Govt's positioning investments paying dividends

Government investment in precise positioning infrastructure is on track to add over $500 million to the national economy by the end of FY38, according to a new report commissioned by Geoscience Australia.

The report, prepared by ACIL Allen, attempts to quantify the economic benefits of the federal National Positioning Infrastructure Capability (NPIC) program, which aims to improve positioning technology to centimetre-level accuracy across most areas of Australia with mobile phone coverage.

The NPIC is a network of more than 700 continuously operating global navigation satellite system reference stations from 11 different operators.

The federal government invested around $64 million into better positioning in support of Australian businesses from July 2018 to June 2022, with $44 million directly invested into the NPIC network. The spending also includes $10 million in annual funding to support the operation of NPIC network.

According to the report, the NPIC is expected to return $2.58 for every dollar of government funding at a 7% discount rate. It is expected to generate national economic benefits of $545 million in present value terms, including $163 million for the agriculture sector, $91 million for mining, $68 million for the construction sector and $43 million for the surveying and mapping sector.

“These benefits will stretch across the country, with an estimated $194 million in Victoria, $176 million in New South Wales, $101 million in Queensland, $44 million in Western Australia, $16 million in Tasmania and $12 million in South Australia,” said Ryan Ruddick, Geoscience Australia Director of Global Navigational Satellite System Infrastructure and Informatics.

“Importantly, precise positioning benefits are not just confined to capital cities. In fact, it is expected that NPIC output will grow faster in the regions, reflecting the true value of precise positioning to industries like agriculture and mining.”

Ruddick added that the NPIC is also helping to create employment across many sectors of the economy, with the report predicting that 2316 full-time jobs would have been created over the two decades to June 2038.

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