Consulting Matters December 2021

SUMMER 2021

CONSULT AUSTRALIA QUARTERLY MAGAZINE FOR CONSULTANTS IN DESIGN, ADVISORY, AND ENGINEERING

Celebration 14 CHRISTMAS TENDER CAMPAIGN

GIVE THE GIFT OF TIME

15 ONECONSULT 2022

28 RISING TO THE CHALLENGE

HUMANITARIAN ACTION IN THE AGE OF COVID-19

COLLABORATION IS THE NEW COMPETITION

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OneConsult

Hall of Fame

Congratulations to the 2021 Hall of Fame Winner

AWARDS FOR EXCELLENCE LARGE FIRM OF THE YEAR 2020 - 2023

Arup Projects: 2020

2019

Making Cities Safer for women and girls with light

Green Square Library

Optus Stadium

Copyright City of Sydney

Copyright Sky Perth

Copyright Arup

2018

Consulting Matters

CONTENTS P.32 ÎAAPOWERLINK

PROJECT

P.18 Î SUSTAINING SUCCESS:

DON'T BE A 'ONE HIT' WONDER

INDUSTRY UPDATES 4 Appointments 4 Industry News

WHAT'S HAPPENING AT CONSULT AUSTRALIA 6 From the President 7 From the CEO 8 Advocacy Highlights 9 SME Highlights 10 State & Territories Updates 14 Christmas Tender Campaign 15 OneConsult 2022: Collaboration is the New Competition

BUSINESS ESSENTIALS 24 Your Future, Your Legislation - What it means for employers 26 New NCC CPD course for engineers strengthens NCC knowledge

CORPORATE SOCIAL RESPONSIBILITY 28 Rising to the Challenge: Humanitarian action in the age of COVID-19 30 Advancing mental health awareness

PROJECT CASE STUDY 32 AAPowerlink Project

16 New Code of Ethics

FEATURES 18 Sustaining Success - Don’t be a ‘one hit’ wonder 20 14 steps to a human-centered employee experience 22 Further your commitment to supporting NSW’s young people

WARNING: Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander readers are warned that the magazine contains an image of a deceased person.

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Industry updates

Industry updates APPOINTMENTS

Multi-disciplinary engineering and project management team WGA (Wallbridge Gilbert Aztec) has announced a significant Board appointment. Mark Gobolos joins the Board as the company – which operates across Australia and New Zealand – looks ahead to build strategically after nearly four decades in business.

Gobolos joined WGA in 2003 as a structural engineer, and 18 years on is the company’s Group Technical Manager. He has led numerous high-profile projects, including the $2.2bn new Royal Adelaide Hospital, University of South Australia’s $220m Cancer Research Institute and is currently working on the $500m Australian Bragg Centre. In addition to his engineering qualifications, Gobolos has a degree in Computer Science and was on the South Australian Committee of the Concrete Institute of Australia for over six years, including President and Vice President.

At the same time, Andrew Woods, who has been on the WGA board for 20 years, has chosen to focus on project delivery and step off the Board. Andrew joined the company in 1986, and as a board member, has been pivotal in WGA’s growth over the past two decades, including his role as HR Director during the development of the People and Culture team.

WGA (Wallbridge Gilbert Aztec) has announced changes to its leadership structure as Nathan Silby and Ben Stapleton are appointed as joint Managing Directors. They will officially take the reins from Peter McBean and Nick Lelos who will step down as joint MDs after eight years on 7 February 2022.

Existing Director Nathan Silby is currently SA Regional Manager at WGA with over 25 years of Civil consulting experience. Nathan brings strong operational leadership skills and understanding of WGA culture to the role.

Silby’s appointment is complemented by the external hire of Ben Stapleton, who joins WGA having built up several decades of experience in leadership roles in the infrastructure industry with multi-national professional services organisations, most recently at Aurecon. He has a strong track record of leading teams that care for their clients and deliver outstanding business performance and will bring some fresh perspectives to WGA. This new chapter comes as McBean and Lelos step aside after a combined nearly six decades at WGA. The pair took over as joint Managing Directors from WGA founders Geoff Wallbridge and Mark Gilbert in 2014 and in that time have more than doubled staff numbers to 400 and grown the company to an annual turnover approaching $80 million.

Sun Cable announces Global Expert Team to deliver the Australia-Asia PowerLink Project.

A world-leading team of highly skilled experts from Bechtel, Hatch, Marsh, PwC Australia and SMEC (Surbana Jurong Group), have assembled to deliver this multi gigawatt scale project.

The Australia-Asia PowerLink (AAPowerLink) will be one of the world’s largest renewable energy projects and will harness Australia’s abundant solar energy resource to deliver world-class dispatchable, competitively priced renewable electricity into Darwin, Australia and Singapore.

The AAPowerLink will unlock direct investment and job opportunities, R&D, knowledge sharing, and open up future growth in new and emerging industries.

The AAPowerLink’s total carbon emissions abatement is estimated at 8.6 million tonnes of CO2e per year.

McBean and Lelos will remain a vital part of WGA's future, by retaining their positions as Board members and adding value through business development and technical engineering roles.

INDUSTRY NEWS Consult Australia is delighted to confirm that at this year’s Annual General Meeting held on 21 October 2021 Andrew Mather was awarded Life Membership. This was awarded to Andrew for his excellent service to Consult Australia as President from 20152017, as a long-standing member of the NSW Committee, and as Mentor for the NSW FutureNet Business Leaders Course. We thank Andrew for his continuing support for both Consult Australia and the industry at large.

Stantec, a global leader in sustainable design and engineering, announced it has entered into share purchase agreements (the “Acquisition”) to acquire the North America and Asia Pacific engineering and consulting groups (“the Select Assets”) of Cardno Limited (“Cardno”).

“Stantec’s global leadership in sustainability will be further augmented by the passion and entrepreneurism of Cardno’s professionals who, like us, work at the intersection between clients, science, and innovation to solve the ever-evolving challenges confronting communities around the world,” said Gord Johnston, President and Chief Executive Officer.

“We have worked closely with Cardno for many years. Cardno Group CEO, Susan Reisbord and her team have done a remarkable job in transforming their organization and returning Cardno to a strong growth path. The timing couldn’t be better to welcome their team to Stantec and grow together.

Industry updates

Cardno’s key strengths in ecosystem restoration, health sciences, infrastructure, water, and government services are completely complementary to Stantec’s offerings in these growing sectors of the United States and Australia. Together, we will continue to set the standard for sustainable design and climate change mitigation.”

Susan Reisbord, Group CEO of Cardno added, “Joining Stantec offers a tremendous opportunity to the people of both companies to accelerate our combined growth given how complementary our strengths are in the regions we operate. Our combined Australian operations will strengthen our position as a top tier engineering and design firm there, and this will open new opportunities for us.

As this process has played out, the one thing that has been striking is the commonality between our values and cultures.”

Consulting Matters

Consult Australia pays respects to the memory of Peter Hollingsworth Consult Australia is saddened to hear of the passing of Peter Hollingsworth. Peter was a Consult Australia Life Member and former chair of our committee in QLD, he continuously supported Consult Australia and the industry at large.

Peter qualified as a civil engineer from the University of Queensland in 1951 and as a licensed surveyor in 1954. He was involved in the construction of Warragamba dam, design and construction of precast prestressed concrete structures and problem foundations throughout Australia. Peter was also the founder of Coffey & Hollingsworth consulting in Geotechnical engineering in Australia and Southeast Asia. Throughout his career received a number of awards and accreditations including the Order of Australia in 2004.

We pass on our condolences to Peter’s family.

Editor/Marketing Manager Daniela Bozinovska

President Rowenna Walker

Chief Executive Officer Nicola Grayson

Finance Manager Penny Clark

Engagement Manager Linda Gaunt

Head of Policy & Government Relations Kristy Eulenstein

Senior Policy Advisor & VIC Manager Cindy Laird

Policy Analyst Teone Tobin

NSW Manager Alison Kirk

SA, TAS and the Territories Manager Jan Irvine

WA Manager Diane Dowdell

QLD Manager Kristine Banks

Corporate Designer Fredi Cueva

Accounts Guillaume Marchand-Henderson

PA/Office Administrator Karen Pooley

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What’s happening at Consult Australia

From the President

“

The platform we now have at Consult Australia is one we can be proud of and one where we can focus on growth.

As the newly elected President of Consult Australia, this is my first time writing a “From the President” piece for Consulting Matters.

It is an absolute pleasure and honour to be taking on this role for the next two years.

