Page 1403 - Week 05 - Tuesday, 13 May 2014
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Infrastructure has been emphasised by the Council of Australian Governments. At a recent COAG meeting earlier this month the first ministers for the states and territories signed a national partnership agreement on asset recycling with the commonwealth. This agreement will involve the commonwealth providing financial incentives for the states and territories to sell assets and reinvest the proceeds in productive infrastructure.
State and territory governments will negotiate a package of asset sales and infrastructure investment with the commonwealth. State and territory governments face budgetary constraints and also the possibility that taking on higher levels of debt would have credit rating implications. The sale of assets can reduce the pressure on governments’ balance sheets, thus providing additional capacity to invest in infrastructure. The aim of the agreement is to address this funding constraint.
In October 2013 the ACT government endorsed the new capital framework setting out new processes for assessment of capital works and funding proposals in the ACT. Proposals are rigorously analysed and assessed, thus ensuring value for money outcomes. The ACT government has also recently introduced a new framework to support both unsolicited proposals and public-private partnerships in the territory—the partnership framework.
Public-private partnerships can allow governments to draw upon private sector disciplines and help ensure major projects are completed on time and on budget. Of course, the important focus of the government’s infrastructure program is the health infrastructure program, HIP. This is about completely overhauling the ACT health system and working closely with the community, healthcare consumer staff and stakeholders to build a responsive, accessible, safe and innovative health system of the highest quality.
The ACT government will invest close to $2 billion to make sure that every aspect of the ACT healthcare system can support the need of its growing community. The HIP will build confidence in the healthcare system by providing a new enhanced healthcare service to meet the future healthcare demands of Canberra. This program has already begun to address the demand for improved community health with the opening of three new community health centres across the territory.
In addition, women and children have a world-class facility at the Centenary Hospital for Women and Children and the emergency department intensive care unit extension has enhanced our acute care capacity. Future facilities that will be delivered include the new Canberra region cancer centre and the University of Canberra public hospital. The HIP has already generated significant flow-on benefits to the ACT, including generating major activity in the construction industry.
Its outcomes will stimulate ongoing growth in support of industries, health-related tertiary education and the healthcare workforce. In addition to jobs generated in relation to the design and construction of HIP projects, the program also employs people to undertake the planning, management and coordination of related activities. It is estimated that as at April 2014, approximately 2.4 million person hours have been
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