-
Subscribe to our weekly and daily Pearls and Irritations newsletter!
-
Most viewed recently
- RICHARD FLANAGAN. Australians in WWI didn’t die for Australia. They died for Britain. (Part 1 of 2)
- JOHN MENADUE. The Coalition and media myth about stopping the boats.
- EDMUND CAMPION. On Cardinal Gilroy At The Sydney Institute.
- MICHAEL PASCOE. The banking royal commission – it’s even worse than it looks
- IAN DUNLOP. The Monash Forum – of Coal & Horses.
-
Recent posts
- JOHN MENADUE. The bank’s PR gloss and descent from heaven. 27 April 2018
- SAM BATEMAN. South China Sea Encounters 27 April 2018
- LINDA SIMON. A Royal Commission for the finance sector? What about VET? 27 April 2018
- LINDSAY MURDOCH. Former Islamic cleric could be Malaysia’s kingmaker. 27 April 2018
- VIC ROWLANDS. Reclaiming Democracy 27 April 2018
Categories
- Arts and Reviews (36)
- Defence/Security (744)
- Economy (969)
- Education (185)
- Environment and climate (295)
- Health (470)
- Housing (59)
- Human Rights (386)
- Indigenous affairs (57)
- Industrial relations (32)
- Infrastructure (135)
- International Affairs (1,312)
- Asia (95)
- Links (10)
- Media (471)
- NBN (73)
- Politics (2,270)
- Refugees, Immigration (520)
- Religion and Faith (451)
- SERIES: Freedom, opportunity and security (59)
- SERIES: Making housing affordable (15)
- Sport (51)
- Technology, start-ups and new media (1)
- Tributes (35)
- Uncategorized (142)
Archives
Category Archives: Infrastructure
SAM VARGHESE. Flashback: Only bipartisan NBN policy switch can save us
Last year former Internet Australia Executive Director Laurie Patton suggested the Government and the Opposition work together to find a solution to the serious problems afflicting the NBN. His arguments still stand.
Posted in Infrastructure
Leave a comment
JOHN MENADUE. Media catch-up on Newcastle Port.
Drawing on a report from Deloitte yesterday, Matt Wade in several Fairfax newspapers breathlessly told us that restrictions on privatised ports was adding to Sydney’s gridlock. He added that the Australian Competition and Consumer Commission is now investigating the secret … Continue reading
Posted in Economy, Infrastructure, Politics
2 Comments
ANDREW HAMILTON. Clerical culture produces poor fruit.
In a recent ‘Eureka Street’ article, I remarked that in the Catholic Church clericalism is a pejorative term. I tried also to identify some of the attitudes and behaviour associated with people regarded as clericalist. The article sparked a lively … Continue reading
Posted in Infrastructure, Religion and Faith
7 Comments
JOHN AUSTEN – More on the Sydney transport mess-the Western Sydney dud ‘deal’
Announcement of a Western Sydney ‘city deal’ by the Prime Minister and Premier was touted as securing a rail line through Badgerys Creek airport. It does not. In fact, it merely committed to yet another review about what to do. That may … Continue reading
Posted in Infrastructure
Comments Off on JOHN AUSTEN – More on the Sydney transport mess-the Western Sydney dud ‘deal’
QUENTIN DEMPSTER. Positions vacant: NBN Co’s ‘death seat’.
After Mike Quigley and Bill Morrow, who’s next for NBN Co’s CEO ‘death seat’? It can be called an executive death seat because the NBN’s business plan to start recouping the cost of the Turnbull government’s mis handled $49billion multi-technology … Continue reading
Posted in Infrastructure, Politics
2 Comments
JOHN AUSTEN. Immigration and infrastructure.
While immigration – and a big Australia – is presented as the cause of infrastructure woe the real culprit is policy failure: deficient planning, bad structural arrangements and absence of road congestion pricing.
Posted in Infrastructure, Refugees, Immigration
2 Comments
JOHN MENADUE. Cars, not immigration, are killing our cities.
This week on Four Corners many commentators blamed immigration for many of our ills. It was a diversionary tactic. I think that immigration is Australia’s great success story. Many of the problems that immigration cause are the result of policy failure … Continue reading
Posted in Economy, Housing, Infrastructure, Politics
3 Comments
ANNE HURLEY. Questions should be asked about the Coalition Agreement and its potential impact on the NBN rollout in rural Australia?
