What’s Australia’s next big nation-building idea?

During lockdown our newly minted broadband network enabled much of our workforce to work from home. Australia’s economic output barely dipped. What’s the next big nation-building idea?

More than a decade ago the great nation-building project was the NBN.

There is no shortage of ambition and ideas for Australia’s future from those who want to build a better and fairer nation. For example, when it comes to energy generation, some say – in good conscience – we should embrace only renewables, while others argue we should look at nuclear. We have had announcements about the acquisition of nuclear-powered submarines, to counterbalance the rise of China’s military might. And there is constant chatter about the need for more housing, especially public housing.

Big projects require big budgets and unwavering commitment across the electoral cycle. Occasionally – actually, make that often – these things flounder, experience cost blowouts, or are re-envisioned along the way.

More than a decade ago the great nation-building project was the NBN, which was completed just prior to the pandemic – fortuitously timed. During the lockdowns our newly minted broadband network enabled much of the nation’s knowledge-based workforce to work from home. Australia’s economic output barely dipped.

While the initial thinking behind the NBN was that it would be the information highway of the future, its practical value upon completion was that it enabled Australia to pivot its workforce and power through a global pandemic. How lucky is the Lucky Country?

While I do appreciate the boldness required of the political class to nominate projects and to get the design, the costings and the timing right, there is something missing in all the excitement of ribbon-cutting announcements.

Big projects are more easily delivered when they are supported by, indeed, immersed within, a culture of enablement. More housing isn’t just a matter of announcing a plan for thousands of new dwellings. Such a project requires a bureaucracy to find the land, to deliver development approvals, to commission builders, to ensure a supply chain of critical materials and, perhaps most importantly, to ensure there’s a sufficient pool of skilled labour to complete the project on time, on budget, and to specification.

Without this make-it-happen culture, a big project could be easily slowed by an opposing culture of passive resistance: the constant call for reviews, endless referring up the line of command to get approvals, not working with the project to find a solution.

Big projects require people skilled at finding solutions. This comes down to leadership, to the ability of management and politicians to communicate to others the merit and even the righteousness of the project. Sounds a bit evangelical but that’s what is required. Come with me to the promised land, to the completed housing estate, to the operable nuclear submarine, to the empowered collective of non-polluting renewables.

This can be achieved only if workers feel fairly treated, if management isn’t frustrated, if the community is sold on the project before it has started. The big announcement should be last. It’s the forward planning, the culture of can-do-ism, the community buy-in, the sense of pervading confidence that makes a truly grand nation-building project finally come to fruition. Amen.