By Karen Wright | 28 Oct 2016

Urbis Perth took the opportunity with our Chief Economist Nicki Hutley in town as Key Note Speaker at the PCA Conference to host a Boardroom lunch aptly entitled, Show me the Money – getting bang for the infrastructure buck

Discussing infrastructure as one of Perth’s key challenges, Nicki outlined how spending on infrastructure in current fiscal times is very much an opportunity.  

Highlighting the need for collaboration across governments, Nicki provided examples of how states on the east coast manage these challenges, including the successful introduction of ‘infrastructure brokers’ in Victoria that work across state and local government.

nicki-boardroom-email

There's an opportunity that still exists to develop specific cost-sharing provisions for infrastructure for employment based lands.

Chaired by Regional Director Ray Haeren, the discussion also focused on the use of infrastructure to activate employment. There’s an opportunity that still exists to develop specific cost-sharing provisions for infrastructure for employment based lands. These include activity centres and industrial lands, acknowledged as an area where there may be a potential gap in planning policy.

Nicki was very realistic in her summary of the current state of the economy in WA and believed it was time to take the opportunity to innovate specifically in the areas of health, education and tourism. Perth needs to be more vocal about the great work already being undertaken in our city.

Finally, Nicki challenged us equally – both the private and public sector – to explore more creative thinking and innovative collaboration.

nicki-boardroom

This article originally appeared on LinkedIn.

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