Pathways 83 - June 23

During the last month, we celebrated Reconciliation Week 2023 –Be a Voice for Generations – and I would like to start off by giving a big thank you to Madena for her presentation.

We were fortunate to hear her story, learn about her people, her culture, and what Reconciliation Week means for her.

It’s never easy standing up and public speaking, but Madena did so excellently.

We were also fortunate enough to have Emma Bamblett – the creator of our ‘Connecting Mobs’ MRPA Artwork – come in and run a painting class. Participants got the chance to ask Emma her advice on how to create a story through artwork and learn a little more about Aboriginal symbols.

Congratulations to the Brunt Road and AWP10 Frankston Multi Deck teams for completing successful occupations during the last three weeks.

Occupations require a big push from the entire team, so well done to everyone who worked hard to ensure their success and hassle-free completion.

The Community and Stakeholder teams have kept the momentum up and appeared at two activations this last month –one down in Cranbourne and one up in Watergardens Shopping centre.

I’d like to say well done to Linden Chapman for being selected by The Leadership Institute and UNSW to attend the Leadership for Women Masterclass.

An awesome achievement and a great opportunity – way to go Linden!

I had a great time trekking 45km in the pursuit of raising funds for The Heart Foundation. The team that joined me were great fun and we all kept each other motivated till the end.

Thanks all,

Dean Riha

“It’s never easy public speaking, but Madena did so excellently”

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BRUNT ROAD

It’s been a busy month for the Brunt Road team, with lots of night works happening to complete critical activities.

The team worked round the clock in order to prepare for their piling rig and crane mobilisation as well as completing investigation and signalling works.

Traffic barriers and gawk screen have now been installed, allowing the team to work up to 900mm behind the barrier.

Their hardstand, access road, and piling pads are now complete, the piling rig has mobilised to site, and service relocation continues.

On top of all this, the team completed their second successful rail occupation

at the end of May where overhead wires were lowered, and redundant overhead structures were removed to make way for new ones to be installed.

The CICT Five Day working week trial is progressing out at Brunt, with their second interview and first group survey completed.

These surveys and interviews will track the progress and effectiveness of the trial, building a comprehensive snapshot of the overall results.

CAMMS ROAD

CAMMS ROAD The Camms Road team have been kicking more goals than the mighty Pies over the past month. The bridge superstructure is rapidly approaching completion, the RSS walls and fill are going in fast and the remaining utility relocations are swiftly approaching the finish line.

Yet all these accomplishments pale in comparison to our clear front runner – Over’N’Out. The upcoming Australian icon and unsanctioned Camms Road mascot achieved her maiden victory in the prestigious Kilmore Park Hip-Pocket Workwear Castlemaine Maiden Plate.

With a glorious jump, Over’N’Out blitzed the field to a three-furlong lead coming into the last bend. The 3-year-old Bay Filly cruised home to a comfortable victory at Kilmore on Thursday 25 May. Delighted owner and part-time trainer Jesse Ballard couldn’t have been prouder after the success.

“She’s a magnificent animal. I knew from her circle work she would be strong in a bend and I didn’t have to wait long for victory,” he said. “I never lost faith or doubted her ability.”

There were also some big contributions from Jemma, Amy, Amy-Lea, Liz, Pat, Rob, Chloe, Dan and Seyha this month. They volunteered their time to kick off the Build a Bridge project with a local primary school.

And a final shout out to Liam for donating native vegetation for some very happy birds. It has been another great month for the team at Camms Road!

- Hadley De Ridder

CALDER PARK DRIVE AND HOLDEN ROAD

Following their official media release, the Calder and Holden team is now clear to commence site works, beginning in early June.

The first item on the agenda will be clearing and grubbing, followed by the main compound establishment.

The Stakeholder and Community Relations team have been very successful in introducing the project to the surrounding community, as well as releasing the initial works notifications.

In the background, the team is currently working on subcontractor procurement, reviewing design packages, and developing the construction program.

Click the render above to view more of the Calder Park level crossing removal final designs.

The team out west celebrated their final day out on site, with special mention to those who had seen the project through from start to finish.

In order of appearance, shout out to Rebecca Albani, Matthew Dibb, Maz Hamady, Jihad Chahda, Jonathan Siebert, and Joanne Watson for all your work out in the West.

The Robinsons Road site sheds will now relocate up to Calder Park and form the new home for the Calder and Holden Project team.

ROBINSONS ROAD And that’s a wrap on Robinsons Road!

CAR PARKS

The team have been busy at AWP7 over the past month.

With the combined effort of the Project team and the wider alliance, we are proud to be able to say we have successfully achieved PC for Separable Portion 1.

This included the construction of the Station Carparks at Wattle Glen, Drouin, Yarraman, Nar Nar Goon and Upper Ferntree Gully.

Since then, focus has shifted to wrapping up completions for Eltham, and the construction of the western car park of Merlynston Station.

Currently at Merlynston, we are undergoing retaining wall works, excavating for drainage, and we are aiming to be out of the ground by the end of the month.

