It might be a sign of changing times or Romilly Madew’s green pedigree coming through, but climate adaption and response projects topped Infrastructure Australia’s priority list for 2020.
Ms Madew, Infrastructure Australia’s chief executive, was the former head of the Green Building Council of Australia. The recently released Infrastructure Priority List suggests her focus on sustainability hasn’t gone away.
She said resilience emerged as a key theme of the independent advisory body’s 2019 Australian Infrastructure Audit.
“This focus continues to be reflected in our latest edition of the Infrastructure Priority List.”
Three of the nine new projects will improve water security, including a national water strategy and a town and city water security strategy – both stamped with the “high priority” label.
- The Fifth Estate has been running a series on Saving Water in response to the drought – see How the NSW gov is mobilising a water effort for 90 drought-stricken towns in NSW and Letting your lawn die off? Think again if you want to stay cool
With half of Australia’s coastline vulnerable to rising sea levels (80 per cent of the Victorian coast and 62 per cent of the Queensland coast), a coastal inundation protection strategy is also a high priority.
A flood up to 1 metre costs the average home between $60,000 and $80,000, according to the report, with these figures set to climb as relocation becomes the only option for frequently flooded spots.
Early flood warnings and evacuations
The infrastructure options on the table include seawalls, buffer zones and other physical infrastructure to protect people and property, or infrastructure that allows early flood warnings and evacuations such as those in places at high risk of tsunamis.
The report also hasn’t ruled out policy actions to reduce greenhouse gas emissions and planning controls that stop people building in vulnerable areas.
The independent body also wants to see infrastructure to improve Australia’s ability to manage its waste and recycling, which has suffered since places like China and Malaysia stopped taking recycling products from other countries.
As another high priority initiative, the body is calling for a national strategy that sets out a program of investment in new waste recovery and reprocessing infrastructure.
Action to fix the waste problem is ramping up at the state level, with the Victorian government announcing its circular economy strategy today, which includes a four-bin recycling system, a container deposit scheme and nearly $100 million to support businesses, drive innovation and create local jobs.
Slashing the time it takes to get from Sydney to Canberra by train is another new high priority initiative. Because it’s three hours slower than flying and one hour slower than driving, only 1 per cent of people travelling this common route choose the train – the most sustainable option.
The agency also flagged energy security as a priority, with plans to transform Western Australia’s grid (the South West Interconnected System) so that it can handle large amounts of renewable energy.
Regional Australia also got some much needed attention, with calls to improve mobile telecommunications coverage in remote areas and improve regional road safety.
A national program for Indigenous art and cultural facilities was also recommended.
Current GBCA chief executive officer Davina Rooney applauded the focus on resilience.
“The priorities identified today seeking national coordination to manage waste, water security and coastal inundation reflect the importance of planning for the growing risks facing communities across Australia,” Ms Rooney said.
She says that the built environment has a critical role to play in helping Australia become more resilient in the face of a changing climate, but that is only part of the challenge.
“We also need to ensure that buildings make a smaller contribution to climate change with a pathway to net zero.”
Ms Madew said the Priority List has a “strong record of driving national investment and has become a key reference point for all levels of government.
“This year alone we have seven infrastructure projects graduating off the list as they enter the delivery stage.”
The new Priority List identifies a project pipeline worth more than $58 billion.
my perspective is the ‘lists’ lack direction. putting ideas like coastal inundation on the ‘initiatives’ list means nothing at this time, except a hope – there is no project and no proponent. the publication appears to be a populist appeal. https://johnmenadue.com/john-austen-placating-the-infrastructure-club/ what matters is the project list – this is what IA recommends. most importantly not mentioned is road spending outstripping revenues by around $10bn for latest year. what to do? recommend an increase in road spending – 10 of the 12 the newly recommended projects. largely in queensland. of course.
Hear hear!!!! Do not waste rare public monies protecting the rich and stupid. They chose to live on the edge of the earth watching the elements beat at their doors with the climate change warnings pounding their ears.et them use their own money and own insurances to fix the inevitable.
I want to know why Infrastructures plans for that State focus only on the edge and barley acknowledge the rural areas at all?? Remember the country where our food comes from and where we could put wind and solar farms aplenty????
A circular strategy would affect the attempt to gouge public finances by owners, lawyers, developers.
Fuelled naturally by my envy, I oppose public money spent on securing coastal real estate. We’ve known about climate change and rising seas since the 1980s at least when the fossil companies had already got their PR lined up. Opponents of floodplain and canal developments pointed out the stupidities and indeed, land suitability maps used by councils already foretold the future. Lawyers undertaking property searches had a duty of care to find out about the risks and alert buyers. So, councils have contributed but in this society, it’s buyer beware. This is just another attempt to gouge public finances by owners, lawyers, developers. Let it go the civil law route, they can sue eachother or they can adopt adaptive strategies and raise their houses on stilts with jetties as other floodprone countries do. Indeed, they can float their houses on rafts. It’d do wonders for transport too – boats and ferries instead of road vehicles. Time for major change. Or move.