What’s happening at Consult Australia
Consulting Matters
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State & Territory Updates With varying market conditions around the country Consult Australia’s state and territory managers share their insights on key challenges and opportunities for our members.
NSW Kristy Eulenstein For New South Wales, we know the Design and Building Practitioners Act 2020 and Regulations will have a significant impact on business practice for all those working on class 2 buildings. As NSW Manager I have been working hard with ConstructNSW to ensure our members have resources that explain their obligations under the Act and the Regulations, which come into force on 1 July 2021. Clarity is still needed on what designs will be ‘regulated designs’ and whether engineers registered can be automatically registered as design practitioners in the same category. As with every year, procurement is front of mind. The goal this year is to ensure our members get access to leading clients (both private and public) through our events pipeline. We are also continuing to build relationships and secure regular meetings with key government clients; Transport for NSW, WaterNSW and SydneyMetro. In 2021, we will push for government action on insurance – through both the procurement and practice lens. As reported at the end of 2020, Consult Australia has secured a seat on Infrastructure NSW’s new Infrastructure Industry Forum, and we hope this will lead to outcomes with government and other industry associations in 2021 on pipeline issues. A key focus will be to ensure a stable pipeline of work, especially after stimulus funds are allocated. Our people focus remains strong for 2021, looking for local opportunities to promote our policy work on skilled migration, STEM education and diversity. The mental health of our people is paramount and an important point to raise in procurement discussions. NSW Gold Sponsors:
VIC James Robertson Practice issues have dominated our activities in Victoria and will continue to do so for a while yet. Some of our members were welcomed into the new year with potential suspension from the Construction Supplier Register (CSR), which could make them unable to provide services on Victorian government building and construction projects that use the CSR as a pre-qualification requirement. We successfully lobbied for extensions to those suspensions and continue to work with the government to resolve this issue. On 1 July 2021, the professional engineering registration scheme commences, with engineers already registered under the Building Act 1993 (Vic) as building practitioners, being the first to move to the scheme. By 1 December, they will be joined by fire safety engineers, then remaining structural and civil engineers from 1 October 2022, then electrical engineers and mechanical engineers in 2023. We are working with the Victorian government to ensure resources are made available making clear the obligations for those working in Victoria. Consumer Affairs Victoria has recently released some useful guidance on the scheme implementation (available here), and please don't hesitate to get in touch if you have any follow up questions. In terms of people, procurement, and pipeline issues, we recently contributed to Infrastructure Victoria's public consultation on the draft 30-year infrastructure strategy for the state. In Consult Australia's submission, we highlight that industry considerations are currently missing in the draft strategy despite being critical for the successful delivery of all desired outcomes. We encouraged Infrastructure Victoria to expand the strategy to consider industry topics related to pipeline delivery such as procurement practices, skill shortages, use of technology as a project tool, and pipeline visibility. VIC Gold Sponsors
