Victoria, for the second year in a row, has been ranked first in the annual Infrastructure Funding League Table, released in Infrastructure Partnerships Australia’s (IPA) 2022/23 Australian Infrastructure Budget Monitor.
IPA’s Budget Monitor listed Victoria first for its infrastructure spending, totalling 22.7 per cent or $85.3 billion of its total general government expenditure on infrastructure over four years, a slight reduction on the 24 per cent share in last year’s Budget.
New South Wales was ranked second, increasing its total general government expenditure on infrastructure by $2.8 billion to $88.4 billion or 17.9 per cent.
It was followed by South Australia in 3rd place, Northern Territory in 4th place, Tasmania in fifth place, the Australian Capital Territory in sixth place, Queensland seventh, and Western Australia eighth.
The IPA report also found that Federal Government allocations to infrastructure have increased 91 per cent since the 2019-2020 Budget.
IPA Chief Executive, Adrian Dwyer, said Australia’s infrastructure pipeline had grown against the backdrop of global economic uncertainty.
“This year’s Budget season arrived against a backdrop of growing economic and geostrategic uncertainty, meaning the ballast provided by infrastructure funding is now more critical than ever before,” Mr Dwyer said.
“The importance of infrastructure funding to the national economy is no more obvious than in Victoria, where Treasurer, Tim Pallas, is deploying a project spending program worth $85 billion, equivalent to 23 per cent of total general government expenditure, over the next four years.
“Treasurer Pallas should be commended for continuing to take the bold and necessary steps to deliver the major infrastructure projects required to boost Victoria’s long term economic productivity.
“Infrastructure funding doesn’t just happen, this is the hard yards and tough calls made over successive Victorian Budgets by Treasurer Pallas.
“State and territory governments this year allocated a combined $255 billion in general government infrastructure expenditure – a record high tide for infrastructure funding with almost every jurisdiction lifting their allocations compared to last year.”
