Infrastructure Australia Chief of Project Advisory & Evaluation, David Tucker

Tuesday, 14 October 2025

Check against delivery

Good morning, everyone.

I start by acknowledging the Traditional Custodians of the land on which we are all gathered today – the Jagera people and the Turrbal people of Meanjin.

In doing so, I wish to pay my respects to Elders, past and present.

I also extend that respect to all First Nations people here today.

Brisbane is a river city. 

And like a river, infrastructure choices flow downstream, shaping where we live, how we move and the opportunities we pass on to future generations.

But are we planning tributaries that feed into a thriving future?

Or creating blockages that communities will be forced to navigate around for decades?

The work of infrastructure delivery is visible: cranes on skylines, trains on tracks, bridges spanning rivers. 

But what’s less visible is the work that comes first: the planning, the evaluation, the advice, the prioritisation. 

Legacy is shaped in this upstream work.

And this is the work of Infrastructure Australia. 

Our role is to help governments and communities understand which projects make sense, where there are risks, how risks can be mitigated and how to make sure investments today deliver benefits for decades to come.

Since 2016, Infrastructure Australia has evaluated the business cases for 116 infrastructure projects, representing over $275 billion in investment.

We evaluate major infrastructure proposals seeking over $250 million in federal funding.

We maintain a clear, credible pipeline of nationally significant proposals that are seeking Australian Government investment—the Infrastructure Priority List.

We also conduct in-depth research on infrastructure trends, capacity and challenges.

And we work closely with state and territory governments providing planning guidance, lessons learned, and frameworks to help everyone deliver the best possible outcomes for local communities and our nation.

We bring a national perspective and a strong evidence base that helps governments to make the tough calls with confidence.

But we also take a local view.

Councils own and manage much of the infrastructure people use. 

That’s why we engage with local governments, the network of Regional Development Australia committees and the Australian Local Government Association to hear the complex challenges local governments face and the lived experience of communities. 

This grounds our national perspective in the realities of everyday life.

Indeed, I was just north of here a couple of months ago visiting the Fraser Coast, where I met with CEOs of regional councils and RDA Wide Bay to understand infrastructure priorities and their challenges with strategic planning, prioritisation and sequencing.

We have evaluated more major infrastructure proposals in Queensland than in any other state.

These evaluations have captured everything from inland freight corridors that move mining exports and farm produce, to strategically important regional roads that link remote towns.

Infrastructure is undoubtedly the connective tissue of a vast and decentralised state.

But drill down and the real pressure points lie in South East Queensland, where population growth and Olympics ambition collide.

The nation-shaping projects we have evaluated include:

• New rail lines connecting the Sunshine Coast and Gold Coast with Brisbane.

• Public transport proposals in Brisbane to improve accessibility and manage congestion.

• New intermodal terminals, and the removal of level crossings to increase freight productivity.

• Highway and motorway upgrades to keep pace with growing demand and boost resilience.

These projects show why we must look at the whole picture – not just projects in isolation, and how Games-time delivery connects with generational legacy for Queensland communities and industries.

As well as the published evaluations that you can see on the screen, each year, Infrastructure Australia also provides private advice to the Commonwealth on projects seeking funding in the Budget. This advice is considered by Cabinet in deciding which projects to fund. 

Our work spans the whole project lifecycle. To extend my earlier river analogy…

• Upstream, we advise on challenges and opportunities, testing the scale of impacts and urgency for action.

• At the business case stage, we evaluate whether proposals are the best solution, considering network effects and weighing benefits against costs and risks.

• Post Completion Evaluations looking downstream. We ask whether the project delivered on its promise and what we can learn for the next generation of projects.

This is a continuous loop. Advice at the beginning, lessons at the end and improvement across the system in between.

For example, as part of our Post Completion Evaluations, we are currently looking at the housing outcomes that have been realised by seven major public infrastructure projects across the country. 

The intention will be to report our findings to the Australian Government to inform its understanding of the outcomes that can be realised through major transport infrastructure for housing. 

How benefits can not only be realised, but maximised as well. 

Behind every major project is a plan – and our Assessment Framework outlines what a robust plan looks like. 

This is one of the most widely used resources in the infrastructure sector. 

It sets out exactly what we look for when evaluating proposals, and shows how robust planning up front can reduce risks, avoid costly mistakes and ultimately save time and taxpayer resources.

Successful proposals will answer:

• Strategic fit: If there is clear justification for the proposal and the case for change.

