The Federal Minister for Transport and Infrastructure, Anthony Albanese, has announced the reappointment of Michael Deegan as the Infrastructure Coordinator, a position with responsibility for overseeing the day-to-day operations of Infrastructure Australia.

“Mr Deegan has brought a wealth of experience to the job and since his initial appointment in 2008 he has made an outstanding contribution to this Government's ambitious nation building agenda,” Mr Albanese said in a statement.

“Working closely with the Board of Infrastructure Australia and supported by a small team of professionals, Mr Deegan has strengthened the organisation's independence and delivered to government advice of the highest standard”

Over its first five years, Infrastructure Australia has driven significant reforms to the way our nation plans, assesses, finances, builds and uses the infrastructure it needs to compete in the 21st century. Already it has:

  • Completed the first ever audit of the nation's infrastructure;
  • Put in place a National Priority List to guide investment into nationally-significant projects which offer the highest economic and social returns. The Government has now committed funding to every ‘ready-to-proceed’ project listed on the original List arising out of the national audit;
  • Developed national Public Private Partnership (PPP) guidelines to make it easier and cheaper for private investors to partner with governments to build new infrastructure;
  • Finalised long term blueprints for a truly national, integrated and multimodal transport system capable of moving goods around as well as into and out of Australia quickly, reliably and efficiently: the National Port Strategy and the National Freight Strategy;
  • Created a national prequalification scheme through which a private contractor registered in one state is automatically recognised nationwide, a reform that's cut red tape, promoted greater competition within the construction sector and created a seamless national economy.