This week the Victorian Government joins an alliance of infrastructure leaders working to better understand the relationship between community engagement and major project delivery through the Australian National University’s ground-breaking Next Generation Engagement Program.
The research program, believed to be the largest of its kind in the world, seeks to understand the relationship between communities and infrastructure projects, to identify and promote best practice and to improve community outcomes from major infrastructure delivery. It is based at the ANU Crawford School of Public Policy.
Research Director, Associate Professor Sara Bice, said:
“The Victorian Government, through its Major Transport Infrastructure Authority, is delivering one of the largest and most ambitious infrastructure programs in the Southern Hemisphere.
We’re delighted to be able to work with their leading practitioners to capture what they are learning about the planning and delivery of major infrastructure projects and to help better understand the benefits of best practice engagement, the true costs and drivers of social risk and the opportunities to create value in partnership with communities.”
The Major Transport Infrastructure Authority (MTIA) oversees Victoria’s major transport projects in planning and construction, including:
- Level Crossing Removal Project
- North East Link Project
- West Gate Tunnel Project
- Major Road Projects Victoria
- Rail Projects Victoria
MTIA will host ANU researchers and work with other industry partners to help shed light on how healthy community relationships can influence infrastructure delivery for the better.
The partners will also examine current hot topics in the sector. This includes generating advice for how to best create and maintain a pipeline of appropriately skilled engagement practitioners and how to structure contracts and procurement to achieve the best community outcomes.
Jo Weeks, MTIA’s Communications and Engagement Director, said:
“How we engage with our communities in all corners of the state is vital for the successful planning and delivery of Victoria’s Big Build. With 119 major road and rail projects underway, we look forward to learning from this best practice engagement research and contributing to its positive legacy.”
The MTIA joins partners including Melbourne Water, Transurban and the G20 Global Infrastructure Hub on projects including the Best Practice Characteristics Framework, Identifying the Precursors of Social Risk and on NextGen’s Flagship Research Project–the International Infrastructure and Engagement Case Centre.
Would you like to be part of the Next Gen community? Find out more about how to get your own organisation involved here