Infrastructure as an instrument of national strategy: lessons from China

Australia has one of the highest population growth rates in the developed world. Australia also has one of the world's most urbanized populations. Population growth has historically been seen as a strategy for national strengthening. However, infrastructure investment has failed to keep pace, leaving Australia with increasingly congested cities and neglected regional areas. China, on the other hand, has understood infrastructure as the foundation on which the national economy and regional development are built and sustained. Chinese investment in infrastructure has been massive and unrelenting. Many of the objections to infrastructure investment experienced in Australia may be found in China; yet China has not been stalled by them. Are there lessons to be learnt from the Chinese experience, and are these transferable to the Australian condition? This paper argues that Australian's reactive approach to infrastructure needs does circumvent the pitfalls experienced in China, but also fails to articulate a broader strategic vision for the 21st century.