• Societal impact: Whether the economic, social and environmental benefits are clear and compelling.

• Deliverability: If the project can be delivered successfully, with risks managed.

In short, better preparation upstream means better projects downstream.

We all know that no project exists in isolation.

A road is part of a freight network. A metro line is part of a housing and jobs strategy. A water pipeline can be part of an energy system.

That’s why Infrastructure Australia looks at infrastructure from multiple angles to provide a holistic view.

And we also look at those projects over the long-term, whether that be 20, 30 or even 50 years. 

This is the same level of thinking that should be applied to the planning for the Olympics, where we can understand the benefits now and long into the future. 

Our Assessment Framework and detailed technical guides are available on our website, and we also have a dedicated page with resources that can assist all levels of government, including local governments and RDAs in their preparation of infrastructure proposals.

Infrastructure Australia also outlines what we view as the nation’s key infrastructure investment priorities in our published Annual Budget Statement – aligning of course with the Australian Government’s own infrastructure priorities.

For 2025, the national priorities we identified are:

• High productivity freight networks that maintain supply chain resilience and global competitiveness.

• Ports capacity and connectivity that unlocks trade and new industries.

• High-capacity transport to keep pace with population and housing demand.

• Secure, sustainable water for agriculture, housing and climate resilience.

• And delivering net zero through renewable energy zones, hydrogen hubs and critical minerals.

These priorities are not exhaustive. They highlight where governments can focus investment today to deliver generational benefit tomorrow. And we’ll be considering these priorities as we develop the next Infrastructure Priority List for the Australian Government.

We’re encouraging the Australian Government to look beyond individual projects and to consider the broader national benefits, especially as they relate to the outcomes identified in its own Infrastructure Policy Statement.

Those outcomes being to enhance productivity, liveability, and sustainability. 

Let’s take the first priority—High Productivity Freight Networks. 

This is about enhancing the capacity, interoperability, and resilience of nationally significant regional freight corridors and networks.  

It’s also about supporting higher productivity rail and road freight to withstand climate impacts, and enable efficient interstate movements—they must be fit for purpose.  

Why? Because resilient supply chains are critical to Australia’s prosperity and global competitiveness. 

That’s why we’ve identified this as a national investment priority.  

It also aligns with the Government’s own focus, including the National Freight and Supply Chain Strategy.

An example of this priority being acted on is the recent agreement by the nation’s Transport Ministers to improve rail system interoperability. 

They’ve committed to adopting the European Train Control System as the future technology pathway for national rail network integration. 

This decision marks a significant step—standardising digital controls and ending decades of fragmented rail systems, which has been the cause of constant disruption and inefficiencies. 

Trains are impeded from crossing borders due to different rules, regulations, signals and systems. 

Now we have a pathway forward, which will improve productivity and the efficiency of moving freight throughout the country by rail. 

Infrastructure Australia has advocated for this change, particularly our Commissioner Dr Gillian Miles, who has been a strong advocate for this initiative. 

Another key priority is High-Capacity Transport for Growing Cities. 

This is about building efficient, city-shaping transport systems to support our rapidly growing urban populations, and unlocking priority growth areas for housing and development. 

Passenger rail capacity and connectivity are central to this.  

We’re seeing rail mega-projects across Sydney, Melbourne, Brisbane, and Perth being built right now and all of them have unlocked housing or will have the potential to do so.   

Upgrades and extensions to existing networks are also vital to service emerging activity centres and suburbs. 

Strategic corridors—like those between Brisbane, the Gold Coast and the Sunshine Coast—are essential.  

This priority directly supports the Government’s National Housing Accord and the ambition to deliver 1.2 million houses by 2029. 

Governments all recognise the power major transport projects and in particular rail can have for transforming cities and unlocking housing potential.  

State governments understand the power of transport infrastructure to activate precincts—and so does the Australian Government, which makes it a focus point for investment.  

A third priority is Secure, Sustainable Water for Growth.

This priority is about providing reliable, climate-resilient water and wastewater capacity in cities and regions to support housing growth and increasing demands for water-intensive industries. 

This priority ties in with the government’s National Water Grid Investment Framework. 

Again, our advice through the budget statement encourages a shift in thinking from investing in isolated projects to coordinated national outcomes. 

For those interested, our full Annual Budget Statement is available on the Infrastructure Australia website. As I’ve mentioned, Infrastructure Australia looks at infrastructure from multiple angles and our Market Capacity Report shows just how important that integrated view really is.

The five-year public infrastructure pipeline stands at $213 billion, and we expect this to increase. 