I have been on the Board since 2017 and in that time, there has been tremendous change at a global, national, industry and Consult Australia level. Living in a VUCA world we know, as Heraclitus said, “change is the only constant in life”, I suppose what we didn’t expect is how fast it would happen.

I would like to welcome our two new Board members Kerry Van Donderen and Arthur Psaltis who were voted onto the Board at the recent AGM. It would be remiss of me not to acknowledge Gerry Doyle as the outgoing President. Gerry had been an exceptional leader of the Board through tremendous change, his passion and authenticity around Mental Health has been inspiring. The legacy that is left after Gerry’s tenure at Consult Australia is one where Nicola Grayson and her team have gone from operating from a deficit position to returning a surplus in FY21 supported by significant restructuring of the Consult Australia team in line with strategy delivering on our focus areas for our members through largely a Covid 19 pandemic! I would also like to acknowledge the contribution from our two other outgoing Board members, Brett Davis and Holly Carson.

The platform we now have at Consult Australia is one we can be proud of and one where we can focus on growth. I am looking forward to working with Nicola, her team, the Board, and our members to bring that to reality so that we can continue to strive for our vision as a vibrant and prosperous industry, growing our profile, engagement, and revenue. There are some challenges we must address such as how our industry can address climate change, balancing risk appropriately through the industry ecosystem and helping our industry be attractive to future generations. I am passionate about our industry and I was delighted to see the recent approval of our refreshed code of ethics, a key foundation to building the culture we want to work in, with our partners, our community and our clients.

The theme for this edition of Consulting Matters is celebration, the first thing that comes to mind when I hear the word celebration is the song from ‘Kool & the Gang’ which brings a smile to my face, celebrations are happy events, often with decorations, music accompanied by special drink and food. Celebrations normally involve a social gathering of some sort, whether it’s a birthday or other event.

Covid-19 has limited the ability to have the social gatherings in person, so celebrations during that time have been a lot different to what we had previously been used to, but we have continued to have birthdays, religious and other life defining moments to celebrate. We have become more innovative in the ways we have celebrated during the pandemic. I recall my birthday in 2020, restaurants were not open and we were unable to gather with others inside or outside the home.

”

My family had decided to surprise me with an innovative birthday celebration, I was asked to dress up, my husband and I went to the local pizza restaurant and picked up a take away pizza. When we came home my sons had set up a table with tablecloth, candles, lit a firepit and even designed a playlist they played whilst they ‘waited’ on our table.

Consult Australia has adapted too with last years award celebrations being online but very much making the opportunity recognise those tremendous projects, people and organisations.

In 2022 Consult Australia will be 70 years old, we will be celebrating in style, in person with a fantastic conference and awards night in March. It will be a wonderful way to gather together as an industry, celebrating our achievements, Consult Australia’s birthday and the strength of our vibrant industry.

I love a good party and have missed the opportunity to do that in the last 18 months, I very much look forward to seeing you all there next year! n

Rowenna Walker President

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From the CEO

“

Looking at Consult Australia’s successes over 2021, I am particularly proud of the work we put into the development of Australia’s 2021 Infrastructure Plan, which sets out a significant reform agenda for our industry’s productivity and to unlock innovation.

2021 has been another turbulent and challenging year, but as we come towards the end of year it’s a great time to reflect and take a moment to celebrate all we’ve achieved. As a community our most incredible achievement is the take up of the COVID-19 vaccinations across the country, which now sees us planning to reopen international borders. Unlike 2020, this year the various lockdowns across the country and site closures had a greater impact in our industry but we have navigated our way through it and our industry continues to deliver.

Looking at Consult Australia’s successes over 2021, I am particularly proud of the work we put into the development of Australia’s 2021 Infrastructure Plan, which sets out a significant reform agenda for our industry’s productivity and to unlock innovation.

At the start of the year, we seconded James Robertson (our then Policy Lead) to Infrastructure Australia for 3-months and through ongoing consultation we helped inform the recommendations. The Plan adopts our Model Client policy approach to describe the way in which the public sector should conduct itself when procuring the services of our industry. The plan also acknowledges our Champions of Change programme and the work we’ve done to increase diversity and inclusion.

Through our state/territory committees and with the support of our dedicated team of professionals we are working with government agencies across the country to see these reforms come to life, not just for the benefit for the infrastructure sector, but to see a substantial improvement in the way risk and procurement is managed across the industry.

I am also extremely proud of what we’ve achieved to support mental health. As you’ll read in this edition of Consulting Matters, we’ve continued to develop our Mental Health Knowledge Hub for members.

Also, we’ve again run our campaign asking public sector agencies across the country to avoid releasing tenders with deadlines over the Christmas holiday period. This year we asked other industry groups to join us, and I’m pleased to say that we were joined by Engineers Australia, the Australian Constructors Association, Roads Australia, and the Australasian Rail Association.

In this edition of Consulting Matters, Puneet Sachdev from Enzen shares 14-steps of a human-centered employee experience and importantly how to measure success, through which you can celebrate your achievements as a team. Professor Danny Samson provides his insights on how to sustain business success, so that you can keep celebrating those wins!

Talking of wins, I’d like to congratulate our inaugural Hall of Fame recipient, Arup for winning our coveted Large Firm of the Year Award for 3-consecutive years.

”

Consecutive wins of this nature are outstanding and Consult Australia’s Hall of Fame is a fitting reward for such excellence.

We are very excited to see the wide range of entries coming in for our 2022 Awards programme, and we’ll be announcing the winners at our very special OneConsult 2022 event in Sydney on 30-31 March 2022.

We will also be celebrating 70 years of Consult Australia, with conference and exhibition. Tickets are available now through our website.

I look forward to seeing you at OneConsult in March 2022 and in the meantime wish you a happy and healthy end of year celebration. n

Nicola Grayson CEO

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What’s happening at Consult Australia

Advocacy Highlights Kristy Eulenstein Head of Policy and Government Relations

I am always keen to celebrate, and in 2021 we have so many advocacy highlights to applaud! We aimed to raise our profile with government as well as our engagement with members and other associations. We sought to influence governments around Australia, both as clients and as regulators to improve the business environment for members.

Our profile-raising reaped rewards at all levels of government. At the Commonwealth level, our continual engagement on skilled migration issues saw updates to the Priority Migration Skilled Occupation List allowing for priority visa processing for, electrical engineers, civil engineers, geotechnical engineers, structural engineers, surveyors, and transport engineers. In addition, most of our proposals were taken up as recommendations by the Commonwealth Parliamentary inquiries into skilled migration and temporary migration. We continue our advocacy with government to see these reform recommendations implemented.

On procurement, we demonstrated our influence as a solutionsfocussed advocate as we gave evidence on the opening day of hearings at the Commonwealth Parliamentary Inquiry into Procurement Practices for Government-Funded Infrastructure. Inquiry committee members were particularly interested in our ideas on de-risking the market including our suggested reforms to civil liability laws, unfair contract term protections and misleading and deceptive conduct provisions of the Australian Consumer Law. This appearance followed our successful collaboration with 13 other industry associations calling on the Commonwealth government to finally realise procurement reform for infrastructure projects.

We were joined by the likes of the Australian Constructors Association, Ai Group, Infrastructure Partnerships Australia, Roads Australia, and the Australian Railway Association. We all want to see a healthy construction ecosystem with every sector able to prosper and ultimately deliver world-leading projects for Australia.

This is not the only area where we worked with other industry associations to progress issues. Throughout the year we developed a strong relationship with the Insurance Council of Australia, advocating together on the state of business insurance in Australia. This led to us being invited to join their Business Advisory Council along with the Australian Small Business and Family Enterprise Ombudsman, the Australian Chamber of Commerce and Industry, the Council of Small Business Organisations Australia, and the NSW Small Business Commissioner.

2021 is the fourth year of our Christmas Tender Campaign, one of our key mental health initiatives, and this year we have been joined by the Australian Constructors Association, Roads Australia, Engineers Australia, and the Australian Railway Association. We jointly call on key government clients to ensure industry benefit from a break in line with the public sector procurement teams.

This is just a quick overview of our top wins at the Commonwealth level, more information on achievements at the state/territory level are provided by the team. We all look forward to even more advocacy wins to support your business in 2022. n

What’s happening at Consult Australia

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SME Highlights

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Mental health focus at the latest SME Open Forum In October, our SME Open Forum focused on mental health. Mental Health Ambassadors Gerry Doyle and Mark Fairweather with Paul Broad, member of the Mental Health Working Group, shared insights into how they support the mental health of their employees and their wider community. Key topics discussed included supporting colleagues in remote working environments, top tips for a mentally healthier work environment, and celebrating the progress as you go. It is evident that remote working, pipeline pressures, and resource constraints have had a significant impact on the mental health of our members and particularly our SME members. We thank all in attendance for their courage to be vulnerable and encourage you to access our mental health resources available on our Mental Health Knowledge Hub for guidance to support your businesses.

