Following the release of the State Infrastructure Strategy earlier this year identifying the Queensland Government’s future infrastructure plan for the next two decades, the Department of State Development, Infrastructure, Local Government and Planning (DSDILGP) has now released a Discussion Paper setting out priorities and opportunities for private investment.

The paper targets industry collaboration and early engagement to dissect the priority areas, identify barriers to investment and engage government levers to better achieve greater infrastructure investment.

The Future Infrastructure: Private Investment (FIPI) discussion paper identifies priority areas including Decarbonisation, Hydrogen, Digital Connectivity in the regions, Circular Economy and targets for renewable energy and zero waste.  Notably housing, health, education and transport are not currently identified in the paper as key areas, and it is anticipated these will become key components for the discussion and engagement planned for early 2023.

The discussion paper includes the following key area opportunity snapshots:

The State Government is looking to work with industry to test and refine investment opportunities; understand private sector investment priorities; and identify barriers to private infrastructure investment and how government can provide greater support.

IAQ recognises that the private sector’s appetite for investment will be vital to the engagement and delivery of the key priorities outlined in FIPI. Our 2021 industry survey identified pipeline visibility as a critical issue and partnerships such as PPPs need to focus less on funding/capital differences and more on innovation, collaboration and value-adds to gain greater traction from the private sector.

With the release of the FIPI Discussion Paper, the state government is inviting investors and stakeholders to participate in engagement anticipated for early 2023. Members wanting to be involved can register their interest to DSDILGP here.