The Federal Government has announced Jillian Broadbent will chair an exprt review that will advise the government on the design of the $10 billion Clean Energy Finance Corporation, which will be tasked with providing a new source of finance for renewable energy, energy efficiency and low emissions technologies.

 

Ms Broadbent is a board member of the Reserve Bank, a position she has held for over thirteen years. She also serves on the boards of Woolworths Limited and ASX Limited, and was previously a director of Woodside Petroleum Limited, Coca-Cola Amatil Limited and Qantas Airways Limited. Ms Broadbent is Chancellor of Wollongong University and was made a companion of the Order of Australia in 2003 for service to economic and financial development in Australia.

 

The government has also appointed David Paradice and Ian Moore to the panel. Mr Paradice has expensive experience in funds management with a particular specialty in small company investing, and now manages $6.6 billion in assets through a fund he established in 1999.

 

Mr More has over two decades of experience in the banking, finance and actuarial fields, predominately at Bankers Trust, and is an expert in risk and return profiles of debt and equity financing.

 

The expert review panel will consult with key stakeholders and report to the Government by mid-March 2012 with recommendations on the:

 

  • implementation plan for the establishment of the CEFC
  • investment mandate and risk management approach of the CEFC;
  • governance arrangements of the CEFC, including the responsibilities, powers and statutory duties of the Board, Chair and Chief Executive Officer.

 

The recommendations of the review will inform the drafting of legislation, which will be introduced into Parliament next year in order to allow the CEFC to commence operations from 2013-14.

 

The Government announced the CEFC as part of the Clean Energy Future package in order to encourage private investment and help overcome capital market barriers to commercialising clean energy technologies. The CEFC will also invest in firms utilising these technologies as well as manufacturing businesses which focus on producing inputs to these technologies.