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Dr Brian Fisher, executive director of the Australian Bureau of Agricultural and Resource Economics (ABARE), Sydney Airport boss Max Moore Wilton and Henry Ergas of Charles River Associates have produced their own version in their report on Australia’s export infrastructure.
Given less than two months by prime minister John Howard to “identify any bottlenecks of a physical or regulatory kind that may impede the full realisation of Australia's export opportunities”, the three taskforce members and their small army of government bureaucrats have produced a 75-page report that concludes there is no reason to panic.
They acknowledge their taskforce was set up at a time when the queuing of ships at some coal ports was raising media suggestions of a crisis in Australia’s infrastructure.
“There is no doubt that some parts of the nation’s export infrastructure face immediate capacity constraints,” they say in the report released yesterday by the prime minister. “An unexpected spike in world demand for coal has led to a focus on problems that have been known for some time.”
Although there were localised bottlenecks, as strong demand ran into tight and inflexible supply networks, the changes that should help resolve the problem were already being implemented.
“The fact that these problems are localised suggests that to describe them as a major crisis at present is an exaggeration.”
Releasing the report, Howard himself noted the conclusion that there was no major crisis in infrastructure used for exports.
However, the taskforce does make 10 key recommendations that could improve the economic regulation, planning and coordination of export infrastructure.
Under regulatory reforms, it suggests the Council of Australian Governments (COAG) examine the scope for a single national regulator – or, at least, try to reduce the number of separate regulators – and try to implement a “light-handed”, streamlined regulatory process. It suggests fixed time limits for decisions and a simpler test of whether a proposal by an infrastructure provider is reasonable.
The taskforce also calls on federal, state and territory governments to renew their commitment to harmonising road and rail regulations.
The report calls for faster progress on the long-term land transport infrastructure planning between all governments under the AusLink program and recommends the setting up of industry groups to coordinate “logistics chains of national importance”
Reflecting the pre-emptive strike last week by federal transport minister John Anderson, the taskforce suggests the AusLink program should be extended to include nationally significant ports and shipping channels.
Copying an idea from across the Tasman, it calls for the Productivity Commission to carry out five-yearly infrastructure audits.
Most directly, the taskforce recommends the use of a single point of contact for project facilitation and approvals in each jurisdiction, including a single minister responsible for obtaining all necessary state approvals.
Howard has promised to raise the recommendations of the taskforce at tomorrow’s COAG meeting in Canberra. Some states, particularly Queensland, have already indicated they would support recommendations for time limits on regulatory agencies and one-stop shop approvals.
