MESSAGE FROM THE CEO

WRITTEN BY REBECCA PICKERING chief executive officer & executive director civil apprenticeships & careers ltd

As we approach the Festive Season, and hopefully some much-needed downtime, it is timely that we reflect on ‘how far we have come’. This is the theme for this edition of Civil Connect - we seek to pay respect to our past and present. The world is certainly a different place on many fronts, with our industry adapting and flexing to survive, and we are far from done yet. With economic and fiscal pressures bringing about new and different challenges for 2023, our resilience will continue to be tested.

We take this opportunity to look back on our history with pride and celebrate what we have achieved to date.

We focus on delivered projects: Whyalla Jetty, Port Vincent Landing Marina, Cape Jervis Penneshaw Harbour works and my personal favourite (a project which I worked on in the late 90s) the Southern Expressway. Be sure to check out the feature photos - a six-page photo collage on SA projects from 1972 – 2022. No other industry has delivered so many iconic projects as our Civil Industry. Meet the Boss shares the story of Ben Turner of BDT Construction, and we also spend some time with the Tripodi Group and ADBRI. As your CEO, I take this opportunity to reflect on what your membership dollar has allowed CCF SA to achieve through 2021-22 as your Civil industry representative: This list below is by no means exhaustive but is a selection of issues which we understand are/were important to you. These items highlight what we have done to build our civil industry brand across South Australia to support your business and profession: ф Successful lobbying and the achievement of the ‘essential worker’ classification during the height of COVID-19, which allowed our industry to continue work using close contact exemption rules. ф Development and implementation of ‘Flexible Industry Pathways’ in

South Australian Secondary Schools.

A critical industry pathway into civil careers for our young South

Australian future civil professionals that was not previously available. ф Achieved Roads2Civil Program funding – this facilitates the delivery of the civil pre-apprenticeship program in schools ф With the previous Liberal

Government, achievements were as follows: • Industry roundtable commencement meetings held on various civil industry concerns. • Establishment of the Industry and Skills Working Group to support the North-South Corridor (Torrens2Darlington – T2D) project. This working group continues today to prepare our industry for this unique and monolithic project. • Industry Advisory Group (IAG) member. The IAG is an information and advisory body which provides a forum for you to share your industry expertise with the South Australian Government and other IAG members, and provide input on policy development, emergent trends, and opportunities for improvements relating to government procurement activities. • Designated Area Migration Agreement access for: ○ Civil Supervisor ○ Civil Tradesperson ф With the new 2022 State

Government, the following has been achieved to date: • Prior to the 2022 State Government Election, written confirmation from SA Labor Leader, Peter Malinauskas stated that union related ‘no ticket, no start’ was not supported; here is an extract: ○ “As per our response to The Advertiser article, a Malinauskas Labor Government will not introduce a set of labour conditions requiring contractors to support or join union membership. It was never our policy during our previous term in government and will not be part of our policy if we are fortunate enough to be elected on Saturday.” • Cost escalation mechanisms inclusion in contracts with ongoing work are now underway to consolidate industry feedback to the Department for Infrastructure and Transport. This is to ensure rise and fall works best for our infrastructure industry eco-system. Consideration of additional costs inclusions (e.g., utilities) are also being prepared for submission. • Through 2021-22 CCF SA were/ are Members on the following new Government Roundtables: ○ Civil Apprenticeship Inclusion on Federal Funding Lists ○ Small Business and Family Enterprise ○ SA Companies Construction Forum ○ Industry Advisory Group (Procurement) ○ Consumer and Business Services (Licensing)

○ South Eastern Freeway Safety Group ○ Industrial Manslaughter ○ Wage Theft ○ Technical Colleges ○ Industry and Skills Workgroup – North-South Corridor • Met and presented to Premier Peter Malinauskas, Treasurer Steven Mullighan, and Tom Koutsantonis Infrastructure and Transport Minister, within weeks of Labor winning the 2022 State Election. • CCF SA invited to, and presented, to the new Labor Government Cabinet in 2022. ф Other significant achievements include: • Women in Civil events continue to lead the way with several, well attended and positive forums held through the period • Future in Civil committee relaunched and focussed on future leaders by developing a professional development program • Retired Members Group reconnection and recognition • Digital communications revamp, including the introduction of the ○ The Dirt – newsletter ○ Civil Connect – magazine ф New service lines: • Health Industry and Wellbeing (HIW) • Konekt Workcare Program – provides industry access to workers, whilst attracting reimbursement • E-learning platform development – including blended delivery models to assist industry worker’s availability to attend training ф Achieving and continue to build upon new CCF SA ‘Strategy Priority 1 – Building Industry Profile’ • Community awareness program promoting the civil industry implementation, with 64 Schools and Community programs currently engaged • Attended 42 schools, several with civil industry leaders • Invited and presented at several industry events • Social media enhancements with the highest engagement achieved since commencement • New and well-attended events – regional, networking, technical and political. ф CCF SA, its members, and industry continue to work together with

Civil Apprenticeships and Careers

Ltd (CACL) to support Civil

Apprenticeships. Now more than 50 civil apprentices are actively hosted, with an additional 47 apprentices at various stages of employment engagement. There is a wealth of opportunity to address our industry skills shortage needs. ф Raising industry and community awareness regarding Civil

Apprenticeships federal funding shortfalls relating to the Australian

Apprentice Incentive System released early 2022.

As I conclude my contribution, I leave you with a familiar call to action: I hope you enjoy the read and as always keep up the incredible work. We look to taking on 2023 with you, keep us in the loop with what is impacting you and your business. We are here for you. My details are available via the QR Code, please don’t hesitate to reach Acknowledgements I take this opportunity to thank and express my appreciation to the CCF SA members, Team, and Board, in acknowledgement of all the hard work and commitment for our 2022 achievements. Everyone involved in CCF SA understands the gravity of the work undertaken to date. We love this new sense of purpose and opportunity, so we are far from done.

Our success to date is only due to the amazing people we employ, those we have in our membership, the people in our industry, our Board members and those external stakeholders who share our mission and purpose. We will continue to punch well above our weight to achieve great things for our industry. I look forward to working with you all to make 2023 even bigger, better, and brighter for us all.