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Second SME Summit a success!

Our second ever SME Summit was held in September with strong attendance and great discussions. We covered so many topics from staff retention, professional indemnity insurance and working with Indigenous businesses and communities. The team were pleased to help lead the four breakout rooms focussed on our 4 P’s of People (how to keep the good ones), Procurement (risk, risk, risk), Practice (working digitally) and Pipeline (how small business can get in on the pipeline of projects). Many thanks to our MC for the Summit, Frank Carlow as well as other small business members that helped drive the agenda for the day including Holly Carson, Barbara Crossley and Martin Gamble.

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NSW resources on government tendering

The NSW Small Business Commissioner and TAFE NSW have partnered to deliver free online training and a guide for small businesses navigating the NSW government tender process. The online training consists of four modules; Getting Business Ready, Finding Opportunities, Selling to Government, and Successful Supplying. The guide, Selling to the NSW Government: A Guide for Small Business includes referee report and business capability statement templates. Visit the NSW Small Business Commissioner webpage to access the small business support.

Be engaged, get value!

The best way to get value from your membership is to engage with Consult Australia, be it through events and education, by responding to calls for input or just contacting your State/ Territory Manager to vent about current business frustrations. n In 2021 we’ve had some great input and support from our small business members, our most active players include:

Carlow and Carlow

Webb Australia Group

Florian Fire Consulting

RED Fire Engineers

Gamcorp

MLEI Consulting Engineers

Mark G Jackson

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Consulting Matters What’s happening at Consult Australia

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 Alison Kirk

In 2021 we invested significant time in engaging with NSW government, continuing to raise our profile. We demonstrated our influence as an advocate on the professional indemnity insurance impacts arising from the building reforms when we gave evidence at the NSW Parliament’s hearing on its Further Inquiry into Building Reforms. We appeared with Engineers Australia and the Insurance Council of Australia, following our joint letter to the inquiry on insurance issues.

Our engagement with these associations has led to influencing change including securing a one-year exemption from insurance requirements under the Design and Building Practitioners Regulation. We also produced a joint Guide for Design Practitioners and Engineers with Engineers Australia and the Australian Institute of Architects. This guide is a practical resource to help your business tackle the practice issues of contracting, insurance exposure and the requirements under the Design and Building Practitioners scheme.

We have also engaged regularly with Transport for NSW as they review their suite of contracts and Treasury as they review tendering of infrastructure advisory services. While these engagements have not resulted in changes at this time despite assurances, Consult Australia is the go-to association for these agencies to get advice on issues and solutions.

Finally in 2021, we have provided significant member support with lockdown and construction pause issues as government rules changed. We advocated on behalf of members to try and minimise the negative impacts on business continuity, although the enhanced restrictions in the local government areas of concerns were particularly challenging. During this time, our strong relationship with Infrastructure NSW ensured we got up-to-date advice and we had an ally talking about the specialists in our sector who could attend construction sites with minimal public health risks.

In 2022 we look forward to talking more to government clients on de-risking strategies in terms of contracting and procurement in addition to keeping strong on what we need to see fixed in the regulatory environment.

VIC Cindy Laird Our profile and influence with Victorian government grew significantly through our advocacy on key issues such as the Professional Engineers Registration Act 2019 (Vic) (the PER Act) and the Construction Supplier Register (CSR). In respect of the registration of engineers, we engaged with Consumer Affairs Victoria to push for clarity and certainty on implementation of the scheme, including the definition of building. Members have the benefit of business guides on the scheme, which Consult Australia produced as well as government information updated when required.

In terms of the CSR, several members had long standing issues with the requirements of the CSR, with a review in late 2020 threatening to impact the ability of up to 36 businesses already on the CSR to provide engineering services to Victorian construction projects. The review outcome would have also impacted new entrants to the CSR.

What’s happening at Consult Australia Consulting Matters

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Our ongoing engagement with the Department of Treasury initially led to a pause on the review actions and then finally to a change in the requirements of the CSR body corporate registration. Relying on the individual practitioner registration under the PER Act, Treasury no longer requires a Board representative to hold registration in each engineering category – a great win for our members!

Our profile as a leading advocate on skills shortages has led to positive engagement with the Department of Jobs Precincts and Regions where we are pushing for action to address the significant skills shortages. Victoria is undergoing record investment in infrastructure and without access to the global talent pool through migration, investment in upskilling, and reforms to increase our productivity, the problem will only worsen. We are continuing to work with the Department through their higher apprenticeship scheme and overseas qualification unit to look at options to fill the skills gap.

We were pleased to provide support to our members working in Victoria, providing advice on the continued lockdown, the construction pause and the worker permit system. The lengthy period of lockdown has impacted business leaders, teams, and individuals. members and their staff.

We hope that our mental health knowledge hub continues to be useful in providing resources to help have those mental health discussions with each other.

QLD Kristine Banks A key focus this year has been on re-establishing engagement forums and building stronger relationships with Queensland government. For example, demonstrating Consult Australia’s value we have been invited on to the Procurement Industry Advisory Group (with a whole of government procurement focus) and the Infrastructure Industry Steering Committee.

Our positive relationship with the Department of Transport and Main Roads continued, working on a new collaborative model and launching the Infrastructure Industry Engagement Charter with other industry associations including the Queensland Major Contractors Association (QMCA).

The open dialogue with the Department allowed us to strongly voice our concerns with the refreshed contract conditions for the Infrastructure Building Construction Panel (IBCP) with some hopefully positive announcements in coming weeks.

We have also invested significant time into our engagement with the Department of Energy and Public Works, that has the responsibility for the central procurement rules. Based on our advice, the specified required insurance levels in the government's insurance guide were significantly reduced to align with market availability. We also pushed for clarity on the government’s Best Practice Principles (BPP), which in Consult Australia’s view were not relevant and appropriate for consultants. We have just recently received advice that the BPP will not apply to consultants, as the intent is to improve on-site conditions of constructors. It is also confirmed that the Department will remove the related BPP requirements from the Special Conditions to AS4122-2010. We continue discussions on those Special Conditions, especially the liability framework which is of concern.

We heard from members that action was needed on local council contracts, so we have now established regular dialogue with Moreton Bay Regional Council, City of Gold Coast and Brisbane City Council.

SA Jan Irvine One of the biggest wins in terms of profile with the SA government has been the invite for Consult Australia to join the newly established Procurement Services SA Industry Advisory Group (IAG). The IAG is an information and advisory body which provides a forum for Consult Australia to share industry expertise with the South Australian Government and other IAG members and provide input on policy development, emergent trends and opportunities for improvements relating to government procurement activities. We know consultancies continue to experience procurement challenges when engaged by government departments and agencies. Priority issues include the need for standardised contracts and clauses, appropriate risk management and appropriate risk allocation and reasonable insurance requirements.

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What’s happening at Consult Australia

Our engagement with the Department of Environment and Water has also progressed with the Department agreeing to meet regularly for discussions on procurement and pipeline with the aim of both bettering consultants' business environment and assisting timely delivery of relevant projects.

A key advocacy win in SA this year is an issue that has plagued SA businesses for years…statutory declarations. Finally, after years pointing out the productivity loss of the limited list of authorised persons in the Oaths Act, the government (with a bit of help from COVID) finally saw the issue. We now have in SA a lengthier list of authorised persons (in line with the Commonwealth law) which should make it less onerous for businesses that need statutory declarations witnessed. A classic red-tape reduction win!

NT It has been a slow and steady job to get engagement in NT with Water Corporation, but finally in 2021 we feel like we have a way to raise issues in a collaborative and open way. Our relationship with the Department of Infrastructure, Planning and Logistics also continues, with our joint working group (established in 2012) now focussing on our most challenging issues. These sessions will be a deep dive into the current insurance market and the consequences if we do not de-risk the market, as well as industry productivity and innovation. In 2022 we plan to consider reviews of designs and consultant early stage involvement. This group provides our members with a platform for useful conversations between our industry and government on those issues most important to their businesses.

TAS It is almost unbelievable how we raised our profile in Tasmania in 2021. From the start of the year when we had little to no engagement with government, we now have quarterly forums with the Department of Treasury and Finance and TasWater as well as monthly forums with Department of State Growth and Infrastructure Tasmania. These forums have given us a way to raise the priority issues of our members in regard to future pipeline, procurement behaviours and contractual terms and conditions.

