Roads Australia
The creation of Australia’s first federal infrastructure portfolio in the new Rudd Labor Government hasn’t gone unnoticed in this morning’s media.
While most media outlets focussed on higher profile portfolios and Cabinet appointments, the Australian Financial Review took time to profile the new Infrastructure Minister, Anthony Albanese, and his portfolio responsibilities that include Transport (see story below).
Describing it as the ‘fix-it brief’, the Fin Review said an immediate priority for Mr Albanese was likely to be the creation of Infrastructure Australia, a statutory authority charged with planning and co-ordinating the country’s infrastructure needs. Mr Albanese was reported as saying the new authority would also be an important step towards addressing capacity constraints.
Elsewhere, Mr Albanese told ABC Radio that Australian business had been crying out for such a dedicated infrastructure authority.
In other news, a report in today’s Sydney Morning Herald said traffic volumes on the Lane Cove Tunnel were still well below forecasts - although operator Connector Motorways said volumes were steadily increasing and it was still too early to make an assessment of the tunnel’s performance.
This morning’s Age newspaper reported on a briefing by the Eddington Inquiry team on its study into Melbourne’s east-west transport infrastructure needs. The Age said the emerging theme of the study was that Melbourne was too reliant on the West Gate Bridge, and transport services in the city’s west would not be able to cope with future population increases.
Anthony Albanese has been handed responsibility for delivering on Federal Labor’s transport funding promises, including roads, in the new Federal Government.
Mr Albanese was yesterday named by Prime Minister-elect, Kevin Rudd, as Minister for Infrastructure, Transport and Regional Development, and Local Government.
Mr Albanese, aged 44, has represented the NSW seat of Grayndler since 1996 and is a former assistant general secretary of the NSW ALP.
He has been a member of the Labor Shadow Ministry since 2001 and most recently held the shadow portfolio of Infrastructure and Water.
Former Labor transport spokesman, Martin Ferguson, has been handed ministerial responsibility for Resources, Energy and Tourism.
The following is a recap of Labor’s major election spending promises on roads and transport:
NSW
Qld
Victoria
SA
WA
A survey of ARF members on the current skills crisis in the Australian road industry has underlined the importance of governments providing longer-term planning and funding programs.
The Survey was conducted during October and the findings presented at the ARF Forum meeting in Brisbane earlier this month.
The Skills Survey asked respondents whether the industry as a whole had the skills to deliver Commonwealth and state road programs – on time and budget – over the next decade.
Four out of five respondents indicated the skills crisis would impact negatively on the industry’s capability to deliver work over the next two to five years, while 41% of respondents believed the skills shortage would still be impacting negatively in the longer term (6-10 years).
Among other key findings in the ARF survey:
. engineers and field supervisors were identified as the skills currently most in demand, with nine out of ten respondents who employ people in these categories reporting shortages;
. respondents also reported that specialist equipment operators and trades, and road construction workers, were in serious short supply;
. Queensland and WA were nominated as being the worst off for shortages in all major road industry skill categories;
. while 55% of respondents said the skills crisis was currently manageable, 44% described it as serious, affecting their ability to plan for and deliver work;
. the shortage of graduates/trainees and the impact of an aging workforce/retirements were both identified as significant problems for the road industry;
. for individual players, the poaching of staff by competitors was seen as a significant issue – a reflection of the restrictive size of the skills pool.
The Survey results were referred to in an article on the skills crisis in the Australian Financial Review.
“I don’t think the survey findings will come as any great shock to the industry,” said ARF Chief Executive, Ian Webb.
“What’s important is that we now have some hard evidence we can present to the incoming Federal Government to seek action on this issue.”
ConnectEast this week unveiled a multi-million dollar collection of public artworks for Melbourne’s EastLink motorway.
Managing Director, John Gardiner, said ConnectEast's $5.5 million artwork program was a gift to the people of Victoria and represented the largest and most ambitious commitment to public art on a major road in Australia.
“This cultural initiative comprises four large scale artworks on EastLink itself and 10 smaller scale works adjacent to our cycling and walking trail,” Mr Gardiner said.
“ConnectEast wants EastLink to provide motorists with a truly memorable driving experience and has invested in a striking ‘look and feel’ for the motorway which is comparable to the best in the world.”
Mr Gardiner said EastLink was an example of how the private sector can work with Government on the innovative delivery of major infrastructure projects for the benefit of the entire community.
