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Partnerships 2025

Partnerships is the most respected annual gathering of senior public and private sector leaders from across the Australian infrastructure market. This one-day event connects some of the nation’s leading business, policy and political decision makers with Infrastructure Partnerships Australia’s CEO level membership ensuring high quality debate through keynotes, panel sessions and an Industry Leaders’ Luncheon.

We are proud to host Australia’s leading infrastructure conference Partnerships.

We believe that genuine partnerships between policy makers and the leaders of the public and private sectors is critical to improving the governance, provision and procurement of infrastructure within Australia. Partnerships’ is an important forum to explore frameworks that will help increase the quality of Australia’s infrastructure.

About Partnerships

Partnerships is the most respected annual gathering of senior public and private sector leaders from across the Australian infrastructure market. The event connects some of the nation’s leading business, policy and political decision makers with Infrastructure Partnerships Australia’s CEO level membership ensuring high quality debate.

Each year the program is carefully constructed to provide guests with the opportunity to engage industry leaders, investors, key Ministers and bureaucrats from across the nation, as well as international guests.

Partnerships 2025 Panels

Our signature conference event Partnerships 2025 returned to Melbourne bringing its big ideas, debate and discussion about infrastructure and beyond. Watch each of the panel recordings on InfraFlix below.

Partnerships 2025 | Ministerial Address: The Hon. Gabrielle Williams MP
The Hon. Gabrielle Williams MP delivered the opening keynote at Partnerships 2025, highlighting Victoria’s transport agenda and the State’s major infrastructure priorities.

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Partnerships 2025 | Demographer Address: Simon Kuestenmacher
Simon Kuestenmacher, Co-founder and Director at The Demographics Group, provided an address at the Partnerships conference on the forecast impact of Australia’s demographics on the economy, workforce and infrastructure over the next decade.

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Partnerships 2025 | 20 Years of Reform
To coincide with Infrastructure Partnerships Australia’s twentieth birthday, this panel brought together senior leaders that have been central to major infrastructure policy and delivery decisions over the past two decades.

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Partnerships 2025 | Keynote Interview: Shemara Wikramanayake
At Partnerships 2025, Macquarie Group CEO Shemara Wikramanayake returned to the stage to share her thoughts on major trends and opportunities across local and global markets, including increasing investment through the energy transition and the growing digitisation of the AI age.

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Partnerships 2025 | Macquarie Capital Economic Update: Ric Deverell

At Partnerships 2025, Ric Deverell, Chief Economist and Head of Macro Strategy, Macquarie Group, delivered an update on global market trends and the current state of the global economy.

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Partnerships 2025 | Delivering More with Private Investment in Public Infrastructure
This panel explored the role of private investment in public infrastructure and service delivery, including how partnerships are evolving to manage risk and meet policy objectives.

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Partnerships 2025 | Energy: from Ideas to Electrons
With the energy transition now well underway and pressing emissions reduction targets driving government action, this panel focused on what needs to happen next and examined the practical steps required to accelerate delivery. The panel explored perspectives from transmission, generation, policy, and delivery to assess where the network is delivering progress or being held back.

Watch Now

Partnerships 2025 | Keynote Interview: Greg Boorer
This keynote interview with one of the industry’s pioneers pioneers – CDC Founder and CEO, Greg Boorer – unpacked Australia’s potential to capitalise on the unprecedented opportunities from data centres.

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Agenda

CEO’s Welcome and Introduction

Adrian Dwyer

Chief Executive Officer | Infrastructure Partnerships Australia

Welcome to Country

Annette Xiberras

Wurundjeri Elder

Ministerial Address

The Hon. Gabrielle Williams MP

Minister for Transport Infrastructure, Minister for Public and Active Transport, Victoria

Demographer Address

Infrastructure for Tomorrow: Planning for Australia’s Demographic Shift

Australia’s population is growing, ageing, and shifting in many more ways that will transform demand for housing, transport, energy, and health infrastructure. Migration will remain vital, but skills shortages will persist. Sponge cities will absorb growth, while technology reshapes service delivery. In his presentation, Simon Kuestenmacher shows how demographic change will define the next decade and why smart, forward-looking infrastructure is the key to turning these pressures into opportunities.

Simon Kuestenmacher

The Demographics Group

20 Years of Reform

To coincide with Infrastructure Partnerships Australia’s twentieth birthday, this panel brings together senior leaders that have been central to major infrastructure policy and delivery decisions over the past two decades. The panel will discuss the major reforms that have shaped the sector – what worked, what didn’t, and what’s changed. Importantly, the panel will also consider what needs to happen over the next twenty years to meet Australia’s infrastructure demands.

The Hon. Mark Birrell AM

Patron | Infrastructure Partnerships Australia
Tim Reardon

Chief Commissioner | Infrastructure Australia
Michelle Jablko

Chief Executive Officer | Transurban
Moderator

Adrian Dwyer

Chief Executive Officer | Infrastructure Partnerships Australia

Keynote Interview

Shemara Wikramanayake

Managing Director and Chief Executive Officer | Macquarie Group
Moderator

Adrian Dwyer

Chief Executive Officer | Infrastructure Partnerships Australia

Geopolitics and Australia’s Strategic Future

This panel aims to dissect how global geopolitical shifts are impacting Australia’s strategic and economic interests. Discussions will cover the implications of evolving international power structures, economic trends and security challenges.

Nina Davidson

Deputy Director-General, Intelligence | Office of National Intelligence
Peter Horn

Acting Deputy CEO | Austrade
Dr Merriden Varrall

Partner, Geopolitics Australia Lead | KPMG
Moderator

Jo Spillane

Executive Director and Global Head of Private Capital Markets | Macquarie Capital

Macquarie Capital Economic Update

Ric Deverell

Chief Economist and Head of Macro Strategy | Macquarie Group

Delivering More with Private Investment in Public Infrastructure

This panel will explore the role of private investment in public infrastructure and service delivery, including how partnerships are evolving to manage risk and meet policy objectives. The panel will also look at how governments can make best use of private balance sheets in a fiscally constrained environment.

Nancy Tchou

Managing Director | Mizuho | Greenhill
Paul Crowe

Chief Executive Officer | Plenary Group
Dan Marshall

Principal | The Infrastructure Advisory
Lorie Argus

Chief Executive Officer | Melbourne Airport
Moderator

Andrew Griffiths

Partner | Herbert Smith Freehills Kramer

Energy: from Ideas to Electrons

With the energy transition now well underway and pressing emissions reduction targets driving government action, this panel focuses on what needs to happen next and examine the practical steps required to accelerate delivery. The panel will bring perspectives from transmission, generation, policy, and delivery to assess where the network is delivering progress or being held back.

Brett Redman

Chief Executive Officer | Transgrid
Alistair Parker

Chief Executive Officer | VicGrid, Department of Energy, Environment and Climate Action
Colette Munro

Zone President, Pacific | Schneider Electric
Bede Noonan

Chief Executive Officer | ACCIONA
Moderator

David Simpson

Chief Executive Infrastructure | The APP Group

Keynote Interview

Greg Boorer

Founder and Chief Executive Officer | CDC
Moderator

Adrian Dwyer

Chief Executive Officer | Infrastructure Partnerships Australia

Conference Magazine 2025

Watch Partnerships 2025 Sponsor Interviews

In the lead up to Partnerships 2025, we interviewed industry leaders about what the biggest challenges and opportunities are for their business in the coming year.