Public investment in new infrastructure has been booming in Australia. The 2020 federal Budget included a major step up in transport spending. And despite budget and inflationary pressures, spending has remained elevated since then. 

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The federal government has committed to retain its large infrastructure expenditure, promising $120 billion over the next decade. 

This Grattan Institute submission argues that that expenditure should be carefully timed, and that a larger share of the funding should flow to the maintenance and improvement of local government infrastructure, and away from megaprojects and other projects that are not nationally significant, or which have not been properly assessed.