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IGCC and our members have been making this case for reform of Australia’s Specialist Investment Vehicles (SIVs) directly to government over the last few months and today, with Mandala Partners, we are releasing Optimising Australia’s Specialist Investment Vehicles for the Net Zero Journey.
The research provides an analysis of the SIVs, which collectively manage over $60 billion in public funds. They include the Clean Energy Finance Corporation, the National Reconstruction Fund, Northern Australia Infrastructure Facility.
It shows that while Australia has significant public investment capacity, the system governing these vehicles was designed for a slower, more stable era — not for the pace, scale and global competition defining today’s clean-industry transition.
The Specialist Investment Vehicles have more than $30 billion yet to be deployed and, as the new report points out, it’s crucial that Australia gets maximum value from those public funds.
As IGCC CEO Rebecca Mikula-Wright notes:
“With the right reforms, that $30 billion could unlock more than $100 billion in private investment to build clean-industry jobs and resilient infrastructure. Public capital should crowd in private investment, not compete with it.”
The Australian Financial Review covered the story today, reporting that some reform is already underway and indicating that IGCC and our members’ advocacy is already having an impact.
Why this matters
Australia is now in a global race for clean-industry investment. Other economies — from the US to the EU to South Korea — are deploying public capital strategically to accelerate industrial transformation, reduce risk and crowd in private finance.
By contrast, Australia’s SIVs were designed for past national priorities. As well, many target near-commercial returns, which push them into the same investment opportunities as private capital. Some operate with overlapping mandates while others leave gaps in early-stage innovation. Siloed operations slow project development and create friction for counterparts navigating multiple agencies.
As a result, Australia has a large pool of public capital that is not being deployed quickly or strategically enough to meet national net zero, climate resilience or industrial policy goals. This slows project pipelines and increases macro-economic risk for long-term investors.
What it means for investors
For universal owners and long term investors, reform of the SIVs could deliver significant benefits.
Reforming Australia’s public capital system would expand the nation’s pipeline of investable decarbonisation and resilience projects, streamline processes, improve risk-sharing between public and private capital, and better align investment with national climate and industry goals — ultimately enabling significantly more private capital to be crowded in.
At a systemic level reform could strengthen national competitiveness and reduce systemic climate risk.
The report reinforces a consistent message from IGCC: Australia does not need more buckets for public funds — it needs the capital we’ve got deployed more strategically to support long-term returns and protect the economic systems underpinning member portfolios.
Key insights
- More than $30bn in public capital remains undeployed.
- Return expectations are often near-commercial, limiting catalytic impact.
- Mandates overlap while key early innovation stages are underserved.
- Capability constraints, especially for complex transactions, slow deployment.
- Differing processes across vehicles create friction for project proponents and investors.
Recommendations
The report sets out a phased roadmap for reform.
Near-term operational improvements
- Stronger coordination through the Investor Council and Treasury’s Investor Front Door
- More transparent, streamlined engagement for applicants
- Strengthened capability across agencies
Medium-term structural reform
- An independent national coordinating body
- A single application gateway for all proponents
- Clearer specialisation of SIVs across the capital stack, with revised return expectations
Long-term transformation
- A unified “Australia Fund” consolidating public investment programs into coordinated portfolios aligned with net zero and Future Made in Australia priorities
IGCC’s long-standing involvement
This work builds on years of IGCC advocacy on strengthening Australia’s public-capital architecture, including:
These efforts have already helped shape emerging momentum. Signals that Minister Tim Ayers may revisit the National Reconstruction Fund Corporation’s return expectations — and the proposal to allocate $5 billion to industrial decarbonisation using more flexible settings — reflect the direction of reform IGCC members have long called for.
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