Over the last few weeks we have been inundated with reports of the Barnaby Joyce saga. One aspect of the saga has involved a call for transparency in the provisions of the agreement between the Liberal Party and Nationals – … Continue reading
Posted in Infrastructure, Media
2 Comments
JOHN AUSTEN. We need a Metro public inquiry in NSW to sort out the railway mess
A recent opinion piece in the Sydney Morning Heaald effectively called for a stop to criticism of the NSW Government’s approach to Sydney railways – in particular Metro – and for everyone to get onboard the transport ‘revolution’. I can’t … Continue reading
Posted in Infrastructure
1 Comment
HYLDA ROLFE. Summer of our disconnect. (Part 1 of 2)
Some National Parks in New South Wales are taking a beating. On occasion, it’s difficult to distinguish the businesses that are officially sanctioned in them from the activities usually undertaken in normal commercial venues. Should they be there at all? … Continue reading
Posted in Environment and climate, Infrastructure
Comments Off on HYLDA ROLFE. Summer of our disconnect. (Part 1 of 2)
JOHN AUSTEN. The roads club is having a great spend.
Overspending on roads may be already damaging national productivity as well as adding to debt burdens of future generations.
Posted in Infrastructure
Comments Off on JOHN AUSTEN. The roads club is having a great spend.
JOHN AUSTEN. NSW needs an inquiry into Sydney transport
A dreadful start to 2018 for Sydney transport made NSW Minister Constance the unwelcome centre of attention. The spotlight will turn to the Premier who was formerly the Minister for Transport.
Posted in Infrastructure
4 Comments
JOHN MENADUE. Infrastructure, rent-seekers and lobbyists.
As our mining boom has receded, Australia has seen unprecedented sums flow to transport infrastructure projects -mostly in our two biggest cities. But we have a real mess on our hands.
Posted in Infrastructure, Politics
1 Comment
JOHN AUSTEN. Newcastle port – some progress in undoing a privatisation fiasco
Pressure is mounting to overcome the ridiculous anti-competitive constraints on Newcastle port.
Posted in Infrastructure, Politics
2 Comments
LAURIE PATTON. Supporting call for innovation push – highlighting the need for a focussed approach including a national smart cities and communities strategy
We need our national innovation strategy to be targeted at solving identifiable problems and assessed according to its contribution to social benefit as well as economic outcomes.
Posted in Infrastructure
Comments Off on LAURIE PATTON. Supporting call for innovation push – highlighting the need for a focussed approach including a national smart cities and communities strategy
GEORGE RENNIE. The Revolving Door at the Infrastructure Club
The revolving door of politics represents a particularly difficult problem for modern democracies. And when senior public servants leave their positions to work as lobbyists for the infrastructure industry – an industry that takes a lion’s share of government spending, … Continue reading
Posted in Infrastructure, Politics
Comments Off on GEORGE RENNIE. The Revolving Door at the Infrastructure Club
MICHAEL McKINLEY. Defence policies and alliances have become a new religion. Part 5 of 5 : White Papers, Strategic Reviews, Papal Bulls and Encyclicals
Government pronouncements in Australia, especially in the fields of Strategy and National Security, it is claimed, are determined by scientific rationality and definitely not configured according to religious belief. This is both fraudulent and a dangerous conceit: religion, has not … Continue reading
Posted in Defence/Security, Infrastructure
Comments Off on MICHAEL McKINLEY. Defence policies and alliances have become a new religion. Part 5 of 5 : White Papers, Strategic Reviews, Papal Bulls and Encyclicals
JOHN AUSTEN. Roads – another year of inaction and congestion-causing deficits
Spending on roads continues to vastly outstrip road revenues, increasing our national debt. This easy access to funding is why we spend too much on the wrong roads and has stopped road reform – as stated in a post in … Continue reading
Posted in Infrastructure
1 Comment
ANNE HURLEY. The Government just doesn’t get it when it comes to the NBN debacle
As I was writing this article in response to Paul Budde’s speculation about life following the NBN roll-out in 2020, the Government released its response to the first report of the Joint Standing Committee on the NBN. Sadly, if predictably, … Continue reading
Posted in Infrastructure
Comments Off on ANNE HURLEY. The Government just doesn’t get it when it comes to the NBN debacle
DYLAN McCONNELL. A month in, Tesla’s SA battery is surpassing expectations.
