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State & Territories Updates
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.
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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.
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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.
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QLD
Kristine Banks
In Queensland, we start the new year by welcoming the new Qld Manager! Thank you to all the members that have helped me to hit the ground running, especially the dedicated committee members. I am looking forward to a productive year as we capitalise on our seat on Transport and Main Road’s Collaborative Procurement and Delivery Model Taskforce. This is a real chance to help TMR develop truly collaborative procurement and contracting behaviours. We have also already had good success talking insurance with Queensland government, including Energy and Public Works (EPW) and Treasury, which we will continue during the year.
In the people area, a key focus for 2021 (in addition to the TMR Taskforce) will be working with the Queensland Major Contractors Association (QMCA) to implement our joint Charter for Change.
While we do not see too much law reform on the horizon just yet, we have seen changes to enforcement powers for the Board of Professional Engineers Qld (BPEQ) and government policy changes which could impact business practice. For example, changes to EPW’s Ethical Supplier Mandate and TMR’s proposed Best Practice Industry Conditions (BPICs). Both of these seem heavily focussed on securing outcomes or trade positions and improving on-site safety – however do not explicitly exclude professional services from their ambit.
In 2021, from a pipeline perspective, we are looking to continue engaging with Building Queensland and Treasury to ensure a smart pipeline of future work.
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SA
Jan Irvine
In South Australia, a key focus for 2021 pipeline activities is to secure a stable pipeline for small to medium enterprises (SMEs), especially in the residential space. For example, there is an opportunity to advocate for a bigger spend on social housing. This is of course in addition to looking for smart pipeline of state infrastructure projects.
In terms of procurement, we already have strong relationships, so the key is to continue that engagement and continue to raise insurance issues.
Practice areas of importance include not only registration of engineers (where we maintain a watching brief and ready to use lessons learnt from other jurisdictions) but also red tape reduction initiatives. For example, members have advised that the statutory declaration regime in SA is so restrictive that it causes unnecessary barriers to business.
Our people area will necessarily involve COVID-19 vaccination roll-out and what that means for business. Flexible working is also a significant issue faced by businesses.
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NT
In 2021 we look to foster a deeper engagement with key stakeholders including Department of Industry, Planning and Logistics (DIPL) and the Power and Water Corporation, to drive better procurement outcomes.
Pipeline issues are a core focus of our quarterly meetings with DIPL and will remain so. While in terms of practice, we will leverage Consult Australia’s work in other jurisdictions to ensure the NT government prioritises mutual recognition to ensure a robust but workable scheme.
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ACT
It looks like engineering registration will be a dominant topic this year, with the ACT’s Chief Engineer Adrian Piani providing an update that the framework is being designed now. Consult Australia provided input to the development phase in mid-to-late 2020 and will continue to work with the ACT government to ensure that the practice impacts are manageable.
Our quarterly engagement with Major Projects Canberra will be a key area for procurement, pipeline, and people discussions. As is our engagement with the Environment, Planning and Sustainable Development Directorate which we hope to strengthen in 2021. Already this year we have had good discussions with the Suburban Land Authority on liability and insurance, which will continue and will also lead us to talk to the central procurement agency Procurement ACT.
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Tas
In Tasmania, we started 2021 with great engagement with both private and public stakeholders. The newly initiated monthly meetings with the Department of State Growth have started well, giving an opportunity to discuss a broad range of issues impacting business providing services to Tasmania, including pipeline and people issues.
We met with Martin Ferguson MP, in his capacity as the Tasmanian Infrastructure Minister, last month to discuss our Considering Social Impacts in Infrastructure Business Cases report. The Minister agreed there is an opportunity to improve how we consider social impacts in business cases and committed to putting us in touch with Infrastructure Tasmania to practically work through potential improvements to the business case development framework.
With the visit to Hobart by Kristy Eulenstein our Policy Lead (Procurement and Practice) we held face-to-face meetings with Treasury, TasWater and Civil Contractors Federation Tasmania to progress discussions on insurance and contracting. On the TasWater contracts in particular, we gave some frank feedback on the proposed new contracts, which included many terms counter to our Model Client Policy. We are leveraging our relationship with CCF Tasmania to get real change here.
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WA
Diane Dowdell
We kicked off the year releasing our policy platform for the 2021 state election and engaging with all parties during caretaker period.
We see 2021 as the year to tackle the perennial issue of local government procurement. We are engaging with the Local Government Association (WALGA), the Small Business Development Commission (SBDC) and the Minister for Local Government. Insurance has hit the top of the agenda in these discussions along with talk of productivity savings. Also, this year we continue our positive engagement with key stakeholders including Main Roads and the Public Transport Authority, Water Corporation and Department of Finance.
Practice issues will likely continue as a priority, as consultation continues on building reforms and other law reform related to procurement. We have also seen interest from government agencies on recent Consult Australia reports, Considering Social Impacts in Infrastructure Business Cases and Uplifting Productivity.
On the pipeline front, we see an opportunity to emphasise economic diversification within the state to go beyond mining and pure infrastructure.
In terms of people, the key advocacy point for this year will be looking to skilled migration to unlock the capability to bring the right people to the state.
