Following amendments to the Infrastructure Australia Act 2008 – which passed in December 2023 and came in effect in early April – the Federal Government has appointed interim commissioners to Infrastructure Australia (IA).
These appointments are part of the Federal Government’s broader reforms to restore IA as the nation’s preeminent adviser on infrastructure planning and investment. The new governance structure introduces three commissioners to replace the existing IA board.
Gabrielle Trainor has been appointed to the role of interim Chief Commissioner, while Clare Gardiner-Barnes has been appointed as interim Commissioner effective 15 April 2024.
Ms Trainor and Ms Gardiner-Barnes take on the new roles after previously serving as Chair and Director of IA’s board respectively.
The Federal Minister for Infrastructure, Catherine King, said that they both are highly regarded within the infrastructure sector, with extensive experience across the public and private sectors.
The commissioners will lead the agency until the government completes its merit-based recruitment process to permanently fill all three commissioner roles as outlined in legislation.
Now that IA is operating under its new governance structure, the former board has been dissolved.
The Federal Government has said that it will shortly establish a new Advisory Council to assist the commissioners and IA CEO.
Ms King thanked all the outgoing directors for their contributions to IA’s board and supporting efforts to restore the agency as the country’s expert independent infrastructure adviser.
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