It’s just over one month since the Hornsdale power reserve was officially opened in South Australia. The excitement surrounding the project has generated acres of media interest, both locally and abroad. The aspect that has generated the most interest is the battery’s rapid response time in … Continue reading
Posted in Environment and climate, Infrastructure
Comments Off on DYLAN McCONNELL. A month in, Tesla’s SA battery is surpassing expectations.
ANNE HURLEY. Bad advice: why Mr Turnbull’s NBN is such a failure
These days you can’t buy a new car without airbags and ABS brakes. The Internet of Things is transforming the way we live our lives, run our businesses and grow the crops that feed the world. We’re developing autonomous vehicles … Continue reading
Posted in Infrastructure, Media, NBN
2 Comments
JOHN MENADUE. The Ausgrid decision and the growing power of security and intelligence agencies. A REPOST from August 2016
The Ausgrid decision on Chinese investment raises two important issues. The first is how do we get a proper balance between security concerns and the wider benefits of the relationship. Our major strategic ally the US sees China our … Continue reading
LUKE FRASER. Is Sydney in thrall to an infrastructure cargo cult? (Part 3 of 3)
In the first two posts, the vast scale of Sydney major transport projects was estimated at $85 billion – a figure larger than all European spending on transport public private partnerships for the last five years; the posts also examined … Continue reading
Posted in Infrastructure
Comments Off on LUKE FRASER. Is Sydney in thrall to an infrastructure cargo cult? (Part 3 of 3)
LUKE FRASER. Good debt, bad debt: Poor infrastructure choices, no reform – and Lee Kuan Yew -A REPOST
In the Fairness, Opportunity, Security policy series and the resulting book, Dr Michael Keating AC and I wrote of Australia’s out-of-control transport infrastructure spending that: ‘It is scandalous that this investment escapes proper scrutiny, while at the same time the … Continue reading
Posted in Infrastructure
Tagged bad debt, Brisbane, Geelong Colac, good debt, infrastructure, Luke Fraser, Melbourne, Morrison, railway, WestConnex
2 Comments
OLIVER FRANKEL. House prices are not necessarily correlated with changes in supply and demand
A recent research report, Regional Housing Supply and Demand in Australia, by the ANU’s Centre for Social Research and Methods, has reignited the debate about the relationship between house prices and imbalances in the supply of and demand for housing. … Continue reading
Posted in Infrastructure
1 Comment
JOHN AUSTEN: What will it take to kick off a serious enquiry into the Sydney transport mess?
While readers relax over the Christmas break, Commonwealth advisers and politicians should be asking about the Sydney infrastructure mess.
Posted in Infrastructure
1 Comment
LAURIE PATTON. Setting the Record Straight – The Australian newspaper publishes rebuttal to Internet Australia attacks
For former journalist and media executive Laurie Patton, spearheading Internet Australia’s campaign for #BetterBroadband meant becoming accustomed to the occasional sledge from the pro-NBN Co forces. However, a series of false and defamatory newspaper articles led to an out-of-court settlement … Continue reading
Posted in Infrastructure
6 Comments
LUKE FRASER. Is Sydney in thrall to an infrastructure cargo cult? Part 2 of 3
This is the second of three articles considering transport infrastructure spending levels, shortcomings in transport governance and strategy and the potential for doing better.
Posted in Infrastructure, Politics
1 Comment
GRAHAM HAND. No, Gladys, build it and they will not come
The NSW Government has announced it will knock down and rebuild Allianz Stadium at Moore Park at a cost of $700 million and the Olympic Stadium at Homebush, only 17 years old, at a cost of $1.6 billion. However, there … Continue reading
Posted in Infrastructure, Politics
3 Comments
LUKE FRASER. Is Sydney in thrall to an infrastructure cargo cult? (Part 1 of 3)
This is the first of three articles considering transport infrastructure spending levels, shortcomings in transport governance and strategy and the potential for doing better.
Posted in Infrastructure, Uncategorized
Comments Off on LUKE FRASER. Is Sydney in thrall to an infrastructure cargo cult? (Part 1 of 3)