Our profile has led to Consult Australia being included in a limited group of key stakeholders and delivery partners to assist the Transport and Infrastructure Group within the Department of State Growth prepare its next strategic plan for 2022 to 2025. The forum is being facilitated by the former Secretary, Department of Premier and Cabinet and a great opportunity for us to influence this strategic plan.

Our engagement with the Civil Contractors Federation (Tas) has also been positive in 2021 as both associations grappled with the TasWater contracts and driving for change.

ACT Our quarterly forums with both Major Projects Canberra (MPC) and the Environmental, Planning & Sustainable Development Directorate (EPSDD) continued in 2021. This provides Consult Australia and our members with an avenue to build stronger relationships with the ACT government to foster continual improvement in project delivery and gain deeper insights into core drivers. These forums also offer an opportunity for government to tap into the wealth of experience held by members of Consult Australia.

Our strong relationships within government and our solutions-focus means that we had access to the right forums when lockdown was introduced, and the construction pause was being discussed. Using our key contacts, we were able to swiftly advocate on behalf of member businesses pointing to all the on-site work our members could continue to do with minimal public health risks.

Consult Australia, alongside Engineers Australia, and Professions Australia, is working with the ACT government in developing the framework to introduce a registration scheme for engineers. Regular roundtables are being held at which we're able to represent the views and needs of businesses that employ engineers.

Also in the ACT, local members were given the opportunity to engage with Defence on procurement issues in an open forum which was positively received.

In terms of member engagement, we have had positive feedback on all our activities and look forward to continuing that in 2022.

What’s happening at Consult Australia

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WA Diane Dowdell The biggest advocacy highlight this year in WA was Consult Australia being invited by the McGowan Government to participate in key industry roundtables on smoothing the pipeline of work and the roll out of health directives on mandated vaccination. We are seen as the industry association providing solutions to issues. This influence ensures that the smoothing pipeline isn’t just focussed on the ‘high-vis cohort’ but also the professional consulting work that underpins all.

This year we continued our strong and positive engagement with Main Roads while also creating a new relationship with the Small Business Development Commissioner. We now hold regular meetings with the Commissioner who is committed to improving the environment for small businesses in WA. In the most recent discussions, the Commissioner was keen to understand how non-contracting out of proportionate liability could de-risk the Professional Indemnity Insurance market, by addressing the 'deep pockets syndrome'. As part of this engagement the National Insurance Brokers Association (NIBA) approached us, having also raised similar issues as Consult Australia with the Commissioner. NIBA understands the risk transfer our members see and a keen to work with us, in WA and nationally, to progress from discussion to action. We look forward to working more with NIBA in 2022.

Consult Australia Major Sponsors

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Consulting Matters What’s happening at Consult Australia

Christmas Tender Campaign

GIVE THE GIFT OF TIME PAUSE PROCUREMENT ACTIVITY OVER THE FESTIVE SEASON TO SUPPORT A MENTALLY HEALTHY AND SUSTAINABLE INDUSTRY

N o tender deadlines over the holidays please.

For the last 3 years Consult Australia has written to government agencies across the country asking them not to release tenders with deadlines that require people to work over the end of year holidays.

This year we’ve asked some friends to join us in this campaign.

Consult Australia, the Australian Constructors Association, Engineers Australia, Roads Australia and the Australasian Railway Association have partnered to advocate for a hold on procurement activity over the Christmas / New Year period for 2021. The campaign is underpinned by our collective support for a mentally healthy and sustainable industry, with the recognition that those we collectively represent are eager to take a well-deserved and uninterrupted rest over the end-ofyear holiday period.

To that end, we have collectively written to 98 clients (predominately government agencies) across Australia. So far, we have received 29 responses. Of those 29 responses, only one is ambivalent in its response, North East Link Project in Victoria noted receipt of our letter without confirming any support.

Breaking the responses down by jurisdiction, we see that NSW, Vic and WA all have five responses each, while SA has four responses, Qld has three responses, the ACT and NT have two responses, TAS has one response.

Some notable positive responses include that of Infrastructure NSW, who not only agreed to close live procurement on Friday 17 December 2021 and reopen new procurement processes on or after Wednesday 5 January 2022, but also stated,

“The NSW Government Construction Leadership Group (CLG), which represents all NSW Government infrastructure delivery agencies, has discussed this matter and commends the initiative, noting the importance of rest to enhance the wellbeing of our industry’s people over the end-of-year holiday period.”

WaterNSW thanked us for the initiative and agreed, “…that the end of year holiday period is an important time for families and friends to come together and for people to recharge.”

Transport and Main Roads Queensland stated that, “…our construction industry can be assured that we understand mental health support is critical to keeping the industry attractive and a mentally healthy place for everyone to work within.”

SA Water recognised, “…the significant benefits of providing everyone across all industries the opportunity of a well-deserved rest over the end-of-year holiday period.”

We thank all the client groups that have responded positively to us.

We will continue to drive this campaign and hope that further positive responses will be received within the coming weeks.

If you are aware of tenders being released with deadlines over this time and would like us to write to the client in question, please let us know. n

What’s happening at Consult Australia Consulting Matters

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OneConsult 2022: Collaboration is the New Competition

IN PLANNING THE CONFERENCE AGENDA FOR OUR 70TH YEAR ANNIVERSARY, WE NEEDED A PRETTY SPECIAL TEAM OF PEOPLE TO HELP US. MEET THE CONFERENCE COMMITTEE AND HEAR ABOUT THE CONFERENCE THEME THAT INSPIRED THEM.

Next year is a special year for Consult Australia as we celebrate 70 years of association. So, we knew we needed to assemble a special group of people to develop a conference agenda befitting such a milestone. It was important to us that we built an agenda informed by a diverse group to reflect the diversity in our membership. We sat down with our then President Gerry Doyle who immediately put his hand up to chair and discuss the make-up of the group. It was clear that we needed not only to hear from different voices representing the breadth of the Consult Australia membership, but also from perspectives outside the membership.

Bringing the voice of our small and medium business members to the programme, came Frank Carlow from Carlow and Carlow, Jaswant Deo from RP Project Management, and Martin Gamble from Gamcorp. Craig Lee from BECA and Lisa Samways from Arcadis brought in the large business membership representation.

Lee Callaghan from Mace joined to provide a view from the advisory business angle. Our young professionals and future leaders were represented by William Bassanelli from Northrop, Meg Panozzo from Arup, and Esther Soon from SMEC. We were delighted when Kirsten Sayers from RedR Australia joined the team, together with Claire Beattie from School Infrastructure NSW, Mandy Holloway from Courageous Leaders, and Isabelle Phillips from the University of Technology Sydney. Each of them bringing a different point of view of the issues impacting our industry and of the community’s expectations of our industry.

In coming together as a group for the first time, we explored some of the key issues we’re facing as an industry including, capacity constraints, the cost of professional indemnity insurance, adversarial contracting culture, leadership/management challenges, competition, and of course disruption in all its forms (environmental, economic, political, technology…the list goes on).

In thinking about solutions and how best we address these challenges to sustain a strong and thriving consulting industry into the future, we talked about how through stronger collaboration we can build a better culture and better outcomes for our clients, communities, and environment. Taking this a step further we identified that the better we collaborate as people, businesses, and as an industry, the more competitive and successful we will be. This is the hypothesis we are excited to explore at the conference.

The programme the committee has put together for you seeks to give you tools that you can use as, • an individual, whether you’re a young professional or senior leader • a business, whether small, medium, or large, and • an industry, whether you’re in advisory, design, or engineering no matter the sector.

With a diverse range of speakers, from people and culture experts to client groups, expect to be challenged, entertained, and invigorated.

The conference committee look forward to seeing you at the conference and hearing your feedback on whether you believe Collaboration is the new Competition. n

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Consulting Matters What’s happening at Consult Australia

New Code of Ethics After a considered review, we have a new Code of Ethics! Consult Australia members endorsed the new Code at the AGM on 21 October 2021. The Board’s review included valuable feedback sessions with members, both at our SME Open Forum and our Large Firms Forum.

The new Code highlights the standards expected of Consult Australia members when dealing with clients, the community, and other members, including a commitment to three core principles: • Collaboration – sharing ideas, skills, experience and building relationships to achieve shared goals.

• Fairness – treating everyone with respect, consistency and acting equitably.

• Integrity – acting honestly, authentically and being accountable.

A full copy of the Code of Ethics is available on our website, as well as a one-page summary. n

CODE OF ETHICS Summary

Consult Australia members, when dealing with clients, the community, and other members, will uphold the standards expected of a professional consultant, committing to three core principles of collaboration, fairness and integrity.

