Exits rock Infrastructure Australia; NAB calls in external advisers for work culture investigation

Infrastructure Australia has been hit by a string of high profile resignations.

The spectacular exodus from Infrastructure Australia, the commonwealth’s chief independent adviser on the matter, continues unabated ahead of the Albanese government’s promised review of the widely ignored body.

Romilly Madew, Infrastructure Australia’s chief executive for just over three years, left last week, taking a position with Engineers Australia.

Now, its chief of policy and research, Peter Colacino, has exited and will become a partner at Avista Strategy. Rory Butler, sustainability and resilience leader, is also going to Avista, as is Ben van Deventer, who runs Infrastructure Australia’s market capacity program, Dave Tang, who ran digital transformation – and at least two others.

Infrastructure Australia’s former CEO Romilly Madew. Picture: Britta Campion / The Australian

In a somewhat tasteless farewell email, Colacino spruiked his new employer’s expertise in infrastructure strategy, noting it was “also a new home from (sic) a number of Infrastructure Australia team members committed to translating the vision of Infrastructure Australia into outcomes for governments and industry”.

Avista is not the only new home for departing Infrastructure Australia officials. Jonathan Cartledge, the director of policy and research, is also leaving to take up a new role as the chief executive of Consult Australia.

Infrastructure Minister Catherine King, meanwhile, on July 22 appointed Nicole Lockwood, the chairwoman of Infrastructure Western Australia, and Mike Mrdak, the former secretary of the Infrastructure Department, to lead the review into the organisation.

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State of origin

The NSW government’s attempt to restart the state’s international trade program is in ruins after the proposed appointment of ex-deputy premier John Barilaro to the New York post spectacularly backfired – this week ending in the ejection of Stuart Ayres from the Perrottet cabinet.

The trade posts have been more trouble than they’re worth for previous governments, most notably after an expenses scandal forced the then premier John Fahey to recall the state’s man in London, another ex-Liberal MP Neil Pickard.

Labor leader Chris Minns has pledged to abolish the posts – all six of them, not only London and New York – if he wins government come the March election.

Illustration: Rod Clement.

Does it say something about the intelligence of the current lot of appointees that the incumbent NSW Agent-General in London decided that the midst of a debate over whether the whole program was a waste of money would be a perfect moment to broadcast his support for, er, Victoria.

Stephen Cartwright, who also represents NSW trade interests in the European Union and Israel, took to LinkedIn to tell friends he was “enjoying a celebration dinner with the Governor of Victoria, Her Excellency The Honorable Linda Dessau AC, and a cohort of more than 200 proud Victorians”. The knees-up was held to celebrate the Commonwealth Games being held in Victoria in 2026. “At the end of the day, regardless of which state we hail from, when it comes to international sport we are all proud Australians,” Cartwright wrote.

His qualifications for this position, meanwhile? Cartwright was the director of management consultancy Precision and chief executive of Business Australia.

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NAB investigation

National Australia Bank has pulled in a team of external investigations to sift through the work culture of its markets team after the bank was plunged into scandal amid allegations of bullying and harassment.

But the bank has not drawn on its usual external legal team, Herbert Smith Freehills, to run the process. Freehills is caught up running the bank’s defence against its former head of repo trading Dikele Diawara.

Diawara has told the Federal Court that she was bullied at the bank, alleging the markets team had a “boys club culture” tolerated by senior management and that head of trading Tim McCaughey approached her “clubbing” a baseball bat.

NAB, in its defence, disputes this and says the bat was actually a “souvenir” toy.

Nevertheless, investigators are running rounds of interviews and have called on as many as 40 staff to speak up, but not out.

This column understands not everyone who’s been asked to talk has taken up the offer.

Some staff in the team have noted questioning appears focused on Ms Diawara’s allegations and has been used to bolster the bank’s defence.

Court filings show NAB staff have rejected her allegations she aired her concerns about the work culture, noting “none of the attendees who are currently employed by the Respondent recollect those matters”.

The bank has dropped its investigation into a complaint lobbed at the bank on the same day Ms Diawara filed her allegations by an outgoing member of the markets team.

The email from the anonymous team member is understood to have supported Diawara’s allegations and claimed the bank was failing to address poor behaviour within the markets team.

The staffer was initially approached by KPMG, which runs NAB’s whistleblower hotline, but has received no contact from NAB since.

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PwC promotions

Plenty of staff movement at PwC, meanwhile, with the consulting and audit major handing out several promotions to round off the week.

Kristin Stubbins, the former leaders of the audit business, will move to run its assurance team. That means Liz O’Brien, a partner since 2012, will head the audit business. There’s also a new managing partner for markets in Melbourne, Suji Kanagalingam.

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Neilson departure

This week, former Paul Keating advisor Mark Ryan finally departed the Judith NeilsonInstitute for Journalism and Ideas. The lengthy exit was down to the lawyers negotiating the terms of his separation from the embattled organisation founded by the philanthropist.

The car crash that preceded Ryan’s departure has played out in public, with an internal spat leading to the resignation of independent directors including ex-NSW Supreme Court judge Jim Spigelman and this newspaper’s editor-at-large, Paul Kelly, among others.

Philanthropist Judith Neilson.

But the latest bust-up is not the first time one of Judith Neilson’s projects has sunk without a trace. In 2018, disgruntled former friends have reminded this column, Neilson set up and funded 11twice, “a boutique, in-house digital/marketing and event agency servicing the business, private and philanthropic interests of Mrs. Judith Neilson, AM”.

“11twice brings a complete range of expert services including: Strategic marketing, Public relations, Digital marketing, Social Media, Event management and Partnership management,” the marketing material read.

Three people were hired and $4.2m sunk on a warehouse on O’Connor St in Chippendale.

But the whole thing has gone very quiet after the strategy to promote Neilson’s projects was developed. Staff have been let go and digital marketing outsourced.