STATE OF THE STATE LUNCHEON

For our second State of the State for the calendar year, 120-plus leaders in civil gathered at the dwelling of the State’s big decision makers – who were confronted with some hard-hitting realities about the state of our industry.

NSW Parliament House was the venue for our CCF NSW State of the State Luncheon on Wednesday, 26 October 2022. The sold-out event, which was attended by more than 120 leaders in the Civil industry, was a great chance to network over lunch and gain outstanding exposure to information that will be crucial for good decision-making.

A Fiery First Course The venue was highly advantageous, being the workplace of our Keynote Speaker, the Hon. Rob Stokes, MP, NSW Minister for Infrastructure. Minister Stokes was very poised in taking some passionate questions (and statements) from Members on the floor. The first round called for changes to the NSW Government’s inexplicable position to deny relief for hyperinflation on select materials on contracts signed before 31 August and failure to guarantee relief for subcontractors now and in the future.

CCF NSW CEO David Castledine passionately made the point that the Government absolving itself of any costs carrying, and placing the entire burden on contractors was manifestly unfair. Sadly, in a letter received from the Minister in the days that followed the event, CCF NSW’s attempts to have the decision changed have been rejected.

After the bell on that round, the Minister heard an impassioned plea not to continue with the Government’s plan to introduce hard stretch-targets on female participation on civil projects.

Feedback given to the Minister was that the unintended consequence would be to draw women away from small and medium-sized businesses into just a few Tier 1s, thereby destroying inroads into improving diversity that so many small to medium-sized civil businesses in NSW have already made. To the Minister’s great credit, he agreed to meet with CCF NSW to discuss this concern.

Dishing up the Data The second speaker, Rowan Howarth, Director - Northern Rivers Infrastructure Coordination Office, gave a sobering and very detailed account of the magnitude of the required repairs to flood-hit infrastructure in the Northern Rivers region, and on the process being used to manage the required procurement activity. Rowan kindly agreed to share with us the data contained within his presentation, and you will find it on the following pages. And finally, with the Federal Budget handed down the night before, Adrian Hart, Associate Director – Building and Construction at BIS Oxford Economics, gave a Budget overview and his take on what it means for the civil industry. Sorry, this session was Chatham House Rules, so we can never speak of what was unveiled…

Aside from taking away incredibly valuable insights, it was another amazing chance for our family of Members to get together over a sumptuous lunch. A big thank-you to our wonderful Event Sponsors.

State of the State is a CCF NSW Member-only event. To become a Member and receive access to critical information, have the ear of the state’s key decision-makers in Civil, receive legal support and much more, head to ccfnsw.com to join now or call CCF NSW on (02) 9009 4000.