Water Skills Forum 2023

To better understand water operator employment and training issues, the department commissioned Balmoral Group Australia (BGA) to analyse the NSW water operations workforce and its access to training, resulting in the NSW water operations workforce and training analysis report and subsequently the Water operations skills and training action plan.

Lee-Anne Willis, Learning and Development Project Coordinator for the Water Industry Worker Program, hosted by Mackay Regional Council, provided an update on the WIW program, highlighting some of the regional training hubs that are being delivered through the QWRAP program.

The Water Industry Worker Program was developed in partnership with qldwater, government, industry and training providers to help retain skilled staff and improve future opportunities for workers through industry specific training.

The Program commenced in South East Queensland in late 2009 and has now been adopted across a number of organisations and QWRAP regions from across Queensland.

The WIW aim is to support water industry workers to receive a national accredited qualification, acknowledging the skills and expanding the knowledge of these essential service providers in local communities.

They focus on hard to reach communities and go where the people are, making use of existing networks to deliver low cost engagement.

Dr Marty Hancock, Research Manager at Water Research Australia presented on the findings and progress of the Operations and Operator benchmarking project being delivered by Veolia Water Technologies.

The main purpose of the project is to bring industry and regulators together, to develop minimum standards (a benchmark) for technical competency that facilitates a more consistent approach towards technical competency and the implementation of Learning and Development (L&D) programs for frontline water industry operations.

George Wall, Managing Director at the Water Industry Operators Association of Australia (WIOA) presented on the benefits of the Acuario platform which can aid visibility of workforce planning and skills training gap analysis.

George has had a long history in the training space including being Chair of the national Water Industry Reference Committee, the group that manages the National Water Training Package, and a strong advocate and driver of Operator Certification (now Registration) schemes in both Victoria and nationally.

Operator Registration provides an assurance to regulators, communities and the users of drinking water and recycled water that Operators are competent to manage drinking water, wastewater and/or recycled water quality, as well as being capable of identifying and responding to drinking water, wastewater and/or recycled water quality risks and incidents. There is a lot of detail that sits behind registration assessments which resulted in the investment by WIOA in developing the custom-built Acuario system to track the whole process.

Felicity Simpson, Community Engagement and Stakeholder Relations Lead, and Carmen Roberts, Community Education and Engagement Officer at Logan City Council delivered an engaging presentation on their engagement with schools and the education sector - what has worked and could be readily applied in a remote or regional setting.

Some examples include a Tap Café at smaller events, youth engagement through Ignite Careers Days, partnering with TAFE to access cultural and linguistically diverse communities (e.g. the adult migrant English program), NAIDOC week activities and more.

Felicity believes that we can’t predict the future, but we can help shape it – a great motto to live by.

mental health in the workplace and how to create a psychologically safe workplace.

The final presentation of the day was by Leadership Coach and Trainer Belinda Chapman on the responsibilities and practical tips for leaders and individuals regarding

Belinda talked about the new mental health workplace code “Managing the risk of psychosocial hazards at work Code of Practice” which came into force on 1 April 2023 which is designed to empower Queensland businesses with practical information and guidance to create mentally healthy workplaces across the state.

Shannon Orr, Northern Australia Market Leader at GHD and IPWEA Queensland & Northern Territory (IPWEA-QNT) Engineer of the Year 2022, discussed the challenges and opportunities in building strong partnerships between consultancies and the water industry.

Shannon provided a different viewpoint of consultants working in the industry, and how consultancy firms can provide best value to the sector through opportunities for trainees.