EngineeringSA The South Australia Division’s Newsletter
South Australia Division
February 2011 A Message From The President 2011 has begun with a tragic reminder of the vulnerability of our communities to the forces of nature, and as a consequence the need for engineers in our society. The recent flooding across much of eastern Australia, especially Queensland, has been catastrophic for many thousands of people, and our hearts go out to all those who have lost family and friends, and who have suffered loss and damage to their homes and property. Many of our members are showing in a practical way their personal commitment to the Year of Humanitarian Engineering, in helping their friends and colleagues deal with the devastation caused by the extreme weather events. In a professional capacity, engineers will begin to understand what happened, and plan and deliver the changes necessary in our infrastructure to reduce the likelihood of a similar event in the future leading to such tragic outcomes. South Australian Strategic Infrastructure Plan In South Australia, our state government released a Discussion Paper in September 2009 as a precursor to updating the state’s first Strategic Infrastructure Plan, which was released back in 2005. On your behalf, Engineers Australia has responded to this Discussion Paper, and provided the following recommendations for priority attention. This response was based on our recently released Infrastructure Report Card for South Australia, which in particular highlighted inadequacies in our stormwater infrastructure. 1. Further the integration of State-wide planning, especially transport strategies, to improve the movement of people and freight. 2. Encourage shifts in transport modes from road to rail for freight, and from private to public transport for people. 3. Increase funding for all infrastructure, including maintenance and renewal, to ensure the State’s long term productivity. 4. Prioritise the development of port infrastructure in regional South Australia to support the emerging mineral resources sector. 5. Continue to increase the diversity of water supply options, including greater take up of recycled wastewater and stormwater. 6. Deliver significant improvements to stormwater infrastructure in flood prone areas and apply careful planning to new urban infill schemes.
To deliver on these recommendations, we have encouraged the State and Federal Governments to find ways to facilitate a major increase in the use of private sector funding for infrastructure projects. For South Australia this is particularly relevant to the needs of the growing minerals industry sector which will be one of the major contributors of economic growth in South Australia in the future. South Australian Engineering Wonders Like all of you, I am immensely proud of the contribution that South Australian engineers are making to our society. I am also sure that you would agree with me that this is poorly understood by the general community including, in particular, the younger members who might aspire to an engineering role in the future if they were better informed. Our Division Committee has approved an initiative to produce and publish a booklet and associated DVD showcasing the “South Australian Engineering Wonders” for the period 2000 - 2010. Our aim is to identify the great engineering achievements of our state over the last 10 years, and to promote the engineers and engineering teams who ‘made it so’. Selection criteria will be based on a matrix scoring system which includes, but is not limited to, innovation and ingenuity, impacts on employment, improvements in community health, improvements in movement and contribution to the South Australian economy. Our goal is for the publication to be launched during Australian Engineering Week, August 2011. We will use all available communication channels to promote the SA Engineering Wonders initiative, particularly during Australian Engineering Week and beyond. I would like to invite you to nominate one or more South Australian engineering achievements for consideration by our steering committee. Any nominations you are able to identify in the following format would be greatly appreciated: • Importance and contribution • Name of project / to community (local and achievement state) • Engineering aspects and the • Aim of the project engineers involved
7. Increase efforts to achieve the State’s sustainability objectives with regard to energy use, especially with respect to base load electricity generation.
• List of challenges on the project
8. Provide a financial and regulatory environment which facilitates the creation of renewable energy generation and transmission infrastructure, to meet the State Government’s ambitious renewable energy targets.
Please provide me with your response by Friday 25th February 2011, to sapresident@engineersaustralia.org.au.
9. Give further consideration to road infrastructure funding alternatives to enable earlier provision of key road links.
Dr David Cruickshanks-Boyd FIEAust EngExec President Engineers Australia South Australia Division
• When did it occur / over what period
Thank you and I look forward to hearing from you.
News Flash •
The 2011 South Australian Engineering Excellence www.engineersaustralia.org.au/sa for more details.
Awards
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In July 2011 the 15th International Conference for Woman Engineers and Scientists (ICWES15) will be held, for the first time in Australia, in Adelaide. See the South Australia Division website for more information.