Fairness:

CLIENTS



be efficient and proactive, by fairly considering the client’s needs and interests



provide advice that balances client needs with consideration of the needs of current and future generations including environment, health, wellbeing and safety



where possible, and practicable to do so, take into account consideration of sustainability and sustainable outcomes when providing advice

Integrity: Collaboration: 

work collaboratively with clients to deliver the services, seeking to resolve issues together



act only in areas of their competence* and practise in a careful and diligent manner



continue to develop relevant knowledge, skill and expertise throughout their careers and actively assist and encourage those under their direction to do likewise



provide clear, well considered advice on viability of a project or process to the client, where appropriate to the consultant’s appointment and role and which the consultant is reasonably expected to consider.

Fairness:

COMMUNITY



ensure that community benefits, incorporating social, cultural, health, safety, environmental and economic considerations, are considered when providing advice



where possible, and practicable to do so, take into account consideration of sustainability and sustainable outcomes when consulting communities

Collaboration: 

 provide advice that balances the current needs with the needs of future generations by identifying outcomes that do not compromise the ability of future generations to enjoy the engage positively with the same or better environment, health, wellbeing and safety as the current generation community (when contracted to do so) so that its needs and feedback  respectfully address concerns raised by the community to project decisions (when can, where possible and contracted to do so) practicable to, be incorporated into projects (whether that arises Integrity: from community consultation  provide clear and relevant information to community (when contracted to do so) and where undertaken by the consultant or community concerns raise an issue for re-consideration by the client, provide clear advice to the client) the client on that issue.

Fairness:

EACH OTHER Collaboration: 

work collaboratively and respectfully with each other to deliver for the project, whether working in a joint venture, as consultant-sub-consultant roles or as independently appointed consultants



formalise arrangements with other consultants on tenders and expression of interest bids via memorandums of understanding and do not replace those consultants upon winning the work without providing a reasonable explanation



fairly negotiate the contract with each other, ensuring there is positive engagement, appropriate risk allocation, fair and reasonable remuneration for effort involved and open communication

Integrity: 

appropriately acknowledge the contributions of others, avoiding any unfair criticism on past work where it was conducted in accordance with all legal and contractual requirements, the accepted standards and practices and community values of the time, and in accordance with the needs of the time



consider the circumstances and appropriateness of accepting an engagement from a client if replacing another consultant or reviewing the work of another consultant



not attempt to supplant another consultant who has been appointed by a client nor otherwise misrepresent or undermine the integrity, skills or expertise of any consultant



avoid actual or perceived collusion with other consultants



accept and provide an honest and fair critique if receiving feedback or commenting on another’s work

*Note: Members should understand the distinction between working in an area of competence and working competently. Working in an area of competence requires members to operate within their qualifications and experience. Working competently requires sound judgement. If an error of judgement occurs, the outcome may be construed as negligence, however, it does not necessarily imply that the member has acted unethically.

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Consulting Matters

What’s happening at Consult Australia Consulting Matters

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Join us for the

INDUSTRY EVENT OF THE YEAR OneConsult

One Conference One Exhibition

One Industry Awards One 70th Birthday Celebration

Over two days we will be inviting the entire industry to come together as One. From emerging leaders to senior leaders, SME businesses to large enterprises, we will be meeting to discuss, learn, network and celebrate

Date:

30-31 March 2022 Location:

The Hilton, Sydney

Registrations are now open at consultaustralia.com.au/oneconsult

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Consulting Matters Feature

SUSTAINING SUCCESS Don’t be a ‘ONE HIT’ wonder

It’s one thing to achieve an initial success in any field, and quite another to sustain it over a substantive period. No matter what the field, be it science and engineering, business in general, sport, entertainment, or any other field, the different between a ‘one hit wonder’ and a sustainably successful performer is deserving of some reflection, and consideration of investing in the elements that lead to longer term success.

In business, how have companies such as CSL, Apple, Toyota, Microsoft, Proctor and Gamble been able to sustain success over decades, against fierce competition? It is a verified fact that relatively few businesses sustain positions of industry leadership beyond a decade, yet the companies above have defied the seemingly natural forces that cause most businesses to go through a lifecycle of growth, maturity, then decline. Apple is a very interesting example, whereby many commentators thought that Steve Jobs’ demise would lead to a diminishing of Apple’s market leadership. But Apple has continued strongly in the decade since Jobs died, clearly based on much more than his personal driving leadership and pursuit of innovation and quality excellence. In Apple, three things are evident that have

provided this continuous success: these are constancy of core values and purpose, disciplined systems, and innovation capability. From these, Apple gets to win in the ‘war for talent’, create a stream of innovative products and services, and stay competitive and attractive to its loyal customers.

Toyota has much in common with Apple, having had its same core values for over 60 years, with a relentless drive for creating superior quality and value for its customers. CSL, perhaps Australia’s most successful company with a sustainable global footprint, has focussed similarly on a highly disciplined approach to it supply chain and its systematic innovation.

Core values and systematic innovation have also characterised the most successful consulting engineering businesses that I am aware of, including British, American, and Australian firms that have had lasting success over more than five decades.

All these businesses have a culture of humility, a strong service orientation, and a dedication to renewal and innovation.

Feature Consulting Matters

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"We have seen in sports and politics that arrogance is nearly always a step or two before failure, while longevity of success is usually a function of continued, steely motivation combined with great talent and a great system.”

They enjoy and indeed celebrate their success, but not too much, meaning that they do not fall prey to a sense of hubris, that can more commonly be seen before a fall. We have seen in sports and politics that arrogance is nearly always a step or two before failure, while longevity of success is usually a function of continued, steely motivation combined with great talent and a great system. Consider Steve Waugh, Ian Chappell, Tiger Woods, Muhammad Ali, John Howard, Gough Whitlam, Geoff Kennett, Gladys Berejiklian and Donald Trump as contrasting examples, some of whom retired with dignity and grace, and others less so.

In entertainment, why have the Rolling Stone, Tony Bennett and Bob Dylan had success over some 50 years, while other highly talented musicians faded quickly? Once again, we can observe motivation and discipline at play, and if anyone thinks it is luck, please consider the old adage, sometimes ascribed to Thomas Jefferson, ‘The harder I work, the luckier I get’.

to changes of senior leadership. The latter group had two further strengths beyond the capabilities of particularly talented individual executives and leadership teams. They have mature, stable values; and systems to enact those into value propositions involving productivity, reliable quality and innovation, that provide stakeholder engagement (broadly including environment and society), in a virtuous circle of mutual success. These systems include and are also beyond efficient and standard ways of conducting processes and projects: they include higher levels of systems, such as approaches to leadership development, innovation, continuous improvement, succession planning, resource allocation, risk management, performance management, ESG and strategy making. n

Danny Samson is Professor of Management at the University of Melbourne. He has been working with Consult Australia since 1986, offering short-courses to members.

Comments welcome to: d.samson@unimelb.edu.au

Sustainability and success Success can breed further success, up to a point, and seemingly if certain other factors, mentioned above are present. Talented people are drawn to highly successful companies such as those listed above, just as the world’s best soccer players want to play for Barcelona, Real Madrid, Liverpool, PSG and the Manchester teams. The global fan base translates into merchandise sales, TV rights, ticket sales and cash flow that becomes a self-fulfilling prophecy, that good managers can sustain over decades. At the heart of such longevity of success is stakeholder engagement and loyalty, which is a two-way street. Just as Jurgen Klopp focusses on his Liverpool players who always focus on doing it for the fans, Toyota is focused on respect for its employees who do it so well for their customers. In contrast, we cannot say the same for our major financial services companies or Crown, given the Royal Commissions’ findings of recent times.

For consulting engineers and other professional service firms, we can gain a great deal from embracing the relatively new framework of ESG (environment, society, governance), that is fast becoming an acceptably more mature approach to gaining and sustaining success in stakeholder engagement, satisfaction, and mutual success. I have scored CSL and Toyota as very high on the many categories1 of ESG, and just as the world’s professional investors are attracted to them, these companies find that investing in their ESG capability elements payoff for all their stakeholders, including shareholders.

In summary, sustained success requires a few key ingredients, that the Rolling Stones, Steve Waugh, CSL, Toyota and Apple have had in large amounts. Steve Jobs once famously said, ‘Stay hungry’, stay foolish’ which I interpret to be about strong motivation and not getting too ‘self-important’ and arrogant about your success.

These are necessary but not sufficient conditions for large complex organisations operating in today’s challenging world. Compare and contrast the success of Jack Welch at GE and Don Argus at NAB, whose very successful large organisations declined significantly after they retired, with Toyota, Apple and CSL that were all robust

Comprehensive ESG scoring includes ESG leadership and E, S, and G practices and processes, and results, https://varcis.com/varcis-esg-page/.

