A sell-off of public assets, Paris-style transport networks for Australia's biggest cities and a user-pays road system could be on the cards if the recommendations of a 15-year infrastructure blueprint are adopted.
Infrastructure Australia's report launched by Prime Minister Malcolm Turnbull on Wednesday makes 78 recommendations, including a user-pays approach to road funding, freeing up taxpayer dollars for other priorities like health and education.
It suggests heavy vehicle charging within five years and charging drivers for using roads in all vehicles within 10 years, while removing existing taxes and charges like excise on fuel and registration fees.
It also recommends privatisation of electricity and water infrastructure, as well as the National Broadband Network.
Major Projects Minister Paul Fletcher said the government was already looking at heavy vehicle charging and investigating the benefits and costs around a user-pays system following similar recommendations in the Harper competition review and the Henry tax review.
He said recommendations around heavy vehicle charging would be put to state and territory leaders by 2017/18 but the question of charges for all vehicles was "at least a 10-year journey".
Mr Turnbull said Australia had been less imaginative than it should have when it came to funding infrastructure.
A better calibrated user-pays system had its attractions but it had to be done in a fair and equitable way.
"You can see the inequities that would arise if you were to jump into road pricing or congestion pricing as they have done in London, immediately," he told reporters in Brisbane.
"It is important to put these things on the table and examine them."
The report says electricity generation, network and retail businesses still in public ownership should be transferred to private ownership as soon as practicable.
It also argues there is no continuing case for public ownership of metropolitan water utilities and calls on the federal government to consider increasing public debt to support more infrastructure investment.
Infrastructure Australia chairman Mark Birrell said Australia was at risk of failing to capitalise on historic opportunities presented by the rising Asian middle class if it did not invest in nation-shaping projects.
The report calls for better use of smaller cities and suggests larger cities plan for timetable-free "turn up and go" train and bus services - similar to those in New York, London and Paris.
It identifies 93 priority projects and initiatives, including metro rail systems for Sydney, Melbourne and Brisbane.
It also recommends a corridor be preserved for future development of a high-speed rail link between the three cities.
Opposition infrastructure spokesman Anthony Albanese slammed Mr Turnbull's decision to downgrade the cities portfolio to a parliamentary secretary role in Saturday's reshuffle.
He said the government had canned projects on the priority list in favour of projects that hadn't undergone proper analysis.
Stakeholder groups welcomed the report, urging the government to implement its recommendations.
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