unless they also intend of making attempt to fix such inequality, which NEVER is the case.