Infrastructure NSW

Infrastructure NSW
Agency overview
Formed	1 July 2011
Jurisdiction	New South Wales
Minister responsible	Premier of New South Wales;
Agency executives	Graham Bradley, Chairman (2013–present); Janine Lonergan, Acting Chief Executive Officer (February 2023–present);
Parent department	New South Wales Treasury
Key document	Infrastructure NSW Act 2011;
Website	infrastructure.nsw.gov.au

Infrastructure NSW is an agency of the Government of New South Wales that provides independent advice to assist the NSW Government in identifying and prioritising the delivery of critical public infrastructure across the Australian state of New South Wales for economic and social wellbeing.

It was established in 2011 by then O'Farrell government and reports to the Premier of New South Wales.

History

The independent agency, established under the Infrastructure NSW Act 2011, was set up in July 2011 to plan and oversee a wide-ranging upgrade of the state's infrastructure. One of Infrastructure NSW's first major tasks was to deliver a 20-year State Infrastructure Strategy, which was delivered in September 2012. Other initial priorities for the body were the redevelopment of Sydney Convention & Exhibition Centre, planning of WestConnex and traffic management around Sydney Airport and Port Botany.^[1]^[2]

In May 2011, Barry O'Farrell appointed former Liberal Premier Nick Greiner as chairman^[3] and in June, economist and ex Sydney Water boss Paul Broad was appointed as the chief executive officer, on a reported salary of up to A$500,000.^[4]^[5]

On 23 May 2013, both Greiner and Broad quit their respective roles at Infrastructure NSW over repeated disputes with the O'Farrell government.^[6] The former head of the Business Council of Australia Graham Bradley was appointed as the new chairman and former Secretary of the Victorian Department of Transport Jim Betts became interim CEO, and was later appointed permanently.^[7]^[8]^[6]

On 25 November 2014, Infrastructure NSW published the State Infrastructure Strategy Update 2014, which made 30 investment recommendations on the next round of critical infrastructure for NSW.^[9] The NSW Government fully adopted the recommendations proposed by Infrastructure NSW for its State Infrastructure Strategy, which includes a $20 billion infrastructure program.^[10]^[11]

On 5 November 2015, Minister for Transport and Infrastructure Andrew Constance announced Projects NSW – a specialist unit within Infrastructure NSW to manage the procurement and delivery of the state's infrastructure priorities.^[12]

Board members

The Board of Infrastructure NSW contains a total of ten members, including the chief executive officer, chairman, four private sector members and four senior NSW public servants:^[13]

Graham Bradley, chairman
Janine Lonergan, acting chief executive officer
Kerrie Mather, chief executive officer, Venues NSW
Kiersten Fishburn, acting secretary, Department of Planning and Environment
Marika Calfas, chief executive officer, NSW Ports
Michael Coutts-Trotter, acting secretary, NSW Treasury
Peter Duncan, acting secretary, NSW Department of Premier and Cabinet
Rod Pearse, chair, Infrastructure NSW Project Assurance Committee
Roger Fletcher, managing director, Fletcher International Exports
Simone Constant, chief risk officer, Institutional Banking and Markets and Treasury, Commonwealth Bank Australia (CBA)

Past Board members include Nick Griener, Paul Broad, David Gonski, Chris Eccles, Sam Haddad, Mark Paterson, Carolyn Kay, Simon Draper, Dieter Adamsas, Arlene Tansey, Max Moore-Wilton, Blair Comley, Carolyn McNally and Rob Whitfield.