The NSW Innovation and Productivity Council (IPC) has no appointed board members, with the Minns authorities reviewing the physique’s future construction and position. This revelation follows the federal government saying a “pause” in appointing new members back in January.
Under questioning throughout a parliamentary committee listening to on Thursday, Minister for Innovation, Science and Technology Anoulack Chanthivong confirmed the legislated advisory physique has no appointed members nowadays.
“Well, at the moment, no board members have been appointed because there’s no need for that to be appointed,” he advised the committee.
“At the moment the government is taking this review on how best to engage with the IPC. There is no… operational purpose of the members of the IPC when the government is reviewing how best to actually improve its engagement.”
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The IPC is established underneath the Innovation and Productivity Council Act 1996 as a statutory physique representing the Crown.
Under part 6 of the Act, the Council “is to consist of no fewer than 10, and no more than 16, members appointed by the Governor”.
The Act units out a spread of advisory features, together with offering “an ongoing source of intelligence, information, comment and analysis”, advising on innovation packages and funding, and facilitating communication between authorities, trade and the analysis group. It additionally requires the Council to satisfy with the Minister at the least every year.
Shadow Minister for Science and Technology Jacqui Munro famous throughout the listening to that the IPC has existed for many years and has beforehand supplied formal recommendation relied upon by authorities companies, together with Investment NSW.
In late January the NSW authorities mentioned it had paused the appointment of recent IPC members whereas launching a session on the way it engages with the state’s innovation ecosystem.
At the time, Investment NSW mentioned the assessment would study “the current structures and mechanisms that inform policy development” for the Minister and the company, however supplied restricted element on what had prompted the method or whether or not structural change was into account.
There was additionally no point out of present board member numbers on the time.
The IPC has traditionally produced a biennial Innovation and Productivity Scorecard, which benchmarks the state’s efficiency throughout a spread of financial and innovation indicators and has been referenced in authorities technique paperwork.
During the listening to, Munro requested when the 2026 Innovation and Productivity Scorecard might be anticipated.
In response, Chanthivong linked the timing of the scorecard to the end result of the assessment.
“Once that review is complete, [we] will determine how best to utilise the resources, the skills and the expertise of the IPC to develop these and other metrics that will help inform the government on how best to continue to grow the sector,” he mentioned.
Despite questioning, Chanthivong didn’t define a timeline for the completion of the assessment, nor did he present particular element on when its findings can be made public ,or how advisory features would function whereas the council has no appointed members.
“We’re working on this at the moment,” he mentioned, including that there was “no need to rush this” and that the federal government wished to “get this right”.