1. Victorian Election: Labor Promises $850 Million for New Schools; Opposition Commits to Doubling the Size of the $689 Million Lara Prison Project
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View the Infrastructure Report in your browser. | | IN THIS EDITION 1. Victorian Election: Labor promises $850 million for new schools; Opposition commits to doubling the size of the $689 million Lara Prison project 2. NSW Opposition announces $13.5 billion public transport fund in election pledge 3. Federal Government announces funding commitments to projects in Queensland 4. AER releases discussion paper on regulatory tax review 5. Industry news 6. Industry appointments 7. Infrastructure Partnerships Australia news Help us improve the Infrastructure Report. Your opinion is valuable to us. With your feedback, we can make it even better. 1. Victorian Election: Labor promises $850 million for new schools; Opposition commits to doubling the size of the $689 million Lara Prison project This week, the Victorian Government announced $850 million in funding towards school infrastructure, if re- elected on 24 November. The funding would go towards the construction of 100 new schools across Victoria over the next eight years. If re-elected, the incumbent Labor Government has committed to open 45 new schools within the next term of government. 21 of these schools are already being delivered by the Government. The 45 schools to open between 2019 and 2022 include: seven in Casey seven in Wyndham six in Hume five in Melton three in Whittlesea two in each of Cardinia, Port Phillip and Greater Geelong, and 11 schools across Ballarat, Bass Coast, Darebin, Glen Eira, Greater Dandenong, Macedon Ranges, Maribyrnong, Melbourne, Mitchell, Stonnington and Yarra. In addition, the Victorian Government has committed to ensuring that all eight primary schools, set to open in 2021 and all six primary schools opening in 2022, will have a kindergarten adjacent or on their grounds. The Government will also add a kindergarten to all new schools to open in 2019 and 2020, where possible. Overall, the Government has committed to build or upgrade about 1,000 kindergartens across the State, if re-elected. In addition, the Victorian Government has announced a fund of $400 million to partner with the non-government school sector for builds and upgrades. This commitment has been matched by the Victorian Liberal-National Party. The Government will also contribute $20 million for the Planned Maintenance Program, which will fund vital maintenance works across schools based on need. In other announcements this week, the Liberal-National Opposition has committed to almost doubling the size of the proposed Lara Prison Precinct, if elected. The Victorian Government allocated $689 million in the 2018-19 Budget to build a 700 bed prison. If elected, the Victorian Opposition has announced that it would increase the capacity of the prison to 1,300 beds through a PPP procurement model. The proposed larger prison would consist of 700 maximum-security beds, 300 medium-security beds and a 300 bed remand facility. The Opposition's timeline for the prison would see construction commence in 2019-20 and be completed in late 2022. Operations would commence in July 2023. Relevant links View the Victorian Government's Media Releases HERE and HERE View the Victorian Opposition's Lara Prison media release View the Victorian Opposition's Schools media release View the Lara Prison Precinct Expansion Project on infrastructurepipeline.org BACK TO TOP 2. NSW Opposition announces $13.5 billion public transport fund in election pledge This week, the NSW Opposition announced a new $13.5 billion public transport fund ahead of the state election in March 2019. If elected, the Opposition would re-allocate funding for projects currently under development towards public transport. This includes abandoning the conversion of the Sydenham to Bankstown line for Sydney Metro City and Southwest. With contracts for this section expected to be awarded before the NSW State election in March 2019, this raises the possibility of contract cancellations if the NSW Opposition forms Government. The NSW Opposition’s $13.5 billion “public transport acceleration fund” (the Fund) comprises $3 billion reserved in Restart NSW for Sydney Metro West and the Federal Opposition’s $6 billion pledge toward Western Sydney Rail (North South Rail Link – Stage One) to Western Sydney Airport and $4.5 billion re-allocated from under development projects. The $4.5 billion to be re-allocated comprises: $477 million from the Northern Beaches Tunnel (Beaches Link) and Western Harbour Tunnel $2.4 billion from the F6 Corridor - Stage 1 - Extension Project, and $1.6 billion from the Sydenham to Bankstown line conversion as part of Sydney Metro City & Southwest. The re-allocations would be used to fund Sydney Metro West along with “improved public transport in Sydney’s South, including rail services on the Illawarra and South Coast lines.” It is unclear if this will include or complement works under the More Trains More Services programme, which is investigating increasing peak services