Federal Minister for Infrastructure, Transport, Regional Development and Local Government Catherine King will decide on IA’s chief commissioner and commissioner after a merit-based process. Photo: Catherine King Facebook.
The government has acted on recommendations of an independent review into Infrastructure Australia (IA) by advertising for a chief commissioner and two commissioners to lead the agency.
The move comes as the government seeks to re-establish IA as the pre-eminent adviser on nationally significant infrastructure planning and investment.
Infrastructure Australia was established in 2008 to advise governments, industry and the community on the investments and reforms needed to deliver better infrastructure for all Australians.
Its governing legislation is through the Infrastructure Australia Act 2008 which defines its role and responsibilities in guiding nationally significant infrastructure investment and reform.
The independent review was conducted in 2022 by Ms Nicole Lockwood and Mr Mike Mrdak AO, and recommended reforms to ensure Infrastructure Australia was able to fully deliver on its responsibilities.
The refreshed IA will better support government infrastructure investment objectives, including through improved evaluation of infrastructure proposals and providing a more targeted infrastructure priority list aligned to the government’s infrastructure policy objectives.
A government release says there will be a merit-based process to select the chief commissioner and commissioners to ensure they have the appropriate skills, qualifications, knowledge and experience to lead and deliver on Infrastructure Australia’s mandate.
It says the decision to introduce three commissioners for IA, who will be supported by an advisory council with experts from infrastructure and related sectors and senior public service officials, will strengthen the foundations for better decisions on significant infrastructure investment.
The positions will be statutory appointments for a period of five years. The position statement says the commissioners will collectively replace the previous board as the accountable authority for IA.
It says they will be responsible for setting the strategic direction of the organisation in line with ministerial direction, and having regard to the government’s infrastructure policies.
“The commissioners will also be responsible for ensuring the performance of IA and its functions, overseeing advice and policy development, intergovernmental coordination and stakeholder engagement,” it says.
“These positions will be critical in ensuring the expertise of IA advice, with the support of an advisory council, to be established, comprised of experts and senior public servants.”
Applicants will be assessed by an Australian Government selection panel against specific criteria, and the merit-based process will identify suitable candidates for the consideration of Federal Minister for Infrastructure, Transport, Regional Development and Local Government Catherine King.
More details on the chief commissioner position can be found here, while details for the commissioner role can be found here.
Applications should be received through the online recruitment system for the Department of Infrastructure, Transport, Regional Development, Communications and the Arts by 11:59 pm on Monday 18 March.
Original Article published by Andrew McLaughlin on Riotact.