It has been a great effort to have overcome challenges involving working around shallow and direct buried services, and interfacing with multiple work groups amid numerous site constraints.

A big thanks to all parties involved in the project, and looking forward to being on the home stretch for AWP7.

- Pete McDowell

Additionally, a big congratulations to the AWP10 Frankston Multi Deck team for completing their first occupation successfully.

CAR PARKS

Reconciliation Week

Be a Voice For Generations was the theme for National Reconciliation Week 2023. The Alliance was fortunate enough to hear a powerful and moving story from Madena Jaffer – a proud Aboriginal woman from Coen and a familiar face around the Alliance.

She shared her insights, her opinions, and the changes she hopes to see around the Nation toward a more reconciled society.

“This year’s theme, be a Voice for Generations is about all of us. It’s about us coming together to create a more just, equitable and reconciled country,” said Madena.

“It’s about us individually, you. It’s about our communities. It’s about your families and it’s about mine.”

Her people are the Southern Kaantju, Aayapathu, and Umpila People from Far North Queensland.

She spoke of her connection to country, her proud and rich history, and her overwhelming joy at being legally and officially recognised as the rightful owners of her people’s land under the Cape York United #1 Native Title Land Claim.

“I want to stand tall with you. I want to work with all of you,” she said.

“I want a better tomorrow for myself, a better tomorrow for my people, and a better tomorrow for all of us.”

Madena emphasised the importance of recognising Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people as the traditional and original owners of this land during her presentation.

As we approach a National Referendum that will allow Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islanders a voice within Parliament, please take the time to consider your vote fully and completely.

“The voice will recognise our people, my people – Aboriginal and or Torres Strait islander peoples in our countries, mine and yours, founding documents.

“Without that recognition, there is still a gap between first peoples and all other relations.”

The Voice will allow First Nations people a direct line of contact and influence within Parliament regarding matters that impact Aboriginal and Torres Strait Island communities.

“With a voice, I truly believe that will be an ultimate recognition of first people. A step forward. Reconciliation.”

To read more about The Voice, head over to the official The Voice to Parliament website here.

To hear more from Madena about The Voice, her connection to country, and what Reconciliation Week means to her, please head over to The Junction to watch the recording of her presentation by clicking here.

Madena and her sisters at the Native Title Handover

Art Classes with Emma Bamblett

Art classes with Emma Bamblett - the creator of our ‘Connecting Mobs’ artwork that hangs in the foyer at Goodwood Street - was an educational and hands-on Reconciliation Week activity.

Participants had the opportunity to learn from Emma and pick her brain on all things art, culture, and history, all while creating a masterpiece of their own.

To see more photos from the day, click here.

WICSG

The Women in Construction Steering Group (WICSG) was created to understand the barrier that exists for women in the construction industry, drive change and promote a sustainable, diverse, and psychologically safe environment.

In their first session, the group sat down and hashed out their purpose, expectations, how the group will operate, and the key outcomes to be achieved within the next twelve months.

These actions are to implement a buddy system that will provide on-going support to females within the business, educate our women on opportunities (which includes highlighting existing policies), and organise networking events to build strong support systems for women within the Alliance.

On a wider scale, the group has also devised three main goals to aid them as they begin to drive change:

1. Provide additional support for females in the industry

2. Provide education around the types of barriers that females face within the industry and find ways to break them down

3. Raise the profile of construction to women outside the industry

Regular updates will be provided through Built it Together presentations, Pathways, and occasional email correspondence.

Help the WIC Steering Group understand the types of barriers currently in place for women by taking this quick survey. All members of the Alliance are invited and encouraged to respond to help the group gain more depth of understanding in this area.

Not pictured: Tracy Adams and Nina McHardy

Community Engagement

The Camms Road team have started a new community engagement activity called Build a Bridge. At their first session, the team presented the activity to approximately 270 students from years 1 to 3 at Cranbourne West Primary School.

Students were given an overview of the types of roles and team members typically seen on a project, as well as a step-by-step explanation of the different components that make up a road bridge.

After a quick demonstration by the team (pictured below), the students will now spend the coming weeks building their own bridges before presenting their final products back to the team.

To check out more photos from the day, head over to the Pathways Gallery here!

CAMMS ROAD BUILDING A BRIDGE

Popping up for Communities

The Car Parks for Commuters team have been busy popping up at different locations over the last month.

The team appeared at the Hurstbridge Line Duplication community event on Saturday 6 May to chat with locals about the new multi-deck and bus interchange coming to Greensborough Station.

They also surprised commuters at Tarneit Station with free coffee and cookies, letting them know about works starting on the new bus interchange.

Their final pop up was at Frankston Station where they provided free hot coffee and let commuters know about upcoming changes to the car park at Frankston Station.

Paint Treatments

Communities of Practice hosted their first special guest event to discuss all things Paint Treatments.

Led by Aidan Thompson and Dan McKeown, of Dulux Protective Coatings, the session had a great turnout with participants joining from both MRPA and NWPA.

