View from the top: Romilly Madew

The CEO of Infrastructure Australia grapples with everything from the digital divide to climate change in her aim to futureproof Australia. By Kirsten Galliott

How do you define good leadership?

You have a vision and you take your team, board and stakeholders with you to achieve that vision. You create it in a collaborative way. The whole team should create the strategy so they feel they’re part of the journey.

Which leaders do you really admire?

Sue Lloyd [Susan Lloyd-Hurwitz, CEO of Mirvac] was very clear what she wanted for Mirvac and articulated it quickly – she wanted to be a leader in sustainability, she wanted a diverse organisation and she wanted to be flexible – but she knew it would take time so she didn’t rush it… Di SmithGander [chair of Zip Co and non-executive director of AGL and HCF] is another one. She’s not afraid. She asks for forgiveness, not permission. A lot of women don’t throw ladders out any more – they throw nets and take everyone with them.

As the CEO of Infrastructure Australia, you’ve overseen a priority list for 2021 that includes 44 new proposals and represents $59 billion in investment. What are the major opportunities for Australia right now?

A year ago – when we were coming off the back of the bushfires and there’d been drought before that – we had high population growth and congestion pressure on our CBDs. We were talking about resilience and resilient infrastructure, especially around water and telecommunications. Now we’re in a unique time – business as usual doesn’t exist anymore – so what’s important? The first thing is technology and making sure we don’t have a digital divide. What happened with COVID-19 is that we all moved to local [areas]. We expected our children to have [digital] access and they didn’t all have it, especially in rural, regional and remote Australia. So while the kids in the city could get online really quickly, this digital

divide was being created. There are also still areas in rural and regional Australia that are impacted by the drought so we need to consistently think long-term about our water strategy. It’s around things like desalination and recycling; it’s taking a broad approach because not one size fits all. The other one that’s been really interesting with COVID-19 is the uptake of telehealth – it was eye-watering. All these trends were bubbling away in infrastructure but then they just took off and a five- to 10-year trajectory became an eight-month one.

What do you think the future of Australian cities is?

It’s exciting if we’re prepared to be open-minded about pivoting what our cities should look like. People want a “green” [parks] and “blue” [water] infrastructure. They’re desperate for parks and space. Our cities will start growing again but we need to ensure we protect [green spaces]. The number of people visiting national parks grew by something like 30 per cent. The other statistic that was interesting during the pandemic was people’s use of active transport. We saw all these wonderful pop-up cycling lanes happening, for example. Compared to other countries, we could do better in Australia when it comes to active transport.

Ultimately, has COVID-19 been a boom for infrastructure or is that too simplistic?

I think the pandemic has made us shift our thinking about infrastructure. Before, if anyone talked about infrastructure, it’d be about congestion and transport. They wouldn’t think about social infrastructure or other forms, like technology, water, healthcare and waste.

Since the pandemic, have government and business been able to collaborate like never before?

No, government and government have been able to collaborate like never before. I think we can do better with industry and government but across government, everyone was doing their own thing. Now Infrastructure NSW has created a forum, which IA runs, and it has senior officials from all state and federal governments, including from Treasury, Transport and Infrastructure, plus New Zealand. These calls can involve 50 to 60 people and are all about sharing information.

IA has many stakeholders, from the federal government to state bodies. How do you manage that many voices and opinions?

At IA, the pivot we’ve made is to acknowledge that we are the independent adviser to government but we can’t do it alone. We’re better for our collaboration. The biggest thing for us is communication – and working out what the best forms of it are. We’re all busy and many executives don’t have time to read so how do we get information out there? We went back to first principles and just picked up the phone and embraced Zoom; last year we were able to engage like never before. We share everything now – we’re an open book and transparent.

“Our role is to be independent. If there weren’t challenging conversations then we’d probably say that we weren’t doing our job.”

In the past, one of the great challenges of IA was that you’d put recommendations forward to the government only to have them ignored. Have you seen that shift?

Yes, in the federal budget last year we were allocated additional funding. It was the government’s way of saying, “We believe in Infrastructure Australia’s role and in its ability to collaborate and gather information and package it up for us to consider.” We reviewed the business case of [upgrading] Commonwealth Avenue Bridge [in Canberra] last year and put it on our priority list. In January, the government announced that it was funding it [at a cost of $137 million]. It’s really about making sure that we’ve got the latest information and that it’s evidence-based so when the government says, “We want to know what IA think,” we have the information.

And what happens when the areas of focus don’t align? How do you ensure that you’re heard?

