Infrastructure is as much about momentum as it is built form. When governments make investments in large-scale projects, it stimulates capital, industry and the labour market. Those decisions, when made well, deliver the ultimate political and economic elixir: confidence. This is why moves to revise infrastructure plans are so fraught.

Construction continues on the Western Sydney Airport, but will its boost to the city’s west be undermined by the axing of other projects. Credit: Janie Barrett

Federal Infrastructure Minister Catherine King released a review on Thursday that significantly cuts the Albanese government’s infrastructure investment pipeline. The focus is to be, the minister says, projects that deliver “productivity, sustainability and liveability” gains. That is an entirely logical decision framework. We all want to see those outcomes. But does it maintain momentum? That is the key consideration that must underpin all decisions.

For residents and businesses of NSW, like many other parts of the country, the immediate priority is, of course, housing. Premier Chris Minns has made leveraging transport infrastructure a centrepiece of his plans to accelerate and expand housing supply and ease affordability. It is an approach that also helps to decentralise job creation into areas beyond inner Sydney, by virtue of its rapid connections between multiple residential and urban centres.

It is not clear that King’s review aligns with the NSW approach, particularly when it comes to transport links. The withdrawal of Commonwealth support for commuter car park upgrades is comparatively small but challenging. In the short term, it hinders the momentum of areas of outer Sydney where transport options are, for many residents, remote and interrupted. Keeping people moving is a must, especially if we are to leverage far greater taxpayer-funded investments in major projects such as the coming Western Sydney Airport.

Airport chairman Paul O’Sullivan, Transport Minister Catherine King and Prime Minister Anthony Albanese at Western Sydney International Airport in June.Credit: Brook Mitchell

Decisions the Commonwealth has made affecting the airport, set to open in 2026, and the surrounding innovation precinct emerging at Bradfield, exemplify the bigger risk. Defunding the interchange connecting the M7 motorway with the new M12 severs a critical link to the airport. It dampens the impact of the larger, nearly $6 billion, federal government investment in Sydney’s second airport. Reduced road connections hobble logistics, freight and wider movement to and from western Sydney’s vital link to the global economy.

Again, it is a question of momentum. In this case, significantly impaired.

The case for focusing on immediate concerns such as housing, and near-term opportunities such as Bradfield and the airport, is clear. The consequences of withdrawing support for key enabling projects is a reminder that infrastructure can be like the game Jenga, with the dependencies between multiple pieces revealed by removing just one. That will trigger immediate investment reassessments from industry, locally and abroad. And that, in turn, will have implications for job generation, and the viability of housing development in areas now stranded from key connections.

QOSHE - King hit: How infrastructure cuts will hobble NSW’s momentum - Andy Marks

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King hit: How infrastructure cuts will hobble NSW’s momentum

Andy Marks

The Sydney Morning Herald

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16.11.2023

Construction continues on the Western Sydney Airport, but will its boost to the city’s west be undermined by the axing of other projects. Credit: Janie Barrett

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King hit: How infrastructure cuts will hobble NSW’s momentum

Andy Marks

© The Sydney Morning Herald