CANBERRA -(Dow Jones)- The Australian government Monday named a 12-member Infrastructure Australia panel designed to address key bottlenecks currently hampering Australian businesses.
The panel, to be chaired by former airline executive Rod Eddington, will develop a national plan to improve the country's transport, water, energy and communications infrastructure, Infrastructure Minister Anthony Albanese said.
It includes high-level public sector appointees like Terry Moran, secretary of the department of Prime Minister & Cabinet, and Treasury Secretary Ken Henry. Key private sector appointments include Ross Rolfe, a senior executive at Babcock & Brown, and Heather Ridout, chief executive of lobby group Australian Industry Group.
The appointments "underscore just how serious we are about bringing in expertise outside of government," Albanese said.
Australia's center-left Labor government, elected to office in November, inherited an overheating economy following 17 years of economic growth.
Business groups are calling for action on infrastructure bottlenecks currently hampering the export of Australia's key natural resources like coal and iron ore.
The federal budget unveiled last week includes a commitment to a new A$20 billion Building Australia Fund - funded largely from forecast future surpluses - to kickstart spending on infrastructure projects.
The fund will invest both capital and earnings in road, rail, port and high- speed Internet infrastructure. But industry groups worry any investment in infrastructure won't be swift or targeted enough to ease immediate capacity constraints.
Treasurer Wayne Swan Monday declined to specify the level of public and private funding mix likely in any future infrastructure projects, and whether they would be required to earn a commercial rate of return.
"It depends on the nature of the project. Some may be entirely publicly funded, some may be entirely privately funded, and there remains the possibility of public-private partnerships," Swan told reporters in Canberra, adding that he won't "pre-empt the recommendations" of the Infrastructure Australia review.
Any government call for private funding would likely attract the attention of Australian construction firms like Leighton Holdings Ltd. (Australia:LEI) (LEI.AU), as well as local and international investment banking consortia.
The Queensland state government earlier Monday awarded a A$4.8 billion-plus roads contract to a consortium led by Macquarie Group Ltd. (Australia:MQG) (MQG.AU) and two subsidiaries of Leighton, in what is Australia's largest ever public-private partnership.
Other large projects on the drawing board include a A$4.7 billion federal government tender to build a national broadband Internet network servicing 98% of Australian homes. Tenders for that project close July 25, with Telstra Corp. (Australia:TLS) (TLS.AU) and the G9 consortium - led by Singapore Telecommunications Ltd.'s (Singapore:Z74) ( Z74.SG) Australian unit Optus - so far flagging their intention to bid.
The remaining Infrastructure Australia panel members are Industry Funds Management Chairman Garry Weaven; Kerry Schott, managing director of Sydney Water; Jim Hallion, chief executive of the department for transport, energy, and infrastructure; Anthony Kannis, executive director of Western Australian state Treasury; Peter Newman, professor of sustainability at Curtin University; Phil Hennessy, Queensland chairman of KPMG; and Mark Birrell, chairman of Infrastructure Partnerships Australia.
-By Rachel Pannett, Dow Jones Newswires; 61-2-6208-0901; rachel.pannett@ dowjones.com
(END) Dow Jones Newswires 05-19-08 0407 Copyright (c) 2008 Dow Jones & Company, Inc.
