Anthony Albanese (Grayndler, Australian Labor Party, Leader of the House) Share this | Hansard source

I thank the honourable member for Port Adelaide for his question. Building long-term productivity growth after years of decline is indeed a central priority of the Rudd government. Like few other areas, development of infrastructure has the capacity to boost the productive economy, to lift our living standards and to lock in our long-term prosperity. That is why infrastructure is a key element of the government’s five-point plan to fight inflation and to boost productivity. The government committed to establishing Infrastructure Australia to coordinate nationally significant infrastructure, including transport, water, energy and communications. Infrastructure Australia will develop a strategic blueprint for our nation’s infrastructure and it will drive investment where it is needed most. It is an unprecedented overhaul of the way that we think about infrastructure development in this nation.

This government makes no apologies for moving away from the ‘business as usual’ approach of the last 11½ years. The Reserve Bank warned on some 20 separate occasions that capacity constraints were creating inflationary pressures.

See this speech in context