Moving minerals from mining sites to destinations in Australia and overseas, and moving equipment and supplies to the sites, requires a modern and efficient physical infrastructure of regional road and rail networks, first-rate ports and shipping facilities, and sound connectivity between the networks and the ports.
Improving Australia’s infrastructure to meet the demands of our economy is a major current policy focus and the subject of several recent studies including: Infrastructure: Getting on with the job (2005) by the Committee for the Economic Development of Australia (CEDA); the Review of National Competition Policy Reforms (2005) by the Australian Productivity Commission, which includes a section on developing coordinated strategies to deliver an efficient and integrated freight transport system; the Infrastructure Action Plan (2005) by the Business Council of Australia; and the White Paper ‘Building our National Transport Future’ by Auslink.
The issue has been taken up by the Prime Minister’s Infrastructure Taskforce which made its report in June 2005 and by the House of Representatives’ Standing Committee on Transport and Regional Services’ Inquiry. In its representations to these bodies the NSW Minerals Council has endorsed the view that investment in NSW infrastructure is vital if the economic and social benefits of the state’s mineral resources are to be fully realised.
Sustaining the community infrastructure of NSW is also vital to encourage businesses such as mining companies to invest in new activities and jobs in the rural and remote regions of the state.