The Australian Constructors Association has a new chief executive.
Peter Colacino will step into the role on 4 May 2026, succeeding Jon Davies who has led the organisation for six years. Davies will stay on until June to support the handover.
The appointment is notable for its timing. The ACA has spent several years progressing significant structural reforms, including the National Construction Strategy. The question now, as ACA President Annabel Crookes framed it at the announcement, is how that work translates to outcomes on the ground.
That is the task Colacino is stepping into.
Who is Peter Colacino
Colacino is not a newcomer to the conversation. He has spent considerable time working across government, industry and the supply chain on how infrastructure is planned, procured and delivered in Australia.
His recent focus has been on practical reform: streamlining how projects are selected, addressing workforce and material constraints, and developing more collaborative contracting models. He has been involved in significant infrastructure projects including Sydney Metro, the Gold Coast light rail, Newcastle Transport, Sydney Motorway upgrades, and more recently Defence projects.
What makes his background relevant to the ACA role is its breadth. He has worked both at the policy end and at the delivery end, which is a rare combination in a sector that often struggles to connect the two.
Colacino described the opportunity ahead as accelerating momentum and working more closely with government and industry so that the benefits of reform are felt across projects, businesses and the workforce.
What the ACA is dealing with
Australia is asking more of its construction sector than at any point in recent memory. Housing targets are ambitious. Infrastructure pipelines are substantial. Labour is tight. The industry is under pressure to deliver volume while also improving safety, sustainability and productivity.
That is the environment Colacino is walking into.
The ACA represents major contractors, so its immediate membership is not the residential builder or the small-scale subcontractor. But what happens at the top of the construction chain matters throughout it. Productivity reform, procurement models, workforce policy and investment frameworks all shape the conditions that every tier of the industry operates within.
When contracting structures improve, risk allocation becomes more rational. When procurement moves toward more collaborative models, delivery improves. When the pipeline is better planned, capacity can build ahead of demand rather than scrambling to catch up.
These are not abstract concerns for builders or trades. They show up in project certainty, in margin, in the quality of the work environment.
The outgoing CEO leaves a clear mark
Jon Davies is credited with establishing the ACA as a credible and trusted partner to government. That positioning did not happen by accident. It required consistent engagement, a clear point of view on reform, and an ability to hold a long-term agenda through disruptions that included COVID-19 and significant industrial relations uncertainty.
Crookes described Davies as someone who approached every conversation from a place of genuine care for building a better sector. That is a particular kind of leadership, one less focused on the transaction and more on the relationship over time.
It is also a foundation. The ACA is in a stronger position because of how Davies ran it. Colacino inherits that standing, along with the responsibility to sustain it.
What comes next
The phrase that keeps surfacing in the announcement material is delivery. Not strategy. Not reform. Delivery.
That shift in language is deliberate. After years of building the policy case, running consultations and developing frameworks, the industry is at a point where results need to start appearing. Builders and contractors who have watched reform discussions for years are asking a reasonable question: when does any of this make the job easier?
Colacino’s background suggests he understands that question. His career has straddled the line between policy development and operational outcomes. Whether that translates to change that construction businesses can actually feel is the real test ahead.
The ACA has done the groundwork. The next phase belongs to whoever can turn that groundwork into something builders, contractors and workers notice in practice.
Colacino takes the role on 4 May.
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