Prime Minister Scott Morrison has announced a further $1.5 billion in infrastructure investment to drive economic activity in the wake of the COVID-19 crisis.

 An agreement by the Commonwealth, states and territories to speed up the approval process will see a priority list of 15 major “shovel ready” projects fast-tracked under the scheme.

These projects include Inland Rail from Melbourne to Brisbane, the Marinus Link between Tasmania and Victoria, the Olympic Dam extension in South Australia, emergency town water projects in New South Wales and road, rail and iron ore projects in Western Australia.

The package includes $500 million for a Targeted Road Safety Works Program, which will provide funding for works that improve road-user safety on state or territory roads that can be completed within 12 months.

Addressing a Committee for Economic Development of Australia function on June 15, the Prime Minister highlighted the fact that the government has provided $9.3 billion in extra funding for infrastructure investment in the past eight months.

“As we come out of the COVID crisis, infrastructure can give us the edge that many countries don’t have,” he says.

The fast-tracked projects, which will support 66,000 direct and indirect jobs, “will be brought to market earlier by targeting a 50 per cent reduction in Commonwealth assessment and approval times for major projects, from an average of 3.5 years to 21 months,” Morrison says.

Read more about the Federal Government’s infrastructure investment response to COVID-19.