The responsibility to invest and build airport infrastructure falls to all of us

By
Adina Cirson
October 16, 2017
Adina Cirson. Photo: Kirsten Lawson

I visited the Canberra Airport twice this week. The first time for a meeting and the second, a return flight. While I waited for the meeting to start, I was drawn to a series of photographs that were taken above the airport over many decades.

What struck me as the invariable feature were the runways, which have been built up from the airstrip that was first laid down in the 1920s.

The whole airport precinct has been transformed since then, with significant investment, most recently for the first international flight and first hotel – the Vibe, which this week was named a finalist for the Rider Levett Bucknall ACT Development of the Year.

The point is that nearly 100 years ago, the investment in basic airport infrastructure was made, not only for the newly anointed ”Canberrans,” but as an investment in the city we were yet to become.

The pertinent question is who should bear the cost of this infrastructure for future generations? The simple answer is that the responsibility to invest and build the infrastructure falls to all of us.

But if we want to see new investment in our city, we must also ensure costs are not unfairly borne by any one group – whether it be for housing, commercial or educational purposes, water and sewage capacity or indeed new transport infrastructure. Without sensible distribution of costs, we place at very real risk the ability to keep investing.

Just like every passenger who touches down on that runway, we all benefit from the investments made by those before us. But we need to make sure the incentives to invest in the city of our future make it viable to do so.

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