PORTS AND CITIES: A REGIONAL PERSPECTIVE OR BACK TO THE FUTURE

1. PORTS AND CITIES:A REGIONAL PERSPECTIVEORBACK TO THE FUTURE Luke Fraser Principal - Juturna Infrastructure Consulting November 2011

2. Briefly… • Freight infrastructure policy/investment advisory • Practice:how to unlock private capital to invest? Risk, deal structures, pipelines, road, rail, port investments • Advisory role to Infrastructure Australia esp. road reform • Author of Mount Isa to Townsville 50-year plan

3. Today • Historical thinking: ports and their cities • Change in thinking about ports and cities • Current thinking: Cities which happen to have ports attached • National Ports Strategy • Back to the future: Mount Isa to Townsville Supply Chain • Going further

4. Historical thinking • 1788 – WW2?: Ports and their cities • White settlement – economic infrastructure (ie ports) meant survival = planning precedence • Ports were our lifeline to the world (port infrastructure was also telco infrastructure until well into-19th century) • Almost no great inland cities arose despite wool boom, gold etc Port of Geelong late 1800s

5. Change • Australian economy becomes more sophisticated (growing services sector, etc) • increasing affluence = diminished importance of port in city’s thinking • Port land becomes desirable for residential, ports equated with noisy, smelly, cause of road congestion, etc Cole’s Bay Sydney 1930s

6. Current thinking • ‘Cities which happen to have ports attached’ • Ports are shifted or development stymied by other civic priorities • Landside port connections become asphyxiated, contribute to congestion, no priority planning • Port dies - but city’s trade efficiency and prosperity dies too! • Public funding becomes harder to obtain (ports versus hospitals) • Private investors see no regulatory priority given to ports – so they steer clear of investing Cole’s Bay Sydney 2010

7. National Ports Strategy • ‘Catch the problem in time’: create a ‘place for ports’ and a ‘place for freight’ in civic plans • Advocates long-term port planning for sustainable trade prosperity • Emphasises hinterland connections in road, rail • Lays ground for greater private sector investment • Promotes entrepreneurial behaviour from individual ports and their cities Port of Melbourne

8. Back to the future • Mt Isa – Townsville Supply Chain • 1,000 kms, minerals and agriculture, highly prospective • $8 billion pa port in Queensland’s third biggest city • No planning attention, no strategic investment, fragmented supply chain • Not a gov’t plan: local industry, rail port, community-led and funded • Final report released end April 2012 – gives forward planning and investment momentum to city and port Isa rail line

9. Back to the future • 50-year freight infrastructure plan permits ‘strategic’ civic planning of the port and freight task in Townsville, increases global investment interest • As in 19th century: plan allows locals to see importance of $8 billion + pa port precinct • Federal and State planning proves woeful • Moral: individual ports and city planning is the future, not higher governments

10. Going further • Future investment in ports and freight for road, rail will need to be sourced from private capital • Global capital is plentiful for the right projects • It’s not just port privatisation – road and rail improvement and planning must be part of the deal • Closer than you think –reforms afoot • Individual port and city entrepreneurialism the key – higher governments cannot pull this off!

11. Thank you M: Luke Fraser - 0437 146 274 E: juturnaconsulting@gmail.com S: lukeatjuturna W: www.juturna.com.au