New government agency set to maximise economic benefits and jobs growth across NSW

Senior New South Wales public servant Amy Brown will lead a new government agency tasked with driving local and global investment for the state.

Investment NSW officially commenced operations on Monday, with the “mission” of enhancing the state’s global position as a safe place to do business, attracting investment capital, and creating jobs, according to Premier Gladys Berejiklian.

“It will act as a concierge for businesses and investors to help them navigate the many options available for partnering with the NSW government, whether that’s payroll exemptions, co-funding great ideas, providing connections to global export markets and more,” Berejiklian said in a statement on Monday.

“Investment NSW is a one-stop-shop for the private sector — attracting and growing Australian and global companies, overseas capital, talent, tourists and students.”

Brown, who was previously a deputy secretary at the Department of Premier and Cabinet, said the agency would drive all trade and investment attraction activities to maximise economic benefits and jobs growth across NSW.

“From day one we will be reaching out to key industry partners and investors — both domestic and international — to start work on their top priorities for government to partner through the COVID recovery,” she said.

Several groups from the NSW government have been consolidated into the Premier and Cabinet cluster through Investment NSW, including:

• the Jobs, Investment and Tourism group from NSW Treasury, including Jobs Plus, the 24-hour economy commissioner and startup hubs;
• the Trade Group from NSW Treasury, including its global network of offices;
• Destination NSW;
• The Office of the Chief Scientist from the Department of Planning, Industry & Environment — which is set to become ‘Research and Development NSW’;
• the Waratah Research Network from the Department of Education; and
• the Commercial Branch and Economics Branch from DPC.

Investment NSW will be jointly responsible to Berejiklian, deputy premier and regional NSW minister John Barilaro, and job minister Stuart Ayres.

This article was first published by The Mandarin.