Building what Australia needs

A new directions paper from the Committee for Economic Development of Australia (CEDA), produced in partnership with WSP, examines what is holding back productivity across Australia’s infrastructure system.

Australia | Wednesday, 11 November 2026

Looking across early project definition and risk through to procurement, standardisation, capability and decision-making, the paper puts forward 10 areas for reform to create greater certainty, simplify delivery and get more from Australia’s finite capital, skills, and market capacity.

Building what Australia needs: lifting productivity in major infrastructure

Download the directions paper

Download the paper

Delivering infrastructure is becoming more complex

Australia is asking more of its infrastructure system at a time when the environment around delivery is becoming increasingly complex.

The directions paper finds construction productivity is 7 per cent lower than in 1990, while mining productivity is 20 per cent lower. The paper identifies a series of factors that can lock in poor productivity before construction begins, including incomplete project definition, poorly understood risk, complex procurement and fragmented delivery processes.

The opportunity is not simply to push industry to deliver faster, but, instead, create a simpler, more predictable environment in which projects can be planned, procured and delivered.

Australia doesn’t have an infrastructure ambition problem. The challenge is creating the conditions to deliver it productively and efficiently.

Greg Kane President and Managing Director, Australia

Greg Kane President and Managing Director, Australia

Three areas to help Australia build what it needs

01 | Create certainty earlier

Better delivery starts before construction.

Many of the decisions made before a project reaches construction can have an outsized influence on how efficiently it is ultimately delivered.

Greater certainty around scope, site conditions, risk and decision-making gives clients and delivery partners a stronger basis on which to plan, price and invest. However, when projects progress before these issues are sufficiently understood, uncertainty can return later through contingency, redesign, delay, disputes and additional cost.

The directions paper points to greater investment in early project definition and site investigation, alongside earlier engagement with delivery partners to better understand risk before major commitments are made. The emphasis is on changing the conditions around delivery, rather than simply asking projects to move faster.

The opportunity is to do more of the thinking before decisions become difficult and expensive to change. Better site information, environmental assessments and technical due diligence upfront give us a much stronger basis for deciding what should proceed and how it should be delivered.

Matthew Uidam Managing Director, Earth & Environment

Matthew Uidam Managing Director, Earth & Environment

02 | Simplify how we procure and deliver

Reducing complexity can free up capacity for delivery.

Infrastructure projects have become surrounded by increasingly complex procurement, commercial and assurance processes. Individual requirements can have legitimate purposes, but their cumulative effect can make projects harder to plan, price and deliver.

The directions paper points to opportunities to simplify procurement and contracts, allocate risk more effectively and use programmatic approaches where a pipeline of similar work allows lessons, capability and proven approaches to carry from one project to the next.

Standardisation has a role too. Common designs, processes, contracts and accreditation can reduce repeated effort where conditions allow, while leaving room to adapt to different sites, environments and operating requirements.

We need to move away from treating every major project as a standalone exercise. A longer-term, more programmatic approach gives industry greater certainty, allows capability and lessons to carry between projects, and means less time and effort is spent starting again.

Sam McWilliam Managing Director, Transport

Sam McWilliam Managing Director, Transport

03 | Turn information into better decisions

Digital’s role in boosting productivity starts with trusted data.

Better infrastructure decisions depend on having access to the right information at the right time.

Technology can help reduce repeated work, support earlier decisions and allow lessons to move from one project to the next. But layering new technology over fragmented information and disconnected systems will not solve the underlying problem.

That is why the opportunity extends beyond individual digital tools. From mining to energy, more consistent project, asset and site information can provide a common foundation for planning, delivery and operations, and allow digital platforms and AI to support decisions across the infrastructure lifecycle.

Digital solutions, underpinned by AI and automation, can help us make faster, better infrastructure decisions, but only when they are built on trusted data. The real opportunity is to connect information across systems and projects so we can stop rebuilding the evidence base every time and start carrying knowledge forward.

Damien Cutcliffe Director, Products, Clients and Growth – Digital

Damien Cutcliffe Director, Products, Clients and Growth – Digital

From diagnosis to action

The challenge is well understood.

The question is what happens next. Infrastructure productivity is a shared challenge.

Governments shape policy, pipelines, approvals and procurement. Clients make choices about scope, risk, timing and delivery models. Industry has a role in collaboration, innovation, technology adoption and building capability that can move between projects.

The directions paper’s 10 areas for reform provide a practical starting point for that next phase, recognising that improving productivity will require coordinated action across the infrastructure system.

Explore the 10 areas for reform here

About the research

CEDA and WSP convened senior representatives from government, industry, infrastructure delivery and investment to examine the structural constraints affecting productivity across major Australian infrastructure.

The work deliberately looked across sectors, including energy and renewables, mining and resources and public infrastructure, to distinguish sector-specific challenges from problems that recur across the system.