Recessionary red flags and budget black holes mean we can’t build the way we thought we could. 

After several years of record-breaking infrastructure investment, governments are looking to reschedule or, worse, ‘reprioritise’ some projects in their pipelines. 

In Sydney, the Metro West train line is under a cloud. In Victoria, the Commonwealth Games has been scrapped and the Melbourne Airport Rail paused. Federally, a strategic review of the nation’s 10-year, $120 billion infrastructure pipeline is expected to soon deliver its findings. 

Course correcting, especially in the face of chronic skills shortages and climbing costs, makes sense. At the same time, we know we need these projects. That’s why we prioritised them in the first place. 

Project delays have consequences for communities that must wait longer for their much-needed infrastructure. But pipeline uncertainty also has huge implications for our industry. Consult Australia’s latest skills survey found businesses engaged in the design and delivery of infrastructure projects are hesitant to invest because they can’t see what’s on the horizon.  

While many of these decisions are taken at a state and territory level, the ripple effect for industry is national and runs across sectors. Where they can, businesses will make longer-term decisions to redeploy their workforce to sectors that offer greater certainty; for example, re-allocating teams from transport to defence or energy. Ultimately, though, when governments fail to provide confidence and certainty for projects that have already been announced, they effectively undermine the workforce and perpetuate a boom/bust cycle. 

This hesitancy has cascading implications for our workforce, skills development and business growth. It plays out in everything from demand for office space to investment in digital systems. 

Rather than reschedule and reprioritise, we urge governments to focus on collaborative relationships with industry to support innovation in delivery, greater productivity and better outcomes from current investments. This is a message we continue to share with governments, and you can read about our recent submission to Infrastructure Australia in this issue of Consulting Matters.

Consultants are the “canaries in the coalmine” for the broader Australian economy, and uncertainty among our members should sound warning bells for the rest of the supply chain. (Our story on the implications of the NSW Government’s proposed Practice Standard for Professional Engineers is instructive.)

Will the current dip be a prolonged downturn? 

At the moment, it’s hard to get a clear read of what’s ahead. What we do know is businesses without visibility of tomorrow’s pipeline don’t have the confidence to invest today. 

Arming our members with the market intelligence they need to make informed decisions is mission critical. So is ensuring a strong collective voice on these issues across the supply chain, which is why Consult Australia recently joined the Australian Construction Industry Forum. Alongside its broader advocacy, the ACIF offers forecasting data and dashboards that cover everything from upcoming work and major projects to labour requirements and construction costs. The ACIF offers a data goldmine – and it’s free when you are a Consult Australia member.

Despite the current uncertainty, our industry continues to innovate – and it is that innovation we will once again celebrate as the Consult Australia Awards open for submissions. You have until 4th of December to send us your entries. We can’t wait to applaud the people and projects that continue to deliver despite the ups and downs.