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Consulting Matters Feature

14 STEPS

TO A HUMAN-CENTERED EMPLOYEE EXPERIENCE

Be it the ‘big resignation’ or not, competing, and winning in the marketplace requires becoming an irresistible organisation that is really sought after by top talent, and one that rivals want to emulate. A critical lever is the Employee Experience (EX) your company offers its people. EX is the sum total of experiences employees have during the various stages of the employee lifecycle and is the next evolution of employee engagement. The focus is on the human experiences over processes, although it is underpinned by robust data driven scalable processes that deliver the experience.

According to a Josh Bersin report, companies leveraging the right EX strategies are 2.2 times more likely to exceed financial targets, 5.1 time more likely to create a sense of belonging and 3.7 times more likely to adapt well to change. So, thinking of work as an ecosystem of employee experience could become the new lens and organising principle for viewing your people-related practices.

Below is a summarised version of the 14 steps to building your EX-Framework. For the full piece hop on over to LinkedIn where Puneet Sachdev has published a detailed step by step guide.

1.Why EX: Get clear on why you want to introduce an EX-lens in your business at this point, and its end-state vision. Begin with the end in mind.

Research by Qualtrics and Josh Bersin may help.

2. Anticipated Business Impact: Build the business case. Define the intended business outcomes.

Provide clear linkages to KPI’s (tangible and intangible) e.g., retention rate of top talent, time to hire, employee engagement. Link these to ultimate business outcomes and dollar impact.

3. Build Your Project Team: A cross-functional team that represents your organisational diversity, comprising members from the support functions, and line managers from across levels. The EX-initiative is owned by the business with sponsorship from a top leader, ideally the CEO. 4. Build a Collaboration Group: Co-design the EX-ecosystem with a diverse cohort of employees within the organisation who will be consulted at each milestone.

This way you are designing with the people and not for the people, and the likelihood of organisational antibodies resisting the change is reduced.

I’d also recommend creating a regular “team leader briefing” Why? TI People research data shows, of the 285 touchpoints between the individual and the organization, 23 are critical ‘moments that matter’ (highly emotive and impactful). 22 of these are directly influenced by a team leader.

5. Baseline Current EX: Review employee engagement data, onboarding evaluation, exit interview data, Glassdoor reviews, and NPS. Analyse and identify the thematic trends. Establish what kind of an EX you desire your people to have and why. Refer to your employer value proposition as you do this.

6. Scope & Objectives: Define what is in and out of scope. Get clear on the impact on business results and set your objectives and the definition of success at the 1 year, 2 year and 3 years horizons.

7. Outcomes: Define the business outcomes you intend to drive by investing in EX, how will these be measured and validated across tangible and intangible indicators. Create a business case with ROI. 8. Design of Solution (Journey Map): Flesh out the journey map of the employee experience at a) the traditional stages of the employee life cycle i.e., recruitment onboarding - development - retention - exit and b) at the customized stages that you want to identify touchpoints and moments that matter which may be unique to your organization and ones you consider are drivers of employee experience.

You want to make sure these touch points occur regularly, are actionable, and are business relevant. Practices related to trust, transparency, inclusion, and caring have a disproportionate impact.

9. Mapping Listening at Scale across the Moments that Matter: This is about a continuous listening strategy and tools in place, gathering real-time feedback and more often across the entire employee lifecycle, especially at the moments that matter. A Josh Bersin DEI research of over 500 companies found that of 84 practices correlated against a series of business outcomes, listening was by far the best predictor of excellence.

10. Tech Stack & Data Transparency: An insights-driven EX at scale needs to be employee-centric and datadriven, and therefore best supported by technology.

Feature Consulting Matters

Today you have the choice of opting for end-to-end EX platforms that will help with developing personas, journey mapping, identifying MoM’s, listening functionality, and analytics e.g. Qualtrics, Microsoft Viva.

11. Organisational Impact Assessment: Conduct an impact assessment to determine the changes necessary in systems, processes, tools/software, behaviors, mindsets, role expectations, reporting structures required to deliver the desired EX across the different teams/departments/roles.

12. Budget: From the organisational impact assessment will arise the need to build a budget. A TI People research has established that you can expect to bump up your HR budget by an additional 13% to provide for your EX-initiative.

13. Pilot the MVP: Identify an area of the business and business problem the area leader is dealing with that you believe can be positively impacted by the EX solution. Set up the hypothesis, discuss and co-design the 'proof of concept' solution with the leader, associate KPIs, align resources, time commitment, roles and responsibilities, and the start-stop time frame.

Build your understanding – with NCC CPD Online courses now available!

Email info@ncccpd.com.au Phone 1300 NCC CPD (1300 622 273)

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14. Scale-up Strategy: Define your scale up strategy. You can choose from big bang i.e., org wide roll-out simultaneously, linear i.e., area by area or geometrics i.e. in progressive bigger waves. Your strategy will depend on the resources available, the level of urgency and anticipated levels of resistance.

EX Is A business imperative sponsored by top leadership, it’s not an HR Initiative.

Let me close with a reminder that companies with a great employee experience often have Inclusive environments that outperform in every way. Take care of your employees, and they will take care of your business. n

About the Author Having lived and worked in four continents, Puneet Sachdev is a globally experienced leader in people & culture, and an executive coach focused on the tech sector. He currently leads Digital and Organisational change for Enzen, a global green tech consultancy in Australia. Puneet is an industry speaker, regularly publishes his views on LinkedIn and his work as won international recognition at the Brandon Hall Excellence Awards. You can connect with him on LinkedIn.

Purchase online now or subscribe for more information Trying to stay up to date with the rapidly evolving construction industry? NCC CPD can help you get ahead!

Engineers are vital to ensuring that Australian buildings meet the requirements of the National Construction Code (NCC). The Australian Building Codes Board (ABCB), in consultation with industry, government and subject matter experts, has released online NCC CPD courses to help you gain greater confidence to apply and interpret the NCC, identify non-compliance and rectify it.

To purchase a course go to cpd.abcb.gov.au © Commonwealth of Australia and the States and Territories of Australia 2021, published by the Australian Building Codes Board.

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Consulting Matters Feature

FURTHER YOUR COMMITMENT

TO SUPPORTING NSW'S YOUNG PEOPLE INFRASTRUCTURE TRAINEESHIP : PROVIDING SCHOOL LEAVERS WITH A PATHWAY TO SUCCESS

The NSW government is calling for employers in the infrastructure and construction industry to commit to supporting NSW’s young people by taking on a trainee for 8 months commencing in February 2022.

The 2-year Infrastructure Traineeship will boost the professional experience of Year 12 school leavers who are interested in office-based infrastructure and construction roles.

An employer’s commitment will involve mentoring, supporting and giving in-depth experience so trainees can see projects through from planning to delivery.

Visit the Infrastructure Traineeship website for more information about the benefits and hear about experiences from other employers.

Why become a host employer?

The 2-year Infrastructure Traineeship will boost the professional experience of Year 12 school leavers and get them job-ready under challenging economic conditions.

You’ll be creating an opportunity for a young person to gain real experience and create a lasting impact.

Trainees will come from regional and metro areas and the program is seeking employers from across the state.

Potential employers can learn more about getting involved and how to apply.

Registrations are now open. n

Consulting Matters Business essentials

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RedR Australia’s Essentials of Humanitarian Practice course provides critical foundational knowledge for working within the modern humanitarian system, and responding to an international crisis that involves a global response.

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Consulting Matters Business Essentials

YOUR FUTURE, YOUR SUPER LEGISLATION WHAT IT MEANS FOR EMPLOYERS

From 1 November 2021, the Your Future Your Super (YFYS) legislation will see individuals ‘stapled’ to the first super fund they join. They will be linked to this super fund and it will follow them throughout their working life - unless they choose a different fund.

While there are several reforms including a YourSuper online comparison tool and an annual performance test, stapling will have the biggest impact for employers and those changing jobs.

What you need to do • You must provide a new employee with a Choice of Fund form (like the Cbus choice of super fund form found on the Cbus website or the ATO Standard Choice Form) within 28 days of them starting.

• New employees can choose to join your default super fund or nominate their preferred super fund by completing a Choice of Fund form.

• If a new employee doesn’t make an active choice of fund, you’ll need to use ATO Online Services to determine their stapled super fund.

• You must use ATO Online Services to determine a new employee’s stapled fund.

