New South Wales has legislated a Future Jobs and Investment Authority with $29.7 million in ongoing funding and a more than $170 million fund to support jobs, investment and economic development in the Hunter, Illawarra, Central West and North coal regions. The body is tasked with managing coal transition impacts on local economies, signalling long-term structural change for coal mining, coal logistics and associated infrastructure in these basins. Geotechnical, civil and mining contractors in these regions should expect more funding channels for diversification projects, rehabilitation works and non-coal industrial developments.

Andy Burnham’s new government is signalling a stronger central grip on core infrastructure, using its Liverpool conference to frame transport, energy and housing as the “basics” underpinning daily life. Early messaging points to more direct national intervention in long-term planning and funding, potentially reshaping how major rail upgrades, strategic road renewals and grid connections are prioritised and sequenced. Civil engineers should expect tighter alignment between political objectives and project pipelines, with delivery performance and visible local outcomes likely to dominate investment decisions.

Canada’s Energy and Natural Resources Minister Tim Hodgson told a London audience the world is entering the “largest investment supercycle in the history of the metals and mining industry”, framing critical minerals as strategic inputs that will determine which economies can grow and compete. Ottawa’s updated Critical Minerals Strategy is backed by the proposed 240-page Building Canada Strong Act, aiming to cut federal approvals for major resource projects to a single-agency review completed within one year. The government links this streamlining to countering US tariffs and accelerating large energy, mining and export infrastructure developments.