About

Reporting directly to the CEO and chairman of the Australian Rail Track Corporation (ARTC), Gavin Carney is the general counsel and company secretary of the company with responsibility for the legal and corporate governance framework, the company’s insurance and internal audit programme and all matters relating to the board of directors and executive team. Carney joined ARTC in 2007, quickly adding to his remit being appointed company secretary in 2009 and then general counsel in 2011.

Considering the way in which he approaches the general counsel role, Carney believes that a general counsel’s success is measured on the team’s success, and he is proud of a diverse, high calibre, professional team that look to be leaders within the company and promote ARTC’s values and behaviours. For Carney, ‘agility is a must’, as the team works in a complicated regulatory environment across the Hunter Valley Coal Network; the Interstate intermodal business and the iconic Inland Rail programme. An important highlight has been the transformation of the legal function to a general counsel division, which is responsible for monitoring the company’s corporate governance framework including legal, internal audit, insurance incidents and the secretariat office functions.

Bringing the four governance pillars together has had the effect of giving ‘a genuine voice to critical functions like legal’ according to Carney, who explains his mantra as being ‘all about providing genuine value to the business without compromising the independence of functions like legal’. Forward-thinking in his approach, Carney is excited about the future of rail and explains: ‘ARTC is a nation building company. The people are wonderful and the work is incredibly interesting. Rail is a game changer – it keeps Australia moving, and the next big challenge is working on the iconic Inland Rail programme and demonstrating a strong commitment to meet the legal and governance needs of the programme’.

In addition to his role at the ARTC, Carney is a fellow of the Governance Institute of Australia and a member of the Australian Institute of Company Directors. Prior to joining ARTC, he practiced with large national and international law firms advising major corporates on commercial and insurance transactions, litigation, governance and contractual matters.