Across Australia, the infrastructure sector engages thousands of experienced specialists to support the delivery of high-quality infrastructure and services. The 2021 Australian Infrastructure Plan complements the work of these experts by applying contemporary policy approaches that support social impact.
Infrastructure Australia's ambition is to identify, incubate and advocate for reform by identifying the best practice of others within the infrastructure sector and endorsing these behaviours where they are delivering value.
To support this ambition, our policy analysis commenced with a wide-ranging review of the state of the infrastructure industry. The 2019 Australian Infrastructure Audit provided a comprehensive evidence base on which to build recommendations.
Our interim report on the impacts of the recent global pandemic, Infrastructure beyond COVID-19,1 and our assessment of progress against the 2016 Australian Infrastructure Plan2 recommendations, supplemented the information in the 2019 Audit.
In refining our observations, Infrastructure Australia engaged more than 6,000 individuals, including domestic and global policy leaders, to test our conclusions and identify reform opportunities. This included establishing formal and informal partnerships with technical experts to support the development of more detailed plans, which provide further detail on how the pragmatic and actionable reforms in the 2021 Plan work towards long-term outcomes.
The 2021 Plan identifies the reforms that contribute to a community-centred vision while reducing trade-offs and implementation challenges. We have prioritised outcomes that improve services for users and unlock quadruple-bottom-line benefits for the community across economic, social, environmental and governance outcomes.
We considered reforms proposed by the community, industry and governments as part of identifying best practice, including those made through the submissions process for the 2019 Audit. Examining contemporary opportunities for reform has helped us to identify where recommendations can be most impactful. This is expressed in both the activities and the outcomes they unlock.
It is critical to acknowledge that the maturity of change agents varies. This is often due to local conditions as well as organisational capacity and capability.
The 2021 Plan aims to lift capability and alignment between those change agents who need to work together by defining a common purpose and identifying the outcomes to which activities contribute. We have identified specific, targeted activities to ensure this advice is clear, pragmatic and practical.
Infrastructure Australia's role is to work with reform owners across the maturity spectrum to support implementation of the 2021 Plan. As well as varying in maturity, some change agents may have to respond to shifting external conditions, in which case the activities may need to be adapted to revised local circumstances.