Famously outspoken former Victorian Premier Jeff Kennett has warned that Australia is too complacent about water, energy and waste and is hamstrung by poor government decision-making.   

Speaking at IPWEA’s Asset Management Congress in Canberra in an often entertaining, frequently blunt presentation, Kennett pulled no punches when discussing Australia’s lack of long-term infrastructure planning.

“We have sat back on our backsides since the second world war and failed to apply our creativity to water, waste and energy,” he said.

Kennett warned it would be future generations who would really feel the effects of inaction now.  
“We have no national water strategy…we’ve gone from being the cheapest supplier of energy in the world to the most expensive. We’ve totally stuffed it up,” he said.

“For years we thought China was just going to be a net importer of all the crap we produce,” he added, reflecting on the China Sword policy that has upended Australia and New Zealand’s recycling industry.

“My great beef about Australia right now is that we don’t have a vision for where we want to be in 2050 and no understanding strategically of how we want to get there.”
 
Kennett was also critical of the way governments make decisions. 

“People are so scared to delegate authority for decisions that no decisions are being made,” he said.

“We are becoming tied up in knots because no one is prepared to make decisions.

“We still don’t have a pecking order of those funds where we should be allocating.”

He issued a challenge to delegates: to make their voices heard.  

“Try and identify where you think Australia should be in 2050, and you should be the advocates of an agenda,” he said.

“The great challenge is to be relevant. “