We’ve estimated the total construction market at more than $1 trillion in activity over that period. 

Without careful management, bottlenecks will push up costs and further undermine productivity. 

Our 2024 report found that delivering the current major infrastructure pipeline requires 197,000 more workers than we have today.

In July, Queensland’s workforce challenge made headlines around Australia.

The state will need almost 98,500 construction workers by March next year to deliver on its infrastructure pipeline, but supply is forecast at just 43,800. That’s a shortfall of more than 54,000 workers.

Much of that demand will come from Olympic venue construction, which is expected to begin in earnest next year. The Deputy Premier has described it as the biggest capital pipeline in Queensland’s history.

As many in this room will be well aware, governments can’t fund everything at once, nor do we have the resources to deliver everything at once. This is why project planning, prioritisation and sequencing is critical – delivering the projects that matter most at the right time. 

It goes to the heart of what Infrastructure Australia does and why it exists. To provide advice on nationally-significant infrastructure with the intent of ensuring that every taxpayer dollar spent delivers real community benefit.

When we talk about delivering Queensland’s pipeline, we can’t ignore productivity.

The Queensland Productivity Commission’s interim report, published in July, found labour productivity in construction today is only 5 per cent higher than it was in 1994–95. 

Over the same period, productivity in the broader market economy grew by 65 per cent.

Construction productivity has actually declined by around 9 per cent since 2018.

That means the industry today needs 9 per cent more labour than it did just six years ago to produce the same output.

Ultimately, we need to do more with less. 

And by this, I mean, we need to shift the dial on productivity. 

Here in Australia, we’re still yet to fully embrace digital innovations like Building Information Modelling and Modern Methods of Construction. These have the power to transform how we deliver infrastructure.  

By adopting them at scale, we can significantly cut down delivery times and costs. 

They can also help us reduce embodied emissions through smarter design, greater efficiency, and less waste throughout the construction process.

There are a range of reasons why the mass adoption of these innovations is yet to take off. 

This includes uncertainty within the industry of the infrastructure pipeline over the long-term. 

Then there are also the challenges presented by inflexible contract and procurement models, which hinder the upfront investments needed to trial and scale innovation.  

By adjusting the procurement process and not fixating on the lowest price wins, we can motivate the industry to invest in itself, and look at more innovative ways of delivering projects.

Another key part of doing more with less is by improving the culture of the construction industry.

The construction industry is not attractive for people to want to join, let alone stay.

The culture of the sector is also incredibly difficult and off-putting for women, which isolates a large part of our population from joining the workforce. 

Currently women make up approximately 13 per cent of the construction workforce and only 2 per cent of trades.

There is an opportunity here for the industry to rebrand itself.

We don’t need to start from scratch.

Implementing tested and proven initiatives like the Culture Standard into the procurement process, can help cultivate a working environment that is flexible and supportive for both men and women.

Infrastructure delivery is a responsibility shared by every government.

That’s why we’re working to streamline evaluation processes and strengthen partnerships between state and federal government. 

Leveraging expertise, reducing duplication and creating more consistency equals faster decisions.

Infrastructure Australia is in the early stages of developing a National Planning and Assessment Framework to provide uniform guidelines based on best practice. 

Developed in consultation with the Commonwealth and states and territories, the framework will be used to drive national consistency and coordination.

It will bring greater clarity for proponents, align planning across jurisdictions, and ensure that communities see benefits sooner.

As a first step, we have been integrating with the assurance processes from the states and territories to speed up our evaluations of project proposals. 

This process streamlines our work, reduces duplication, combines local knowledge and national perspectives to increase the quality of our evaluations, and speeds up our advice to the Australian Government to support its decision-making.

Today’s topic is the Brisbane Games, but we all know the real legacy will be the housing, the transport, the energy systems and the community infrastructure that remain long after the athletes have departed.

That legacy depends on the decisions being made today. Decisions backed by robust planning and evidence, by independence, and by lessons learned.

That legacy will be shaped by national vision. But it will also be shaped by the commitment of local government leaders working day in, day out to deliver for their communities.

Like the river that winds through this city, infrastructure choices flow downstream.

The decisions we make upstream – the options we weigh, the evaluations we make, the priorities we set – will determine whether Brisbane’s legacy is a thriving network of tributaries, or a series of blockages that hold us back.

Our opportunity is to work together to make sure it’s the former. That every project is not just a piece of infrastructure delivered, but a legacy shaped.

Thank you.