“The civil infrastructure industry in NSW currently directly pays $4 billion in wages each year. To keep doing this, indeed to grow, employers need to know clearly what projects our potential governments intend doing,” Castledine said.

“With certainty comes confidence; with confidence, businesses will hire and invest in people.”

Once figures for civil infrastructure spending were announced, CCF NSW hired independent analysts BIS Shrapnel to come up with costs for both Labor and the Coalition’s projects.

“The Coalition government’s State Infrastructure Strategy is a clear plan that states what projects we will be doing and when,” Castledine said.

“We wanted to be able to genuinely compare the Coalition and Labor’s plans. We had a very thorough look at Labor’s Infrastructure plan and ... put simply, it’s not clear.

“NSW Labor has committed to $61.5 billion in infrastructure spend over the next four years. That’s only a little less than the Coalition, but what we don’t know is where it will be spent.

“Beyond that time Labor’s plan becomes even less clear, both in terms of where the money is going to be spent and where it is coming from.”

Castledine said CCF NSW was committed to working “constructively” with both governments, but that the organisation would not support a flimsy plan for the future.

“The people of NSW deserve a credible infrastructure plan that will secure and grow jobs, and at the moment only the Coalition is offering that,” he said.

The NSW branch of the CCF is formed of eight regional divisions, with 435 contractor members and 130 supplier members.