The Liberal Party has promised to build Tasmania’s infrastructure for the 21st century as part of its Building Your Future plan and Labor has promised to build intergenerational infrastructure supporting productivity, job creation and economic growth.  The Greens also refer to improving infrastructure throughout a number of their policies.

But infrastructure is more than just the roads we drive on, the buildings we see and the disappearing poles through our suburbs that used to carry our electricity and telecommunications cables.

Infrastructure is a big part of how we connect happy, healthy, prosperous and sustainable communities.

Therefore, infrastructure planning needs to be strategic, long-term and cognisant of other government policies, including education, energy, economic and population growth - not just sitting out there to the side.

The University of Tasmania’s northern transformation program, the Launceston City Deal and the Devonport’s Living City project are all great examples of projects making our communities prosper.

They will lead to better educational outcomes, greater connectivity and opportunities for business and exciting places to be.  The recent MonaFoma festival in Launceston was a glimpse of what and how the arts also contribute.

But what do we need to get there and to make sure that the opportunities are maximised?

Engineers Australia is an apolitical organisation, representing more than 1400 engineers Statewide who have a broad range of views, like the rest of the community.

But we are agreed that Tasmania’s future depends on sound infrastructure planning and management, not only at state government level but the integration of plans between agencies and various levels of government.

In addition, Engineers Australia to asking parties to make significant plans beyond the election cycle … for the next 10 to 20 years.

Why?  Because we are not building for today … we are building for our future and the futures of our children.

In 2018, we need to plan and build for 2028 and beyond.  We are making investment decisions that will affect how our children live, learn and work.

And we can’t do that through making isolated decisions and stop-gap solutions. Nor can it be done without technical input from those qualified to comment.

For this reason, we have advocated to the government and the opposition parties about the need for a Tasmanian chief engineer. The role would provide independent advice on engineering-intensive policies and projects, as well as advice about programs which foster innovation and to assist all governments to drive economic growth and productivity.

A chief engineer will be able to advise on workforce development issues that will keep our state going and growing. They will advise on the effects of disruptive technologies such as autonomous vehicles … driverless cars … and cyber security.

And they will advise on infrastructure resilience that takes into account changes in climate, natural disasters and security threats that create both short and long term challenges the provision of our essential services.

Our future depends on getting decisions right today.