For more information or to view the artworks, go to http://www.connecteast.com.au/news-detail.aspx?newsid=28
The FRH Group has undergone a name change, taking on the moniker of its New Zealand parent company, Fulton Hogan.
In a move designed to bring the Australian operations closer to its NZ parent and acknowledge the increased collaboration and shared resources of the two, the change means FRH will now be known in Australia as Fulton Hogan Pty Ltd and will adopts its parent’s corporate livery and logo.
“The move recognises that Fulton Hogan really operates as a single organisation on a Trans-Tasman scale – a situation that’s been in place for several years now,” said the company’s managing director, David Faulkner.
“Our message to our customers, and the market in general, is pretty clear. Our new brand represents our intention to strengthen Fulton Hogan’s base of skills and experience more consistently on both sides of the Tasman.”
Fulton Hogan has interests in a broad range of products and services in the roads, quarrying, civil construction, water treatment, infrastructure maintenance and land development sectors.
Founded in New Zealand in 1933, the company employs over 5,000 staff within New Zealand, Australia and the Pacific islands, with annual sales approaching A$2 billion.
BIS Shrapnel has released its latest road construction and maintenance reports (2007 to 2022).
The reports predict activity in the Australian roads sector, the second largest segment in the booming engineering construction sector, is set to remain at near record levels for three more years, with an upswing early in the next decade.
However, substantial differences in the levels of activity across the sectors of road construction and state-to-state are expected.
For more information, go to http://www.bis.com.au/news/rc_and_rm_07_22-11-07.html/section/34
The RACQ has called for a constructive era of cooperation between the Federal and Queensland governments to rebuild the state’s national highway network.
RACQ chief executive Ian Gillespie said the motoring organisation was encouraged by the incoming Federal Government’s election commitment of almost $5 billion towards making Queensland’s roads safer and more efficient.
“While that promised amount of federal funding still falls well short of the $23.5 billion estimated necessary to bring the state’s National Network highways up to reasonable adequacy, it’s enough to make a serious start,” Mr Gillespie said.
“The important next step is for both levels of government to recognise that the past roads funding relationship, characterised by mutual blame over project delays and cost blow-outs, has seriously hindered the delivery of much needed road infrastructure for Queensland.
“It’s clear from the major funding commitments to Queensland made by both sides in the federal election campaign that they had finally appreciated the real depth of concern here about the inadequacy of our road infrastructure and the inadequate return of fuel excise revenue from Canberra to help fix the network’s many problems.
“But with Labor now in power federally, the Queensland Government is under an equal weight of expectation to show it can work more cooperatively in future to resolve the continual project cost and delay issues that marred its roads relationship with the previous Commonwealth administration.
“We are aware that the Queensland Government has been exploring ways of improving the national roads funding process, and the change at the Federal level presents the ideal opportunity to forge a more equitable and workable system.”
The Queensland Government has allocated another $29 million to continue the duplication of the Sunshine Motorway north of the Maroochy River.
Main Roads Minister Warren Pitt said this week the project would involve the four-laning of a three-kilometre section of the motorway from the existing David Low Way interchange to a new Pacific Paradise interchange and bypass road.
The anticipated completion date for the Sunshine Motorway Upgrade Project is December 2008.
The 2008 ARF National Roads Summit will be held on June 17 and 18 at the Stamford Plaza Hotel, Double Bay, in Sydney. The theme for the 2008 conference is Roads as a Business.
The ARF National Roads Summit should not be confused with other events on the industry conference calendar that have similar brandings or themes.
“This is the official ARF-endorsed event that brings together the key decision-makers from across the Australian road transport industry,” said ARF Chief Executive, Ian Webb.
“Last year’s Summit was a major success and we again expect to deliver a high quality program of speakers for the industry.
“This strategic-level Summit will focus on the key issues in the financing, development, provision and operation of road infrastructure, and will include presentations from government organisations, infrastructure owners, consultants and road user organisations.”
Submissions on a speaking topic of interest to ARF members and senior road executives are invited. If you have an interest in speaking, please email the Summit Convener Scott Matthews at scott.matthews@halledit.com.au with a brief initial synopsis on the topic. Presentations from International speakers will be welcomed.
Submitted by Mark Bowmer on Friday November 30th 2007 1:22pm
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