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Housing Australia, the body that delivers the government’s housing schemes such as the 5 per cent Deposit Scheme and Help to Buy, has welcomed its first deputy chief executive officer, Dr Rachel Bacon.
Bacon, who was previously deputy commissioner at the Australian Public Service Commission, has been appointed to the new role to support the leadership of the housing delivery body – led by Sarah Amos.
Bacon has more than 28 years of experience across some of Australia’s most complex policy and delivery environments, including while working as deputy secretary for the Department of the Prime Minister and Cabinet (2022–23) and while deputy secretary at the Department of Infrastructure, Transport, Regional Development, Communications, Sports and the Arts.
She has also acted as a representative for both the Commonwealth and Northern Territory governments at Council of Australian Governments (COAG) forums.
Housing Australia welcomed the new deputy CEO to the position last week, noting that, over her career, Bacon has helped form strong partnerships across governments, agencies and stakeholders in order to translate the government’s policy priorities into tangible outcomes.
Housing Australia’s acting CEO, Sarah Amos, commented: “Rachel’s commitment to public service, collaborative leadership style and strong focus on delivery, together with the depth and breadth of her experience, will be invaluable as Housing Australia continues to strengthen its capability and deliver on its important housing mandate."
Taking to LinkedIn, Bacon said she was excited to start work “with the great team at Housing Australia” and looked forward to “working with everyone to improve housing outcomes for all Australians”.
The new position was created following a recommendation in the Housing Australia Capability Assessment Report.
The report – released in August 2026 – was headed up by Ken Kanofski (with the support of KordaMentha), and suggested that while the body had strengthened its governance, systems, processes and delivery capability while absorbing rapid growth and successive new responsibilities – it could benefit from appropriate resourcing, greater accountability for delivery, and more robust delivery management.
One recommendation to achieve this was to create a deputy CEO position and appoint someone with experience delivering complex construction or infrastructure programs in a public sector context.
It suggested that this position would help lead the housing delivery unit and work with existing teams to embed delivery capability and governance.
According to Kanofski, this would strengthen the executive leadership team, provide CEO succession planning, increase organisational resilience and capability, and support establishment and maintenance of strong stakeholder relationships. He said this would also provide sustained executive focus on Housing Australia’s delivery responsibilities as a public sector entity with significant reporting obligations.
[Related: Bankwest joins 5% Deposit Scheme]
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