S&P tells Senate infrastructure financing inquiry to spend up

Ratings agency Standard & Poor's, in its submission to an Australian Senate Select Committee inquiring into infrastructure financing and expenditure by the Australian government, has suggested a number of ways that spending could be used to best advantage, even by cost constrained State and Commonwealth governments keen to keep their respective ratings in place (mostly AAA).

S&P outlined how the "multiplier effect" of infrastructure spending boosted GDP growth more easily, and suggested ideas such as the use of "dynamic scoring" for infrastructure proposals, a process which takes into account not just the direct short-term cost but also the long-term fiscal return.

S&P also discussed whether targeting specific credit-rating outcomes was constraining government investment in infrastructure, and showed that rate caps on local governments had led to infrastructure backlogs.

The submission looked at Australia's growing social infrastructure needs and explored the alternative financing mechanisms and sources that could help fill the infrastructure funding gap.

S&P also cited a recent study by the Grattan Institute, which said that an annual national investment of A$300 million in targeted teaching programs could improve educational outcomes in needy schools, with the educational and social rewards more than repaying the cost.