on the Illawarra Line by 30 per cent and introducing more services for the South Coast among wider improvements to the Sydney rail network. In a move that will likely concern the sector, the Opposition’s pledge to abandon the conversion of the Sydney to Bankstown line if elected would require significant augmentation or cancellation of the Line-wide works and Southwest Station and Corridor (SSC) works contracts, which are expected to be awarded before the State election. The NSW Government intends to begin procurement of the Beaches Link, Western Harbour Tunnel and F6 Corridor Extension Stage 1 following the State election, if they are re-elected. The NSW Opposition has also committed to delivering: Westconnex Stage 3A and 3B, but with the latter subject to a design review Sydney Gateway, noting a taskforce would be established to “get the Gateway to Port Botany”, and the M12, part of the Western Sydney Infrastructure Plan. Relevant links Read the NSW Opposition's media release View NSW projects on infrastructurepipeline.org BACK TO TOP 3. Federal Government announces funding commitments to projects in Queensland This week, the Federal Government has made a series of funding commitments in Queensland. The announcements include funding for water and transport projects in Queensland, headlined by an $800 million allocation to the Rockhampton Ring Road. The Federal Government has indicated the funding commitments were included but not detailed in their 2018-19 Budget. The commitments include: $800 million for the Rockhampton Ring Road $200 million for the Haughton Pipeline Extension Stage 2, and $112 million for Gold Coast Light Rail Stage 3A. Both the Rockhampton Ring Road and the Haughton Pipeline have bipartisan support from both major parties. The Opposition has also stated it would refer the business case for Gold Coast Light Rail Stage 3A to Infrastructure Australia for assessment once completed. Rockhampton Ring Road The Federal Government has indicated it is providing $800 million for the Rockhampton Ring Road based on an 80/20 funding split between the Federal and Queensland governments. While planning and corridor preservation have not been completed, the 2013 Fitzroy River Floodplain and Road Planning Study identified that the Ring Road would pass to the West of Rockhampton Airport, via the Western Road Corridor (Figure 1). Figure 1: Western Road Corridor Source: Fitzroy River Floodplain and Road Planning Study Haughton Pipeline Extension Stage 2 The Haughton Pipeline Extension, or Haughton Pipeline Duplication Project (HPDP), will link the Burdekin Haughton Water Supply Scheme to the Ross River Dam. The alignment of the new pipe will generally follow the existing pipeline’s route. The $215 million Stage 1 of HPDP, which duplicates 36.5 kilometres of pipe between Ross River Dam and the Haughton Channel along with ancillary upgrades (orange in Figure 2), has already been funded by the Queensland Government. Townsville Council expects construction of HPDP Stage 1 to be completed by December 2019. Stage 2 (light blue in Figure 2) will extend the duplication from Haughton Channel to the Burdekin River. Figure 2: Haughton Pipeline Duplication Project Source: Townsville Water Security Taskforce Final Report The Federal Government’s $200 million commitment fully funds the $195 million Stage 2 as well as providing $5 million for development of the business case. The Federal Government has noted that the $200 million partially comprises funding originally allocated to the Townsville Eastern Access Rail Corridor (TEARC) project. The Federal Opposition has stated it would also fully fund Stage 2 of the project if elected. Gold Coast Light Rail Stage 3A The Federal Government’s $112 million commitment will go to funding part of the circa $670 million Stage 3A of Gold Coast Light Rail. The project will see the Gold Coast Light Rail network extended south from Broadbeach along the Gold Coast Highway to Burleigh Heads (Figure 3). The Queensland Government has indicated construction could start in 2020 and be completed by 2023. This will be subject to completion of the business case, which is currently under development, and funding commitments from Local, State and Federal governments. The business case is expected to be finalised in December 2018 for government consideration in early 2019. Figure 3: Gold Coast Light Rail Stage 3A Source: Queensland Government Department of Transport and Main Roads Relevant links Read the Federal Government’s transcript on Rockhampton Ring Road and media releases on Haughton Pipeline Extension Stage 2 and Gold Coast Light Rail Stage 3A Read the Townsville Water Security Taskforce’s final report View Rockhampton Ring Road and Gold Coast Light Rail Stage 3 on infrastructurepipeline.org BACK TO TOP Read our submission to the Department of Environment and Energy on the Government's Underwriting New Generation Investments consultation paper. Read more 4. AER releases discussion paper on regulatory tax review The Australian Energy Regulator has released a discussion paper as part of an ongoing review into the regulatory tax approach for energy networks.