The Australian Logistics Council says New South Wales is on the right track to cutting red tape and investing in infrastructure, following yesterday’s budget announcements.
The ALC particularly welcomes investment in two major projects as part of the $108.5 billion infrastructure program.
- The Sydney Gateway motorway connecting the WestConnex St Peter’s Interchange to the Airport and Port Botany Precinct, which will play an important role in improving freight access to and from the state’s principal ports; and
- The Parkes Special Activation Precinct, which will facilitate the efficient operation of the Inland Rail project allowing rail to take an increasing amount of the freight share, removing pressure on NSW’s roads.
The industry association supports investment in the Electricity Infrastructure Roadmap.
The roadmap is designed to ensure that private investment is attracted in new generation, storage, firming, and electricity network infrastructure by 2030.
“With the development of the Government’s recently announced Electricity Vehicle Strategy, it is important that the electricity grid has sufficient stability to ensure that the community transition from energy generated by fossil fuels can occur a seamless manner,” she says.
Treasurer Dominic Perrottet promised to report every six months on the progress of the NSW Productivity Commission’s White Paper.
Rachel Smith, Interim CEO of ALC, says the budget overview omits the progress of the evaluation of costs and benefits of permanently removing regulations relaxed at the height of COVID-19, such as curfews restricting the movement of freight.
“It is therefore important the state of the evaluation process should be reported on as part of the Budget and not in six months’ time. ALC hopes that progress can be reported through the Estimates Committee process,” Rachel says.
ALC says the NSW budget did not address the failed target of increasing the share of freight moved from Port Botany by rail to 28 per cent by 2021.
“The intention behind the target is to significantly reduce the number of heavy vehicles on Sydney’s roads, and so reduce the impacts congestion has on productivity,” Rachel says.