Overview

Introduction

Australia is growing and diversifying, with increasing population and economic activity placing greater demands on infrastructure as a critical enabler of social and economic outcomes. We have ambitious goals to lift national productivity, transition to a clean energy future, and substantially boost housing supply.

There is no shortage of infrastructure needed to meet this demand, realise these ambitions and elevate the country’s productivity, liveability and sustainability, in our cities and regions. However, governments cannot fund everything at once, nor should all proposals progress simultaneously, given fiscal constraints, market capacity pressures and delivery risk. Prioritisation and sequencing of infrastructure is important to ensure a sustainable pipeline with the delivery of the projects that matter most at the right time.

To inform the Australian Government’s decision-making on infrastructure investment, the Infrastructure Priority List presents Infrastructure Australia’s view of the most nationally significant infrastructure priorities across the country – where Australian Government involvement can add the greatest value – over the next 10 years. This cross-jurisdictional, cross-sector view informs decisions on when Australian Government investment will best meet the needs of communities by providing investment advice for proposals in the short-term and advising on nationally significant medium and longer-term opportunities in the infrastructure pipeline. Proposals on the Priority List align to our multi-decade, national perspective and a strong evidence base that helps governments to prioritise investments with confidence.

Through targeted Priority Lists, we narrow the field of potential infrastructure investments to identify the highest-priority proposals across the country. This targeting reflects both proposal readiness and strategic timing across the nationally significant pipeline, recognising proposals that are:

• ready for Australian Government investment in the near term, for either planning or deliveryⁱ
• in the pipeline for investment in the next 2-4 years
• in the pipeline for investment in the next 5-10 years.

This staged approach can support the Australian Government to maintain sustainable levels of infrastructure investment over time, while ensuring that the market has the capacity and capability to deliver the infrastructure required.

The Infrastructure Priority List is therefore not a comprehensive inventory of infrastructure needs, but a targeted advisory tool focused on those proposals where sequencing and prioritisation matter most for national outcomes.

The 2026 Infrastructure Priority List presents Infrastructure Australia’s view on the infrastructure challenges we need to address to realise our growth aspirations, as well as the infrastructure needed to meet the challenges and opportunities Australia is likely to face now and into the future. It takes into consideration how demand may change over time, bringing transparency to sequencing decisions and how projects deliver benefits that enhance productivity and support Australia’s long-term growth. 

Planning and delivery proposals identified for the 2026 Infrastructure Priority List align with this strategic perspective, including proposals that have been submitted to us by the Australian Government and state and territory governments.

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i    Planning could include the development of a preliminary or detailed business case, and/or geotechnical investigations, other site investigations, community consultation or further design work. Delivery involves the construction of a project.