There have been cases where a state government didn’t like a proposal that we’ve put up because it came from an industry group or the community. But our role is to ask, “Do we believe there’s a problem or there’s an opportunity in that [the proposal] is nationally significant?” We are like Switzerland – we put it in our pipeline and draw attention to it for the government to consider. We say, “We believe, as IA, that there’s an infrastructure deficit here that’s worth looking at.” We don’t always get it right – we’re never going to always get it right – but our role is to be independent. If there weren’t challenging conversations then we’d probably say that we weren’t doing our job.

Are you good at challenging conversations?

I feel like we are. We’re not afraid to say what we believe needs to be said. But we do it respectfully and pragmatically. For example, we believe that overcrowding in remote areas in northern Australia is a huge problem. We’re not afraid to call out issues that we believe governments should be focusing on.

You joined IA after 13 years as CEO of the Green Building Council. How did you manage the transition from an organisation with quite a narrow focus to one with a much broader remit?

Operationally, the two were very similar – similar staffing size, same-size boards – so I felt a comfort level there. As for the work, IA had just released the 2019 Infrastructure Priority List, we were in the throes of finalising the 2019 Australian Infrastructure Audit at 642 pages and then we had a separate addendum. I had this masterclass in infrastructure and three months later, I was doing doorstops on the audit across all areas of infrastructure. I spent three months engaging the stakeholders and I appreciated their intel. I read ferociously. Everyone goes, “Why do you catch the bus to work?” Because it gives me an hour of reading time! I was also prepared to admit when I didn’t know something. A leader should have a great team with people more brilliant than they are. My job is to corral them and learn from them.

This is a very public role and infrastructure can be contentious. How do you deal with the criticism?

Remember, I was at the Green Building Council and before that at the Property Council so I’ve had 18 years in property [laughs]. I’m a surf lifesaver, too, which has its own culture. It’s a terrible expression but I say to my staff to do a Taylor Swift and shake the criticism off. That’s the only way I can describe it. It’s politics and it happens – and it’s happened in this role. I ask myself, “Is it a fair criticism we need to think about and respond to?” These projects are worth billions of dollars and they’re going to be contentious. We’re not going to throw grenades in; we’ll work quietly behind the scenes.

You’ve said that you have a burning desire to make a difference. Why?

All the committees I sit on, like lifesaving [at NSW’s Bilgola Surf Life Saving Club] and Currawong State Park [Advisory Board, of which she is chair], are all about change and transformation. I think I had a great upbringing and it’s

“I’m a freaky timekeeper. I manage my life to within an inch of itself.

I still have a Filofax. I’m good at prioritising and everything is written down – everything has its space in my diary. But I put my family first.”

my duty to give back either through my work or community service. I didn’t realise that IA was going to give me such a great platform. I knew it’d be interesting but, gee, the work IA is doing...

Sustainability is another passion of yours. Where does that fit in at IA?

I came into the role thinking, “I’m going to have to think about my position here on sustainability.” Then I arrived and we were in the middle of the drought and then we had the bushfires and then I was appointed to the Expert Advisory Panel for the CSIRO Report on Climate and Disaster Resilience by the prime minister last year… I hope that IA can take the [infrastructure] sector on a journey. We’re looking at how we can work with the jurisdictions in thinking about climate change and resilience in business-case preparation.

What do you consider your greatest strength as a leader?

I’m able to bring teams together. I don’t say that “I do it”, I say, “We do it.” I’m very ambitious for my team – I want to find the best in people and I’m good at bringing teams together to create outcomes.

And what would you say is your biggest gap as a leader?

Probably taking on too much. Having Julieanne [Alroe] as chair has been a gift. She sits on my shoulder and says, “Why don’t we just slow that one down?” I’m an enthusiastic person and I want to do it all now. I’ve learnt that I have to take people on the journey with me and not rush. She’s been really good at making sure I’m more measured.

Do you have one habit that helps how you work?

I’m a freaky timekeeper. I manage my life to within an inch of itself. I still have a Filofax. I’m a great time manager. I’m good at prioritising and everything is written down – everything has its space in my diary. But I put my family first. When my father died last year, my sisters [Nicola Wakefield Evans and Philippa Dalco] and I parked ourselves in the hospital for a week and no-one realised I was doing conference calls in Dad’s room.

Exercise is hugely important to you. How does it help you to deal with your working life?

Exercise gives me thinking time, whether I’m running or on the erg [rowing machine]. It decompresses me and I can think about what the challenges are.

What advice would you give to a brand-new CEO?

You can have it all but you can’t have it all at once. Ask for help; don’t suffer in silence. I’ve seen CEOs get into a role and then trip themselves up consistently because they’re too proud to ask for help. Make sure work is not your life – I’m a better CEO for all the other things I do. And don’t be arrogant – embrace your team. Have a great team around you and you’ll all shine together.