• If a new employee has more than one super fund, the ATO will determine the employee’s stapled fund based on a set of rules (the rules act as a tiebreaker). These may include factors such as when the account was created, how recently contributions were made and the account balance.

• If a new employee doesn’t have a stapled fund and doesn’t make an active choice of fund, you must pay their super into your default super fund.

When you can request stapled fund information • You can’t use ATO Online Services to look for your new employee’s stapled fund if they haven’t started work. They must be employed by you when you request the stapled fund information (you can only make the request from the first day they are on your site and on payroll). To make a request, you must have lodged either a Single Touch Payroll event or a TFN declaration.

• You will need to request the stapled fund information for a new employee if they haven’t provided you with a Choice of Fund form.

When you request a new employee’s stapled fund information from the ATO, your new employee will receive notification of your request.

How does this impact workers in building and construction?

In the building and construction industry, stapling could have serious implications for employees’ insurance on work sites.

Young and low balance members new to the industry could be ‘stapled’ to a fund that does not offer default insurance appropriate for the hazardous nature of their work and therefore are at risk of being uninsured in the workplace.

The claim time is not the right time for your employee to discover they don’t have that cover.

Business Essentials Consulting Matters

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Employers still need a default fund If Cbus is your default fund, you can: • let new employees know that Cbus is your default fund, and • provide them with a Cbus Product Disclosure Statement and a Choice of Fund form (like our Cbus Choice of fund form).

You can’t: • recommend or encourage new employees join Cbus.

Cbus is here to help Cbus is committed to help you stay on top of these changes to ensure you meet your super obligations. For the most up-to-date information, visit cbussuper.com.au/stapling. n

This information is about Cbus. It doesn’t take into account your specific needs, so you should look at your own financial position, objectives and requirements before making any financial decisions. Read the relevant Cbus Product Disclosure Statement to decide whether Cbus is right for you. Call 1300 361 784 or visit cbussuper.com.au for a copy. Also read the Target Market Determination at cbussuper.com.au/tmd Cbus’ Trustee is United Super Pty Ltd. ABN 46 006 261 623 AFSL 233792 Cbus ABN 75 493 363 262

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Consulting Matters Business Essentials

NEW NCC CPD COURSE FOR ENGINEERS

STRENGTHENS NCC KNOWLEDGE Engineers play a critical role in the creation and adaption of safe and compliant buildings. Good understanding of the National Construction Code (NCC) is needed to produce designs and documentation showing how a building or system complies with the code.

On successful completion of the assessment, participants will better understand the NCC to help justify design decisions more effectively.

They’ll also gain greater confidence to apply and interpret the NCC, identify non-compliance and rectify it.

The Australian Building Codes Board’s latest CPD course, NCC fundamentals for engineers, is an important course for engineers in the construction industry. The course, developed in collaboration with industry, government, and subject matter experts, is part of the ABCB’s response to the Building Confidence Report.

The course is delivered fully online with an engaging format of written material, audio-visual content, worked examples and self-paced knowledge checks.

Using examples throughout, this one-hour course helps engineers navigate the rules and instructions of the NCC and how these affect engineering design. Once the groundwork is covered, the course brings these fundamentals together and shows how they apply to important concepts relating to building and site-specific characteristics.

The course also highlights some cross-volume considerations which is a reminder of the multi-disciplinary nature of engineering and the importance of taking a holistic approach to engineering design.

Find out more at cpd.abcb.gov.au/design-and-engineering n

Business essentials Consulting Matters

Retention | Detention | Infiltration

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ACO StormBrixx® is suitable for Water Sensitive Urban Design (WSUD) projects or as a stand-alone solution.

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www.acostormbrixx.com.au | 1300 765 226 | sales@acoaus.com.au

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Consulting Matters Corporate Social Responsibility

RISING TO THE CHALLENGE:

HUMANITARIAN ACTION IN THE AGE OF COVID-19 WHEN THE GLOBAL PANDEMIC CHALLENGED ITS ABILITY TO DEPLOY PROFESSIONAL HUMANITARIANS AROUND THE GLOBE, REDR QUICKLY ADAPTED, INCREASING ITS SUPPORT TO THE COMMUNITIES THAT NEEDED IT MOST. Australia Assists deployee Viliami is supporting Tonga’s National Emergency Management Office to build resilience against cyclones, floods and other hazards.

Australia Assists deployee Viliami is supporting Tonga’s National Emergency Management Office to build resilience against cyclones, floods and other hazards

As an organisation that responds to crises and conflict globally, it’s in RedR Australia’s DNA to stand by those most in need in the face of unprecedented humanitarian challenges.

The COVID-19 pandemic has been no different. As communities around the world have struggled, learned and found new ways to adapt, RedR Australia has risen to the challenge, staging an agile and flexible response to ever shifting circumstances and increasing the level of humanitarian support provided.

This hasn’t been without its hurdles. An independent review of RedR’s early response to the pandemic, in August 2020 found that the organisation initially faced difficulties deploying technical specialists around the world, a challenge which continues still, due to health and safety considerations, travel permissions and quarantine requirements.

RedR’s risk and security team also had to negotiate additional insurance coverage to ensure roster members were adequately protected while on deployment.

Despite these challenges, RedR responded to growing humanitarian need, increasing the level of support provided globally throughout the pandemic. Between July 2020 and June 2021, RedR deployed 109 professional humanitarians through the Australian Government’s Australia Assists civilian deployment program, providing the equivalent of 523 months of support to 30 program partners in 26 countries across the Indo-Pacific, Africa and the Middle East. This represented a15 per cent increase in deployment months compared to the previous year.

In line with Australian Government foreign policy to support regional recovery from the pandemic, 44 RedR specialists were deployed to directly assist with COVID-19 preparedness and response. This focus included RedR’s first clinical deployments, with two emergency nurses deployed to the UN’s International Organisation for Migration field hospital in Bangladesh, as well as an Infection, Prevention and Control Technical Advisor deployed to Papua New Guinea.

Corporate Social Responsibility Consulting Matters

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Australia Assists deployee Rowan is working with the Vanuatu Government as part of the country’s COVID-19 vaccination rollout

As travel restrictions curtailed international movement, RedR quickly adapted, working with partners to implement remote deployments.

Among the 48 deployees working remotely in the 2021 financial year, is management and engineering consultant Anne who has been working from Australia since April as a Projects Expert with the India-based Coalition for Disaster Resilient Infrastructure (CDRI), a partnership of national governments, UN agencies, multilateral development banks and the private sector across 28 countries.

Describing her remote deployment as “not too dissimilar to working in a consulting firm” where staff liaise with stakeholders in various locations, Anne is leading CDRI’s global transport sector resilience program, focusing on new and existing infrastructure systems that can withstand climate and other disaster hazards.

Working from her home in Melbourne, Anne is online in the late afternoons and evenings to align with her Indian colleagues’ schedules. In contrast to previous roles where she was on the ground in emergency settings, Anne said the advisory nature of her current deployment is well-suited to remote work.

“When I’m on a video call, I always ask questions in different ways to make sure the meaning is understood, and that I’m getting the correct answer,” she explained.

In Mauritius, where CDRI is undertaking a risk assessment of the national transport system, Anne is supporting local staff working to maintain and build climate-ready infrastructure. She has created templates and checklists for her colleagues to use in the field, so they can conduct assessments of ports, roads and bridges to an agreed standard in her absence.

As well the move to remote deployments, travel restrictions have also increased the impetus for RedR to diversify its roster of humanitarian professions and deploy more specialists within their own country. This has accelerated RedR’s long-standing localisation strategy, which seeks to strengthen local humanitarian capacity and leadership.

As part of this strategy, RedR piloted its first Pacific Essentials of Humanitarian Practice, co-designed and co-led by Pacific Islanders, for Pacific Islanders. Held in Suva, Fiji the course was delivered to 34 participants, including 28 Pacific Islanders, three of whom immediately joined the RedR roster and began long-term deployments assisting the governments of Vanuatu, Fiji, and Samoa.

In the last financial year, 12 RedR roster members deployed within their home country, while three more deployed to neighbouring nations.

Seventeen per cent of all those deployed had the socio-cultural or linguistic background of the country of their deployment.

For instance, Vanuatu national Rowan has undertaken four deployments in the Pacific since 2019 and is currently supporting the Vanuatu Government in the country’s fight against COVID-19.

Australia Assists deployees Sharin and Rowan are supporting Vanuatu’s Ministry of Health COVID-19 response.

In his role as Logistics and Procurement Support Officer, Rowan is helping assess and set up vaccination sites across the country.

