Retort For Top Ports
Newcastle Herald
Monday July 7, 2008
THE mineral and resources boom is driving the economy forward with $160 billion of mining, energy and construction projects creating high levels of economic activity.
After years of inaction, government is investing in infrastructure in response to the bottlenecks in our economy that are threatening productivity and national wealth. But there is a risk again that the Hunter may not get what it should when the national pie is being divided.Since 2004 Australia's key national indicator of productivity, the Bureau of Statistics' Multifactor productivity statistic, which measures changes in our technical progress and efficiency, has been in decline. Despite changed work practices, improved business technologies and systems and a more highly trained and educated workforce, our national productivity is going backwards.Delivering the federal budget, Treasurer Wayne Swan pointed to productivity as a key concern to the Government and the strategies revealed in the budget indicate improving it is one of his top priorities. The establishment of three big infrastructure funds and the commitment to Infrastructure Australia will contribute to removing the bottlenecks to productivity growth in our major cities and regions.The Hunter has a right to expect a large investment in infrastructure in two of our major assets, the Newcastle port and airport, which are underused and suffer from under investment. The Hunter Business Chamber has been calling for additional freight berths and rail infrastructure for the port, which handles 33 per cent of the state's exports. Newcastle is primarily an export port that generates income for Australia and additional berths will allow the aluminium, wheat, cotton, wine, metal sands and heavy manufacturing equipment that are sent to Sydney and Brisbane to leave from here.Newcastle has Australia's fastest growing airport with 1 million passenger movements last year and a further 40 per cent growth expected this year.Perth Airport, which has a smaller population to support it, had 9 million passenger movements last year.Newcastle Airport is on the fifth busiest air route in the world.Airports generate business and recreational travel and are hubs of freight movement. The wine, horses, cut flowers, fresh agricultural products and seafood that are transported to Sydney for export should be sent from Newcastle Airport. If we want to boost our national productivity, the Federal and NSW governments need to plan for infrastructure spending at Newcastle's port and airport. Billions to solve the congestion in Sydney are not needed. For much less investment in rail and roads to provide connectivity and port and airport infrastructure, a greater national return can be harvested. We need only to look to what is happening in the ports of Victoria and Brisbane and the airports in Canberra, Perth and Sydney to see how investment encourages productivity and business development. Peter Shinnick is CEO of the Hunter Business Chamber
© 2008 Newcastle Herald