The NSW Innovation and Productivity Council (IPC) has no appointed board members, with the Minns government reviewing the body’s future structure and role. This revelation follows the government announcing a “pause” in appointing new members back in January.
Under questioning during a parliamentary committee hearing on Thursday, Minister for Innovation, Science and Technology Anoulack Chanthivong confirmed the legislated advisory body has no appointed members at the present time.
“Well, at the moment, no board members have been appointed because there’s no need for that to be appointed,” he told the committee.
“At the moment the government is taking this review on how best to engage with the IPC. There is no… operational purpose of the members of the IPC when the government is reviewing how best to actually improve its engagement.”
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The IPC is established under the Innovation and Productivity Council Act 1996 as a statutory body representing the Crown.
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Under section 6 of the Act, the Council “is to consist of no fewer than 10, and no more than 16, members appointed by the Governor”.
The Act sets out a range of advisory functions, including providing “an ongoing source of intelligence, information, comment and analysis”, advising on innovation programs and funding, and facilitating communication between government, industry and the research community. It also requires the Council to meet with the Minister at least once a year.
Shadow Minister for Science and Technology Jacqui Munro noted during the hearing that the IPC has existed for decades and has previously provided formal advice relied upon by government agencies, including Investment NSW.
In late January the NSW government said it had paused the appointment of new IPC members while launching a consultation on how it engages with the state’s innovation ecosystem.
At the time, Investment NSW said the review would examine “the current structures and mechanisms that inform policy development” for the Minister and the agency, but provided limited detail on what had prompted the process or whether structural change was under consideration.
There was also no mention of current board member numbers at the time.
The IPC has historically produced a biennial Innovation and Productivity Scorecard, which benchmarks the state’s performance across a range of economic and innovation indicators and has been referenced in government strategy documents.
During the hearing, Munro asked when the 2026 Innovation and Productivity Scorecard could be expected.
In response, Chanthivong linked the timing of the scorecard to the outcome of the review.
“Once that review is complete, [we] will determine how best to utilise the resources, the skills and the expertise of the IPC to develop these and other metrics that will help inform the government on how best to continue to grow the sector,” he said.
Despite questioning, Chanthivong did not outline a timeline for the completion of the review, nor did he provide specific detail on when its findings would be made public ,or how advisory functions would operate while the council has no appointed members.
“We’re working on this at the moment,” he said, adding that there was “no need to rush this” and that the government wanted to “get this right”.
