Public-private-partnerships initiatives in Queensland

Over the last century, diverse arrangements have existed for the financing, ownership and operation of infrastructure both individually and in partnership by the public and private sectors. Nowadays, the matter o fPPP models for infrastructure provision across developed and developing countries is critical given the growing demands on infrastructure facilities to support regional economic growth and development, and the increasing high cost of public provision. This paper commences with an overview of the Queensland economy and the general economic growth strategy of the Queensland government. Then it considers worldwide trends in PPP infrastructure initiatives, followed by a discussion of the PPP model adopted in Australia by the states of New South Wales and Victoria. It then. examines in some detail the Queensland Government's new State Infrastructure Plan and PPP policy, Achieving Value for Money in Public Infrastructure and Service Delivery, and explores the linkage between infrastructure investment and sustainable economic growth and development. Finally, there is a critique of these new policies on various grounds relating to their late introduction, limited scope and failure to fully engage the private sector, thereby expanding the supply of infrastructure services through PPP measures in order to remedy the present growth-retarding infrastructure deficit in rural and regional Queensland.