Meanwhile, Viliami is contributing to the national effort to strengthen disaster resilience and response systems in his native Tonga, working as a Cluster Coordinator with the National Emergency Management Office. He recently established a rapid assessment tool to help local responders better coordinate their efforts in the aftermath of a disaster.

To help build capacity for local deployments, RedR Australia has also recently established bilateral agreements with members of the RedR International network, opening up access to an internationally diverse pool of specialists to draw from. These agreements provide a foundation for RedR Australia to work with RedR Indonesia, RedR Malaysia and RedR India to strengthen the organisations’ collective vision for strengthening resilience in the Indo-Pacific region.

In the face of challenges that have might have severely curtailed its mission to deliver humanitarian support when and where it is needed most, RedR Australia is incredibly proud to have stayed the course during the global pandemic, not only maintaining but strengthening its commitment to partners and communities before, during and after crisis and conflict. n CHRISTIE LONG, REDR AUSTRALIA

If you would like to find out more about joining the RedR Australia roster, building your skills through our training courses or donating, visit redr.org.au.

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Consulting Matters Corporate Social Responsibility

ADVANCING

MENTAL HEALTH AWARENESS

ADVANCING AWARENESS OF MENTAL HEALTH AND MENTAL ILLNESS Australia Assists deployee Viliami is CAN HELP TO REDUCE STIGMA, AS WELL AS ENCOURAGE PEOPLE TO supporting Tonga’s National Emergency SEEK SUPPORT. CONSULT AUSTRALIA CELEBRATES THE WORK OF OUR Office to build resilience Management against cyclones, floods and other hazards.

MENTAL HEALTH INITIATIVE, COMPRISED OF OUR MENTAL HEALTH AMBASSADOR NETWORK AND MENTAL HEALTH WORKING GROUP, WHICH HAS PLAYED A VITAL ROLE IN EDUCATING OUR MEMBERSHIP ON THE REALITIES OF MENTAL HEALTH CHALLENGES, MENTAL ILLNESS, AND WORKPLACE SUPPORT STRATEGIES.

C onsult Australia celebrates the progress made by our member businesses in increasing their awareness and understanding of mental health. In our recent Industry Health Check, 62% of our member businesses reported that mental health and wellbeing is the most significant challenge they have faced over the past 12 months.

While this statistic is alarming, it highlights the increased recognition in the importance of mental health.

Three years ago, Consult Australia launched our mental health initiative, pioneered by our former President, Gerry Doyle, and Consult Australia’s Chief Executive, Nicola Grayson. Gerry undertook a roadshow to raise awareness on mental illness and the importance of mentally healthy workplaces amongst members. This inspired our member businesses to share insights into their workplace mental health strategies through our Mental Health Knowledge Hub.

20 years ago, mentally healthy workplace strategies were few and far between. Michael O’Hanlon of MOH Advisory and former Workplace Engagement Manager of Beyond Blue, recently reminded our Mental Health Working Group of just how far industry and community attitudes have progressed. Having played a key role in the development of Beyond Blue’s National Workplace Program, Michael has seen firsthand the impact that education has had on reducing stigma in the workplace and the community at large.

This led to the launch of our thought leadership paper, Striving for Mentally Healthy Workplaces, developed by our Mental Health Working Group. The report showcases the work our member firms have done to create a work environment that builds the confidence and acceptance of employees seeking help by removing perceived barriers and simply being open about mental health. The report aims to continue our sector’s journey to creating mentally healthy workplaces.

Corporate Social Responsibility Consulting Matters

Fast forward to 2021 and we have many achievements to celebrate.

Navigating global pandemics, pipeline pressures, and resource constraints, our members have continued to prioritise our mental health initiative, because they genuinely believe that by making it easier for staff to address mental health concerns in the workplace, they can have a significant impact on the livelihood of their employees. Together, we have developed a myriad of practical guides for our members such as Top five tips for SMEs on creating a mentally healthier work environment, The link between physical health and mental health, Supporting the mental health of managers, and Mental health conversations in the workplace.

We have established an End of Year Tender Deadlines Campaign which we piloted in Queensland and have now expanded across Australia. The campaign calls on agencies to implement a black-out period across Christmas and New Year and is underpinned by our recognition that to build a mentally healthy and sustainable industry, those we represent need to have a well-deserved and uninterrupted rest over the end-of-year holiday period.

Additionally, we have tackled stigma head on, and are proud of the vulnerability and courage demonstrated by our members as they openly discuss their own mental health struggles in pursuit of supporting others to come forward for assistance. Our Mental Health Ambassadors, David, Gerry, and Arthur, recently spoke about their own experiences with mental health challenges or those they have witnessed in people close to them, demonstrating how leaders can de-stigmatise mental illness and encourage mental health conversations.

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The success of our mental health initiative is due to the passion and persistence of our Mental Health Working Group and Mental Health Ambassador Network. Our Mental Health Working Group brings together Human Resources, Work, Health and Safety, and other professionals with a passion for developing mentally healthy workplace strategies and resources. Our Mental Health Ambassador Network consists of senior leaders dedicated to improving the mental health of professionals working within firms that provide design, advisory, and engineering services for the built and natural environment Thank you to our members for your ongoing commitment to supporting mental health in the workplace and look forward to expanding our reach in 2022. n

Teone Tobin, Policy Analyst - Consult Australia

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Consulting Matters Project Case Study

AAPOWERLINK PROJECT

Copyright 5B

Founded in 2018, Sun Cable is an Australian, world-leading renewable energy company. Their mission is to develop systems to supply renewable electricity from resource abundant regions to growing load centres, at scale to power the Indo-Pacific region with competitively priced, dispatchable, high volume renewable electricity. The AAPowerLink project is the first of its kind and the first of many.

The AAPowerLink will provide Darwin and Singapore with high quality, dispatchable renewable electricity supply.

Rapid advancements in renewable energy and battery technology, combined with the evolutionary changes in HVDC cable systems (reducing cost and increasing efficiency and reliability) have made it economical to transport energy over long distances.

Construction is expected to take four to five years and is proposed to start around early 2024. Supply of power to the Northern Territory is planned to commence in 2026, with supply to Singapore to commence in 2027 with the system fully operational by the end of 2028.

Sun Cable’s energy projects will position Australia, Singapore and other markets in Asia as world leaders in intercontinental transmission of renewable electricity. This infrastructure will facilitate the electrification of new and existing industries, supporting large-scale economic development, whilst reducing greenhouse gas emissions.

We are an international company with employees working across the region. We have offices in Singapore, Jakarta, Sydney, Darwin, Canberra and Brisbane.

Overview of the project Sun Cable is developing the Australia-Asia PowerLink (AAPowerLink), a high-capacity solar generation, storage and transmission system that will transmit large volumes of renewable electricity from the Barkly Region of the Northern Territory to Darwin and Singapore markets.

A world-leading team of highly skilled experts from SMEC (Surbana Jurong Group), Bechtel, Hatch, Marsh, and PwC Australia have assembled to deliver this multi gigawatt scale project.

The AAPowerLink project comprises a number of key components: • Solar farm precinct including energy storage and voltage source converter (VSC) at Powell Creek near Elliott in the Northern Territory; • High voltage direct current (HVDC) overhead transmission line (OHTL) from the solar farm to Darwin; • VSC and a utility-scale battery in Darwin; • Cable Transition Facilities to enable transition of power cables between land and sea in Darwin and Singapore • Subsea HVDC cable system from Darwin to Singapore; and VSC and utility-scale battery in Singapore.

Project Case Study Consulting Matters

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Key Project Statistics • Solar precinct covering 12,000 hectare that generates 17-20 GWp from the solar PV arrays with a 36-42 GWh of energy storage to enable 24/7 dispatchable electricity, at Powell Creek near Elliot in the Barkly Region of the Northern Territory, Australia.

• Approximately 800 km of scalable 3.2-6.4 GW Overhead Transmission Line (OHTL) from the Powell Creek Solar Precinct to Murrumujuk, approx close to 35 km north-east of Darwin.

• Cable Transition Facilities to enable transition of power cables between land and sea.

• Subsea cable system extending approximately 4,200 km from the Darwin Converter Site to Singapore with approximately 2.2 GW of capacity leaving Darwin.

• Singapore Converter Station including a VSC, grid interconnection and energy storage to supply the Singapore grid. n

• Darwin Converter Site including Voltage Source Converters (VSC), energy storage and network connection to supply up to 800 MW of renewable electricity to the Darwin region.

Not representative of the exact route

Suite 78, Jones Bay Wharf, 26-32 Pirrama Road, Pyrmont NSW 2009

The entire team at Consult Australia wish

Merry Christmas and Happy New Year.

you a

We look forward to working with you all in 2022.

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