CANBERRA - Private sector investment is the key to Australia's future infrastructure development, Deputy Prime Minister John Anderson says.
The National Party leader, who is also transport minister, said today the emphasis should be on private sector funds and not taxpayer dollars.
Treasurer Peter Costello detailed a taxpayer-funded investment schemein this year's budget which could bankroll a range of infrastructure projects.
But Mr Anderson said the government was still discussing how best to prepare Australia for its export future and no firm decisions had been made about how to do that.
"To be frank, the private sector is the key investor and will continue to be and that's where the bulk of the money for this sort of stuff will come from," he told the Nine Network.
Talk of an infrastructure "crisis" was over-stated, he said.
"We haven't the crisis that some would have us believe we have, but ... I see great opportunities, which we will miss in the future for expanded economic activity (unless we are prepared)," he said.
He also dismissed a Labor plan to use the interest generated on the Future Fund's initial $16 billion to pay for infrastructure.
"I don't think it's necessarily the best way," he said.
"That implies that the government's going to have its fingers all over it."
The proceeds from the sale of Telstra could swell the Future Fund balance to $50 billion, but Mr Anderson said that money would not necessarily go to infrastructure.
"The government's got to work through those issues and I see that as something that's got to happen," he said.
"The key economic issue with Telstra is to make certain the country has a telecommunications capacity that it will need for the future."
He said he understood the concerns of Queensland Nationals Senator Barnaby Joyce who has vowed to block the full sale of the telecommunications giant in the upper house unless investment in rural infrastructure is up to scratch.
"I understand his concerns there," Mr Anderson said.
"How you go about it -- the most logical and consistent framework for investment -- those are things that the government has yet to work through and I think we can work through them in a constructive way."
A government infrastructure taskforce is due to release its report later this week.
