RETIRED MEMBERS GROUP

BOB’S ACHIEVEMENTS

Born in June 1940, retired South Australian CEO, Robert (Bob) Osborne is the Civil Contractors Federation’s longest serving Executive Director (1986 to 2005). It didn’t include another seven years as a project consultant. His involvement today is volunteering for the Retired Members Group. Bob’s working background after leaving high school was in the building industry where he secured a 5-year carpentry apprenticeship. The next 23 years were spent in sales, estimating and lower management type works. In March 1985, he joined the Chamber of Commerce and Industry as an association services officer, helping small industry groups with their secretarial needs. Bob was soon seconded by the “up and coming” Earthmoving Contractors Association (ECA). Soon afterwards, he went on to be directly employed as their Executive Officer. It’s interesting to note that the Chamber’s then General Manager also believed that ECA was ready to move on from there. ACHIEVEMENTS When recently requested to pen his achievements, he said that his so-called deeds were really a very important part of his job description as he expected, but as for the great things achieved as a team, he accepted with pride. What first interested Bob was the association’s attitude towards setting goals and achieving targets. In other words, they didn’t believe in the phrase ‘it can’t be done’, which resonated with Bob’s approach in accomplishing things important to members and the industry. A key example was the complex merger process involving the transfer of ownership and operations of our three smaller state associations into the respected national Civil Contractors Federation with branches in every state and territory. The process which began in 2000 was finally achieved in 2008. It especially created a much stronger voice nationally. One of Bob’s most outstanding attributes that he excelled at was maintaining orderly and accurate record keeping of association minutes and other important business activities where factual and accurate information was paramount to the Board, thus giving them confidence to proceed with the cause at hand. Bob also had excellent support from his staff, particularly Lidia Frangiskos (nee Stirn) who served as his office manager some months longer than Bob. Five months after retiring from his CEO position, Bob was lured back into association life on a part-time consultancy basis. His first project was successfully applying for a $785,000 Commonwealth funding grant for implementing and improving our live work training program on crown land at Dry Creek and Gillman under the registered name of Civil Construction Skills & Technology Centre Inc. Some examples of our achievements during Bob’s reign were as follows: 1 Guiding all three state organisations (ECA, CCFSA, and CCSTC) to merge under the one ownership umbrella of the national Civil

Contractors Federation was a very complex operation. It was a major move towards finalising our national federation as a ‘one stop shop’ service.

1 Acquiring various training sites on contaminated hard waste crown land though the SA Lands Department in the 1990’s using supervised trainees enrolled in our live work training programs was a win-win situation for all parties concerned that lasted well into the turn of the century. 1 Another feature was the added value of forming alliances with State Government agencies and industry groups in restoring unusable land into valuable commercial sites at Gillman and Dry Creek. 1 Preparing members for retirement was considered an important issue to the association and was considered a viable venture by sponsoring our own superannuation scheme. Starting up the ECA Superannuation Fund in 1984 was aimed at preparing workers for retirement. It operated under the business name of ‘ECA Nominees Pty Ltd’. Sponsorship of this regulated public offer fund was eventually transferred to the CCF national office in 1996. 1 In 1993, ECA was at the forefront in supporting a formalised training regime for the building and civil construction industries with the introduction of a CITB compulsory levy to sustain and promote skill development in South Australia. It BOB SPEAKING AT A was the first industry to fund its BOOK LAUNCH IN 1990 own training needs. 1 CCF SA winning a $8.2 million Federal Education Grant, which along with a multi-million-dollar industry contribution by CCF SA helped the South Australian branch establish the state-of-the-art futuristic civil training facility at Thebarton.

CLOSURE (BY BOB OSBORNE)

These examples are just a small handful of our branch achievements. As mentioned, I am very proud to be part of it. Nor does it do justice to the many people (members and staff) who contributed to the benefits and services in making things happen. Sometimes this included the impossible. As a firsthand witness and author to the wider story, my book, ‘Civil Achievements Unearthed’, published in 2013 (still available today from CCF SA) is a must-read record of the rich history of earthmoving and civil contracting in South Australia.