Ten years ago, Infrastructure Victoria was launched with a mandate to do something bold: provide expert, independent infrastructure advice to government, free from ministerial direction.
A decade since its launch, Infrastructure Victoria’s model is not just surviving but maturing into one of the state’s most influential public bodies.
Infrastructure Victoria was born of bipartisan reform in 2015 under the Infrastructure Victoria Act, designed to promote long-term, evidence-based thinking in an area often shaped by short-term political pressures.
With its third 30-year strategy soon to be tabled in Parliament, Chief Executive Officer Dr Jonathan Spear says that independence remains the bedrock of its success.
“We created a model that was unambiguously independent through the legislation and the culture and operation of the organisation,” he says.
“But also, very clearly collaborative with government and other stakeholders. That has been a hallmark throughout.”
The body is best known for its statewide infrastructure strategies, published every three to five years and tabled in Parliament to inform all parties. However, it also provides advice to government on specific matters, sometimes confidentially, and produces research designed to shape future infrastructure policy.
Image: Infrastructure Victoria
A decade of impact
Since 2015, Infrastructure Victoria has released two long-term strategies. The third will be tabled in Parliament this month. It has also offered influential guidance on topics including decarbonising infrastructure, urban density, school infrastructure, bus reform, and adapting to climate change. Spear says the track record speaks for itself.
“We’ve got a really good hit rate of government accepting and implementing our recommendations,” he says.
“It’s between 80 and 90 per cent. That’s partly because of what we recommend, but also because we work collaboratively with other stakeholders and government to help push in the right direction.”
Part of that success lies in the model’s ability to balance long-term thinking with short-term practicality. Spear says the organisation has become increasingly focused on advice that is both ambitious and implementable.
“It’s giving practical and pragmatic advice about what the government can do in the short to medium term that’ll set us up really well for the long term,” he says.
That approach is evident in the upcoming 2025–2055 strategy. While the final document remains under wraps until tabled, the draft outlines 43 priority recommendations with a cost of $60–75 billion over 10 years and benefits exceeding $155 billion. The focus, Spear says, is not on big-ticket items alone.
“More than half [of the recommendations] are actually about better maintenance, better pricing, policy change, better planning – so we get the best out of the government’s Big Build investments made over the past decade,” he says.
When large-scale capital spending is recommended, such as social housing, schools, or public transport upgrades, Infrastructure Victoria pushes for a staged, long-term approach.
“It gives the community some certainty that there’s a program that’s going to deliver infrastructure when and where we need it,” says Spear.
“It also helps drive productivity improvements and reduce costs when you plan delivery over time.”
Research with reach
Over the past years, Infrastructure Victoria has released a suite of high-impact reports, including its award-winning Choosing Victoria’s future, which modelled five scenarios for urban growth.
The evidence pointed clearly to the benefits of more compact cities: better economic and environmental outcomes, stronger public transport access, and lower infrastructure costs.
The research estimated Victorians could be $43 billion better off by 2056 under a more compact model, compared to a dispersed growth scenario.
Another standout was Fast, frequent, fair: how buses can better connect Melbourne, which recommended ten actions to improve the city’s underused bus network. These included increasing service frequency, expanding hours, improving interchange design, and planning for bus rapid transit corridors. The report received widespread media coverage and industry interest.
Other major work includes advice on reducing infrastructure-related emissions, adaptation planning for climate resilience, and boosting housing supply through better land use integration. Taken together, Infrastructure Victoria’s research program has become a champion of policy-ready ideas across sectors.
“Our advice includes practical, step-by-step actions Victoria can take to reduce emissions, adapt to climate risks, and better use what we’ve already built,” Spear says.
Driving change
For an organisation that does not build or fund infrastructure, influence is everything. Infrastructure Victoria has built credibility through robust analysis, bipartisan engagement, and what Spear sees as “persistence”.
“It takes a lot of time. We’re able to build the evidence base and our thinking, and government’s thinking, over the past 10 years,” he says.
That longevity has been underpinned by exceptional continuity in leadership. Outgoing Chair Jim Miller has been with Infrastructure Victoria since its inception, and both Spear and Director of People and Culture, Victoria Thaine, have been with the organisation since its beginning.
“Continuity has let us go from a real start-up to a mature organisation with a strong culture,” Spear says.
“We consistently have one of the highest ratings of employee engagement in the Victorian public sector.”
In May 2024, Infrastructure Victoria scored a 97 per cent satisfaction rate in the People Matter survey, outperforming all benchmarks.
“That’s partly because of the clarity of purpose and mission that we have. It attracts a fantastic, diverse team,” says Spear.
The new website, launched in early 2024, reflects this maturity. Designed for accessibility and plain-language presentation, it has dramatically increased engagement with the organisation’s library of more than 180 reports.
Building social licence
One of the more provocative ideas in the draft strategy is reducing speed limits to 30 kilometres per hour in local streets where children are present – a move backed by road safety data but politically sensitive.
Infrastructure Victoria helped build support for reform and the state government has already made changes to its speed laws.
“We can help with the evidence base, with community sentiment, and with sharing stories about how these changes can improve the quality of life for Victorians,” Spear says.
“We’re not advocates, but we provide a platform for more informed debate.”
That ethos applies across its work. Infrastructure Victoria is not a campaigning body, but it does aim to shape the infrastructure conversation.
The final version of the 2025–2055 strategy will be tabled in Parliament this month, following community and stakeholder consultation. It will, for the first time, include a goal to achieve self-determination and equity for Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islanders.
Beyond the strategy, the advisory body’s role continues to evolve. With infrastructure investment facing tighter budgets and rising demands, the value of independent, long-range planning is only growing.
Spear remains confident the model will endure.
“It allows us to challenge thinking, consider new ideas, and help build consensus on what matters,” he says. “It’s a model that works – and it’s working for Victoria.”
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