From the CEO
With the 2023-24 financial year having come to a close, the Infrastructure WA (IWA) team has been busy making progress on a number of fronts.
Kicking off the calendar year the Infrastructure Proposals team made their way through the influx of major infrastructure proposal assessments (MIPA) tied into the 2024-25 Budget cycle, completing 5 step 3 MIPAs out of the total of 11 conducted over the full year. Over the last 2 years, the IWA team has collected feedback in the interim Guidelines from stakeholders which has now informed the updated guidance. To further assist agencies, IWA will be introducing subject guides to support the development of major infrastructure proposals. These guides will cover topics reflecting IWA's observation of emerging requirements for infrastructure proposals of Aboriginal Participation, Decarbonisation of Infrastructure and Application of Digital to Infrastructure Proposals. The guides are currently being refined following feedback to date from agencies and targeted further consultation. These guides are expected to be released throughout 2024-25. Thank you to our stakeholders for their valuable feedback and input through this process.
In March, we had the opportunity to host the WA Connect Symposium and Supplier Showcase in collaboration with the Infrastructure Sustainability Council, Department of Transport and the Office of Major Transport Infrastructure Delivery. The initiative allowed us to progress fostering connections among suppliers, contractors and asset managers with the aim of advancing towards a more sustainable future for WA's infrastructure system.
That same month the refreshed External Stakeholder Reference Group (ESRG) convened for a second time with discussion being focused around feedback on the inaugural State Infrastructure Strategy Implementation Progress Report. Additionally, the ESRG were invited to provide initial thoughts on draft principles being developed to guide the approach of the next state infrastructure strategy.
Hosted by Aurecon in May 2024, the IWA toured Murdoch University's Boola Katitjin as an opportunity to visit an award-winning delivered project that has placed sustainability and connection to Country at the core of its design.
The team have made significant progress across the strategic asset plan reviews; submitted its 2024 advice to government to be considered as part of the 2025 State Infrastructure Program; finalising the approach of the next state infrastructure strategy; and advancing actions to address IWA's assigned recommendations from the 2022 State Infrastructure Strategy.
Keeping the momentum going the team will be focused over the next financial year on achieving deliverables as set out in our released 2024-25 Annual Work Program.
Phil Helberg
Chief Executive Officer, Infrastructure WA
New IWA Board Members
From early August, IWA farewelled 2 of our inaugural Board members, Terry Agnew and Kerryl Bradshaw, as their terms came to an end. IWA thank them both for their commitment and invaluable support over the past 5 years.
Filling these vacancies IWA are pleased to welcome John Galvin and Fiona Hick as members to the IWA Board for terms until 31 December 2026. We look forward to the valuable perspectives and expertise they will bring to the Board.
Additionally, the WA Government has made the re-appointments of:
- Ms Nicole Lockwood continuing as Chairperson until 30 June 2026
- Hon Jay Weatherill AO as Deputy Chairperson until 31 December 2027
- Ms Rebecca Tomkinson as a member until 30 June 2026.
Further details on these appointments are available within the Premier's media statement here.
State infrastructure strategy (Strategy)
Implementation Progress Report
The Department of the Premier and Cabinet is in the process of collecting state agency updates on implementation progress of the 2022 Strategy recommendations over 2023-24. This data will go on to inform IWA's 2024 Implementation Progress Report (IPR) which will be published in the last quarter of 2024.
Work is also being undertaken to improve the layout of the IPR from the December 2023 report, with the intent to shift to a more dynamic and navigable format.
IWA assigned recommendations
Internally, progress is being made on 2022 Strategy recommendations where IWA has been identified as lead or co-lead and endorsed by the WA Government Response.
Tasked with investigating the development of a digital-first infrastructure policy as identified at recommendation 2 of the 2022 Strategy, IWA have developed a policy scoping document which identifies 11 draft recommendations for the WA Government's consideration of the progression of a policy.
Under recommendation 14, IWA has developed and submitted advice to the Department of Treasury outlining interventions for possible action and capacity building activities, with an aim to improve business case quality and emphasise the importance of sustainability into the Strategic Asset Management Framework. As mentioned earlier, IWA is finalising subject guides to supplement the Major Infrastructure Proposal Assessment Guidelines with one focusing on the decarbonisation of infrastructure.
Next Strategy
The team has also turned their attention towards preparing for development of the next Strategy. To date, the IWA team has workshopped with the Board a change of approach in development of the Strategy. While the inaugural 2022 Strategy was intentionally broad in scope IWA are now working on identifying and prioritising focus areas for the next iteration. In addition to finalising the approach to the Strategy, over the coming months the team will be focusing on refreshing the 2022 Strategy vision and objectives and subsequently testing the direction and themes with its stakeholders.
Data Hub
IWA in collaboration with the Office of Digital Government (DGov) is creating a centralised data repository with the aim to provide a holistic view for current and projected infrastructure demands of the state, to facilitate improved long-term infrastructure planning, investment and delivery.
Phase 1 of the Data Hub project has been completed with the creation of an internal data repository with basic analytic and dashboard reporting functions going live internally for IWA and DGov in May.
Phase 2 will expend the current data platform and integrate advanced analytics and scenario modelling capabilities, with the goal to improve IWA's decision-making processes and strategic planning by leveraging data-driven insights and predictive modelling techniques to support its functions and outputs. This phase will also focus on strengthening internal IWA capability and capacity in this area, aligning with Recommendation 4 of the 2022 Strategy.
This initiative will be critical through the development of the next Strategy, formulating IWA advice for the State Infrastructure Program and assessing governments infrastructure proposals.
Should agencies have any questions on the Data Hub or would like to be involved the Corporate Initiatives team can be contacted at enquiries@infrastructure.wa.gov.au.
Strategic asset plans (SAPs)
Continuing to improve asset management and planning across the sector, IWA has completed 26 reviews of 2024-25 SAPs. We'd like to thank state agencies and government trading enterprises for their participation and provide our congratulations on another year of improvement. This year found the highest annual improvement in average score since IWA commenced provided SAP-review feedback 4 years ago.
For a second year in a row, we've found significant improvement on the section identified in the previous year as needing the greatest improvement, with this year being on demand forecasting. Improvements in this area make an important contribution to the evidence base IWA uses to develop long-term infrastructure advice.
While improvements have been found across the board, IWA would like to acknowledge Water Corporation's 2024-25 strategic asset plan. this year their plan produced the highest rankings of alignment against both:
- The Department of Treasury's Strategic Asset Management Framework SAP guidelines
- IWA's focus areas and functions, the WA Government Response and the State Infrastructure Program.
From now until September the IWA team, in collaboration with the Departments of Finance and Treasury, will be in touch with agencies to provide feedback on their SAP reviews.
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