By Cameron Jewell 7 May 2013 — Today’s Victorian budget has been described by the Napthine government as a win for infrastructure. The First Home Owner grant has been increased to $10,000 for newly constructed properties, in an attempt to breathe life the stagnant residential construction sector. The grant will no longer apply to established homes. Stamp duty concessions of 40 per cent will also be brought forward for all first home owners. The government has also committed close to $300 million... 
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By Lynne Blundell 13 March 2013 – The future of sustainable transport was looking rosy at Green Cities this year with speakers presenting images of future cities abuzz with tiny electric pod-cars on roads that seamlessly connected with train networks. Travelling between Sydney and Melbourne? No problem – Read More  
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By Lynne Blundell 21 March 2012 ­– Communities must build resilience to natural disasters and can no longer expect governments to step in and save them. Read More  
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29 February 2012 – Australia at long last has a sustainability rating tool for infrastructure that promises to be as transforming as the Green Star rating has been for buildings. At least that is the vision of the Australian Green Infrastructure Council which today (Wednesday) unveiled the Infrastructure Sustainability rating tool in Canberra. Read More  
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20 January 2012 – Australia’s energy, transport and telecommunications infrastructure could well do with a new national body to co-ordinate greater resilience to climate change, a new government report has found. The report, The Role of Regulation in Facilitating or Constraining Adaptation to Climate Change for Australian Infrastructure, specifically targeted gaps in the regulatory environment around these infrastructure items, created before climate change was considered a serious threat. The... 
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By Lynne Blundell 2 November 2011 ­ – The Australian Green Infrastructure Council is to launch its sustainable infrastructure ratings tool in early 2012, delegates at the AGIC’s recent annual conference in Melbourne were told. The ratings scheme, which has been developed over the past few years with funding from government and industry, will rate sustainable practices across the infrastructure chain, from procurement through to construction. Once established, the rating scheme is expected... 
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By Tina Perinotto 2 November 2011 – According to Queensland based AECOM managing director for water and infrastructure services Andrew Macleod there is a “desperate” need for skilled people across the entire engineering sector. Some of this is driven by the mining boom, but in his area, a significant part of the demand is driven by the massive reconstruction work after the Queensland floods and the Christchurch earthquake. Read More  
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27 July 2011 – Australia’s urban congestion costs including wasted time in traffic, maintenance, fuel and emissions costs are forecast to be $20.4 billion by 2020 unless cities undertake a major review of their infrastructure, according to a review commissioned by Siemens. The report was the basis for a public forum in Melbourne, Picture Melbourne in 2030 Read More  
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By Brian McMahon, principal planning consultant, PlaceMaking and Planning, Parsons Brinckerhoff 20 July 2011 – With the release of its draft consultation plan, Public Transport for Perth in 2031, the state government in Western Australia cannot be accused of suffering from siderodromophobia.  While improvements to the bus network are proposed, the introduction of light rail and the expansion of the heavy rail system are at the forefront of the plan. Read More  
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28 June 2011 – Almost half of those surveyed by global engineering company MWH in an Australia-wide study of attitudes to natural disasters believe not enough is being done to improve infrastructure to prepare for such events. Twenty four per cent of those surveyed favoured making infrastructure wholly resistant to an event but it was unclear whether they appreciated what that would cost, the survey says. MWH commissioned the study to establish the attitude of Australians toward natural disasters... 
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11 May 2011 – Executive director of CB Richard Ellis Pty Ltd, Kevin Stanley believes more could have been done in the budget to impact the property industry but in a cautious fiscal environment, laying the foundations of the future through infrastructure development is a very worthwhile initiative and a sound investment. Describing the budget outcome as “a small step in the right direction,” Mr Stanley said it was always going to be a difficult one. “The overall aim remains to return the... 
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28 April –A report by the Australian Conservation Foundation says the nation’s  governments have spent at least four times more on building roads and bridges than on public transport infrastructure in the past decade. While $11.3 billion was spent on national road construction in 2008-9, $5 billion was given away as subsidies by the federal government through the fuel tax credits program. A further $1 billion was spent through the fringe benefits tax to encourage the private use of company... 
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23 March 2011– The Warren Centre for Advanced Engineering has produced a Handbook for Reform to guide a new NSW Government after Saturday’s election towards the successful infrastructure needed for continuing economic growth. “Last year’s infrastructure report card from Engineers Australia told a very sad tale of t is state’s poor delivery record on major infrastructure – D’s and C’s. We have an opportunity after 26 March – the date of the NSW election – to make sure we get... 
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9 February 2011 -  Grattan Institute chief executive officer John Daley said at a Roads Australia pricing  forum on 31 January that there were many benefits to congestion pricing, including: that congestion imposes large economic costs; congestion pricing could substitute for current fuel excise revenue, and the technology solutions are becoming cheaper The social costs of congestion are also very high, and individuals tend to underestimate the impact on their lives. The Henry Tax Review recommended... 
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By Leon Gettler 3 February 2011 – Adapting to floods, bushfires, and cyclones will not be cheap. Engineers say infrastructure cannot be made totally invulnerable, only resilient. But that will add to the cost. In the wake of extreme weather events, property may well become more expensive, at least in the short term. Peter Williams, managing director of engineer MWH Australia, put it bluntly. “There are natural limits,’’ he says. “I don’t believe we can take human infrastructure... 
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