Infrastructure WA to keep board

The federal government is adopting a swathe of reforms recommended by Infrastructure WA chair Nicole Lockwood but the local body will not be directly affected.

The changes include appointing three commissioners to run Infrastructure Australia and narrowing its focus.

The national body will also work more closely with its counterparts in each state and develop a national assessment framework.

Infrastructure minister Catherine King announced the changes today, five months after appointing Ms Lockwood and former Canberra bureaucrat Mike Mrdak to conduct the review.

As well as being chair of Infrastructure WA, Ms Lockwood spent nine years to 2020 as a board member of Infrastructure Australia.

While the review recommended abolition of Infrastructure Australia’s board, Ms Lockwood said that was not appropriate for the WA body.

She said the WA body already had a hybrid 10-member board with a mix of industry and government representatives.

A key difference, she said, was that the states are responsible for project delivery.

“Our roles are quite different and our ability to deliver is quite different,” she said.

“The states have levers to influence implementation.”

By contrast, she said the national body would focus on inquiries and whole-of-system issues.

Ms King said the national body had been left to drift, with partisan board appointments, a lack of clear direction and an unwieldy list of projects.

Infrastructure Australia’s board has already been whittled down from 12 to just three members, including Perth-based Vanessa Guthrie, who joined in December last year.

Several other members including chair Col Murray, whose term was due to run until 2024, resigned earlier this year after the review was announced.

The proposed commissioners are expected to be closer to full-time roles.

They will be supported by an advisory board with experts from relevant sectors and senior public service officials.

Under the changes announced today, Infrastructure Australia will produce a smaller targeted Infrastructure Priority list.

It will also develop a national planning and assessment framework to support consistency across the country.

Ms Lockwood said her review sought to streamline how the national and state bodies worked together.

She envisaged Infrastructure WA would assess the merits of WA projects with the national body conducting a high level ‘peer review’.

“The benefit should be a more coordinated approach, with less duplication and faster decision making” she said.

“It’s never been so critical as now because the challenges we face are whole-of-system.”

Ms Lockwood development of the hydrogen industry was a prime example, as it cut across water supply, transport and energy.

Infrastructure Australia also plans to adopt a more active role in reviewing projects after they are completed.

Ms Lockwood said it would aim to identify themes and trends and lessons learnt, for the benefit of all states.

Commenting on Infrastructure WA’s work program, Ms Lockwood said it would start publishing more business case assessments next year.

After being given authority in January to review specific projects, it has published just one report, on upgrades to Geraldton port.

Ms Lockwood said Infrastructure WA sought to align its work with the state government’s budget process.

“We want to catch projects when we can have meaningful impact,” she said.