Communities are different as a result of COVID-19. What does this mean for engagement?
As lockdown restrictions are reinstated in
Victoria but other parts of the country emerge, Sara Bice, and Kirsty O’Connell,
take a look at how lockdown has changed Australian communities and its impact
on engaging them in infrastructure delivery.
In economic
terms, governments are borrowing from the post-GFC playbook in the
COVID-19 economic recovery. We’ve already seen support for consumer spending
via the JobSeeker and JobKeeper payments (major miscalculations and concerns
about the September end-date aside). We’ve also seen announcements
of major infrastructure stimulus through project fast-tracking.
Outside of Victoria, Australians remain hopeful that
the toughest of restrictions are behind them. A return to ‘business as usual’
is a long way off, or it may not come at all. This realisation is particularly
important for Australia’s infrastructure sector.
For
infrastructure policymakers, part of …Read More
Is it time to double down on Australia’s Big Build?
With the country in hibernation, Australian policymakers must not be tempted to slow down on infrastructure. If anything, this may be the perfect opportunity to stimulate the economy for a faster recovery, Sara Bice and Kirsty O’Connell write.
Australia’s leaders have moved mountains in recent weeks to battle COVID-19 and its flow-on economic damage. By the end of March, government loans and spending totalled around $330 billion, spent in an effort to stimulate Australia’s economy.
So far, economic packages have rightly focused on health funding, job seeker payments, business subsidies, bank lending, and welfare. But past crises demonstrate the importance of Australia’s infrastructure sector to national stimulus and recovery. Australia’s experience in the Global Financial Crisis also showed that stimulus for infrastructure should not …Read More
COVID-19 Recovery: Keeping the community on board
Lessons from Australia’s unprecedented $235 billion infrastructure program can help governments to maintain the community support they need to beat COVID-19, Sara Bice and Kirsty O’Connell write.
As anyone who has experienced road delays or loud drilling can attest, infrastructure delivery can be challenging and disruptive. While a global health crisis may seem far removed from constructing a new light rail or tunnel, Australia’s infrastructure sector has a wealth of experience delivering difficult messages and working with communities during times of change. This experience can support policymakers at this difficult time.
Research from The Australian National University Next Generation Engagement Program demonstrates that successful community engagement supports a strong social license necessary to delivering major projects. These lessons can help governments as …Read More
Why consultation is the key to fast-track success
Australian Prime Minister Scott Morrison’s recently announced that 15 major infrastructure projects will be fast-tracked to drive the COVID-19 economic recovery. Can we afford the time to engage with impacted communities before delivering this much-needed stimulus?
In making the much-anticipated announcement, the Prime Minister answered leaders, including the Treasurer, Deputy Prime Minister, and the NSW Planning Minister, and industry groups, such as the Master Builders Association and the Urban Development Institute of Australia, who have been urging that roadblocks to ‘shovel-ready’ projects, including green and red tape, be eliminated.
Several states have already made changes to their planning regimes to assist in this and more than $3 billion in state construction and infrastructure projects have been identified to be fast-tracked as …Read More
How COVID-19 is changing the planning system
With the constraints of COVID-19 ushering in changes to planning laws in some states, we look at the changes and explore what they might mean for community engagement in a post-pandemic world.
Social distancing creates obvious barriers to usual, person-to-person community engagement. In addition to the physical barriers posed by COVID-19, some states have recently passed laws that allow ministers to circumvent normal planning processes and conditions of approval. In certain instances, they can now approve new projects without stakeholder consultation.
The planning changes are intended to ensure that governments can move as quickly as possible to establish critical facilities such as fever hospitals, and also to facilitate much-needed economic activity.
But these changes are unusual in their reduction of citizens’ opportunities to …Read More