The chief executive of the Albanese government’s national reconstruction fund says his $15 billion pot will give super funds, private equity and banks the comfort to invest into so-called ‘nation-building’ ventures that are usually too small to bother massive private capital players.

In a bid to shore up co-investments from institutional investors in areas such as medical science and manufacturing, Ivan Power has used some of his first eight weeks in the job meeting various institutional investors, including the Queensland sovereign fund manager QIC.