The Department of Finance has provided options for agencies that have been affected by COVID-19 to defer the production of their Corporate Plans and Annual Reports so that they can focus on prioritising resources towards the Government’s response to COVID-19. There is an option to defer delivery of the Corporate Plan to 31 January 2021.

The Department of Finance has advised that accountable authorities and directors who choose to defer the publication of their Corporate Plan up to 31 January 2021 will need to explain why they were unable to meet the normal deadline in their 2020-21 Corporate Plan. They will also need to publish a note on their websites by 31 August 2020, advising that the plan has been deferred and the reasons for the deferral.

As a small agency of around 30 people, Infrastructure Australia has been substantially affected by COVID-19. Substantial resources have been directed towards new work providing advice to government on a potential infrastructure response to the pandemic. At the same time, considerable effort has been directed to ensuring the organisation continues to deliver on its statutory responsibilities whilst staff are working from home. This has included improving staff access to appropriate IT systems to work from home, ensuring staff have a safe workplace at home, ensuring that staff are psychologically supported during the pandemic, investing in internal communications and developing a safe return to the office strategy.

The Infrastructure Australia Corporate Plan will be published by 30 September 2020.

More information on the deferral is available at the Department of Finance website.