CEO’S REPORT

CEO’S REPORT Volume 1 2022/23

I want to sign off 2022 by expressing my admiration for this great industry and the employers and people that work in it.

I recall with absolute clarity choosing to return from leave early in Christmas 2018 in response to bushfires ravaging NSW. Contractors were working their hearts out protecting their local communities, but many were not getting paid by RFS. While CCF NSW intervened and fixed that, no contractors I spoke to chose to stop doing the work – they chose to keep helping. Fast forward four years and replace fire for floods, add in a pandemic, a war, and staff shortages. I saw the same happening in flood recovery as I did in the bushfires – contractors choosing to stay and work on for their communities. Things are still extremely tough for the industry. What is different now to the 2018 bushfires is that most of the industry is suffering. I talk often about how I see the CCF NSW family of civil Members as being a very special group. It is in times of adversity that leaders lead. So many of you have silently carried on your shoulders your organisations and staff – with strength of character and force of will.

The concern we have is whether your balance sheets (and you) can hold out. If too many businesses start failing, the consequence will be to create a run – we will have another kind of pandemic on our hands.

The vaccination for this type of virus is profitable and cash-positive work. As over 70% of the NSW civil industry obtains its revenue from a level of government that wants works constructed, these governments should nurture and support the industry. If the NSW Government truly wants a sustainable NSW civil industry – one that will be there to do the work when they need it done – it should choose to ensure the industry is viable (profitable) for those in it. Case in point – the NSW Government’s unfathomable, ghastly choice in September to decline ANY support to contractors on existing contracts for hyper-escalation of supply chain inputs caused by war and COVID. And the reason given? To protect their project budgets. The consequence? Businesses fail and leave the industry (see the article on page 34). That was their choice. Just as it was the choice of Transport for NSW to cut by 62% over the sevenyear period FY15 to FY21 the dollars spent through SMEs via new contracts valued under $100m. And, following at times a rather tense 12 months of advocacy, we are delighted to say (spoiler alert!) that it was their choice to markedly change that position in 2022. Stay tuned for more info. It was also the choice of the NSW Government to support our Women in Civil vision of equality in civil roles – 50by50 –with their goal of 15by30. This is a monumental step, for nothing will do more to solve our workforce supply problems in Bermagui, Bourke, Ballina and Barangaroo than getting more women to join and remain in the industry. These are the sorts of choices a State Government gets to make; and they must own the consequences of their decisions. On March 25, 2023, the people of NSW will get to make their choice as to which colour will be leading the State for at least the next four years. CCF NSW’s role in State elections is to be your voice – to fearlessly advise and explain to all sides of politics the ramifications of their choices, and to recommend industry-generated solutions. We have done that very, very clearly with our A Dozen Do’s to Construct a Sustainable, Viable Civil Construction Industry. We released the Dozen Do’s 12 months out from the election date because political parties do not make policy choices (okay, good ones) in the last weeks before an election – they need time to consider and absorb. Fortunately, at CCF NSW we back up our recommendations with oodles of evidence and data, not spin. And our solutions are crafted from and by industry (and that means all our family of Members across all of NSW, not just big companies based in Sydney). It is indeed an enormous strength of CCF NSW that we have such a diverse Membership, and that Membership is very, very engaged in the positions we develop and advocate. There is seldom a moment when I am not left crystal-clear about what Members think!

So… choice and consequences. Despite how hard it is for so many of you to be profitable at the moment, you keep turning up, leading your businesses. CCF NSW tries to support you and carry some of that burden, and it is an honour to do so, but we stand in awe of what you choose to cope with. Thank goodness you do, for the people of NSW desperately need you to keep constructing their infrastructure.

David Castledine CEO, Civil Contractors Federation NSW