Regional Infrastructure Fund

The Australian Government established the Regional Infrastructure Fund to invest some of the proceeds of the resources boom. The fund will address urgent infrastructure needs, while supporting the mining industry, boosting export capacity and developing regional economies.

The Regional Infrastructure Fund is worth $6 billion over the 10 years to 2020–21, with $5.6 billion subject to the passage of the Minerals Resource Rent Tax. Its objectives are to:

promote development and job creation in mining communities, and in communities which support the mining sector;
provide a clear benefit to Australia's economic development, and to investment in Australia's resource or export capacity; and
address potential capacity constraints arising from export production and resource projects.

There are three program streams under the Regional Infrastructure Fund. Infrastructure Australia's role relates to Stream 2, which covers regional infrastructure planning and economic infrastructure projects. (Stream 1 covers projects committed to by the Australian Government in 2010; Stream 3 forms part of the Regional Development Australia Fund.)

Infrastructure Australia will continue to work with state and territory governments to establish priority infrastructure projects. Project submissions must align with the objectives of the Regional Infrastructure Fund and will be assessed using Infrastructure Australia's reform and investment framework.

Based on these assessments, the National Infrastructure Coordinator will provide recommendations to the Minister for Infrastructure and Transport.

State and territory governments, local government authorities, and private sector organisations are eligible to apply for funding; however there will be no public call for submissions or application rounds for funding from this stream.

The Regional Infrastructure Fund Guidelines [ PDF PDF: 7361 KB] provide further information on the fund and Infrastructure Australia's role in identifying and assessing priority regions and projects.