Productivity Commission Draft Report of Public Infrastructure

I found the draft Report refreshing in its balance and objectivity and wish to firstly convey my congratulations to those who drafted it. In my experience, the public policy domain around the provision of public infrastructure is these days filled with as much ideological and conflicted advice as sensible guidance. I wholeheartedly agree with your judgment that our ‘inadequate project selection’methods need an overhaul, along with reforms encouraging better decision making. I also endorse your comment that private financing is ‘not a magic pudding’ and that neither government guarantees nor tax concessions are costless. And whilst I do not personally agree with your conclusion that ‘well designed user charges should be used to the fullest extent’ (unless of course governments are given a specific mandate at an election for this) or that ‘the market appears to be workably competitive’ (the basis of which is not clear to me), these are perhaps small issues in the bigger scheme of infrastructure matters with which this report deals well.