New Canada Council Member from John Laing

We are pleased to welcome on board David Beaton, Director, John Laing, as a Australia Council Member:

We asked David a few questions to get to know him a bit better:

• If you could personally change or influence one thing within infrastructure and/or energy, what would it be?

Australia is in the middle of an energy transition and a huge amount of investment is required to develop new generation & transmission projects in Australia. In a period where governments are more budget constrained, I would like to see how the private sector could help fund these required works and I think this can be achieved through more innovative finance solutions and encouraging a more a more cohesive and stable energy policy throughout Australia.

• Knowing what you know now, what advice would you give to yourself at the start of your career?

Understand that senior people around you will be keen to help you develop and you shouldn’t be afraid to ask questions. Also understand that over time, hard work and high quality work will be recognized and rewarded.

• What do you hope to bring to the Australia Council?

I hope to bring my 10+ years of experience as an equity investor where I‘ve had leading roles across a full spectrum of activities including developing, bidding, buying, managing and selling infrastructure (mainly PPPs) and energy assets. While based in Australia, I have also worked on NZ and European projects so have a good understanding of what has worked well in other regions.