After more than 16 years at Dulux Protective Coatings, Dan brings significant experience and expertise to the industry.

He holds a degree in chemistry, NACE 2 accreditation as well as extensive product knowledge, honed over 10 years from working in Dulux’s research and development labs.

Dan provided the team with an extensive overview of protective coatings in infrastructure, covering off: Relevant VicRoads Standards Specifications, time to maintenance, best practice maintenance, preparation requirements, painting application, repairs and touch-ups, examples of what can go wrong – lessons learnt, and much more!

Visit the Paint Treatments topic page to view the presentation recording and access other useful resources.

Keep an eye on our CoP page to view and register for upcoming sessions!

Hiking for a cause

A team of fit and eager MRPA trek-ers tackled the 45km Coastrek Adventure along the Mornington Peninsula coastline.

But this big walk wasn’t just to enjoy the breathtaking views and eachother’s company – the team were raising money to support the Heart Foundation.

Coastrek Mornington Peninsula is known for its challenging hike along some of the most picturesque yet rugged coastal trails in the world.

Luckily, the fore casted wind, rain and hail held off and allowed the team to complete the trek in a speedy 9 hours and 57 minutes –compared to the estimated 10-12 hours.

All up, they managed to raise an impressive $4000 for Coastrek’s charity of choice for 2023 - The Heart Foundation.

The money raised will bring awareness to the severity of coronary heart disease – Australia’s leading cause of death – and provide vital funds for life-saving research and programs.

Overall, the eight participants believed the day to be a great opportunity to raise much needed funds, step out in nature, and walk for healthy hearts.

Special mention to Donovan for running an extra 1km just to retrieve his triple shot dare iced coffee.

Well done to Hayley Rohde, Dean Riha, Danny Gannon, Scott Paterson, Tom Calvert, Donovan Kelly, Ray Barnard, and returning to support the team, Jordan Gilliland.

MEET THE NEW NEIGHBOURS

In the wake of the new Calder Park Drive designs being released, the Community and Stakeholder team headed out to Watergardens Shopping Centre for two “Meet Your New Neighbours” community engagement sessions.

The team, with some help from the wider Calder Park team, engaged with over 300 residents across the two days.

Feedback from the community was positive, with something on offer for everyone.

Notepads, pens, activity books, and lollies were available to win through the ‘spin the wheel’ activity.

Our famous building blocks digger and crane was a hit with the kids, entertaining them while parents

received updates about the works soon to kick off in their area.

Corflutes displaying updated renders, as well as a video fly-through of the new road bridge were available for the public to check out.

Quite a few community members were eager and happy to hear they could sign up to receive email and SMS updates about the project.

The two days provided a great opportunity for the team to meet the community, and for locals to ask questions and deliver their feedback.

Operational Improvement Update

The Operational Improvement Team is pleased to provide the wider Alliance with an update on the Lessons Learnt Project. Since the initial announcement at a recent Built it Together session, the team has been diligently working and conducting a series of meetings with subject matter experts from various disciplines across MRPA.

These engaging sessions have proven to be highly fruitful, as they have shed light on key insights and findings regarding the existing lessons learnt process within MRPA. The findings collected were analysed on three fundamental aspects: people, process, and technology. This then led the team to conclude that several areas in the current process could be improved.

To ensure that any and all progress aligns with the overarching organizational objectives, the outcomes of the analysis were presented to the members of the Certainty Pillar Working Group.

The key outcomes noted were the lack of a formalised process for capturing lessons learnt, limited visibility of lessons learnt, and inadequate follow-up and action planning on identified lessons learnt.

Based on these findings, the Operational Improvement Team has pulled together some recommendations for improvements. These include developing a lessons learnt framework, change management to support lessons learnt initiatives, and the implementation of a centralised repository for lessons learnt to improve documentation, visibility, and accessibility.

To find out more about this project, head over to SharePoint and read the full article here

Celebrating our People

Project Engineer Linden Chapman was recently selected by The Leadership Institute and UNSW to attend the Leadership for Women Masterclass.

The two-day masterclass provided the opportunity for participants to build awareness, agility, and confidence to lead with wisdom, compassion and courage.

“Some of the skills that I’ve learnt in just two days at the masterclass I will carry with me for the rest of my career,” said Linden.

Congratulations on this opportunity Linden!

McLAREN LIAM

Although he now resides in Hawthorn East and thoroughly enjoys heading to the MCG for a game of footy, Liam McLaren is a beach boy at heart.

“I grew up in Philip Island and moved to the city a few years ago,” he says.

“My parents and one of my younger brothers live down at Phillip Island with our dog Peggy, while my other brother and I live in the eastern suburbs of Melbourne.

“My family loves the beach lifestyle and I often receive images of beach walks with the dog and fishing trips.”

ABOVE: The McLaren Family - Youngest brother Lewis, Mum and Dad on left. Liam’s partner Olivia, brother Finan and his partner Tia on the right Liam and his partner Olivia

“One thing I can’t live without is music. It always helps me get through the day.”

ABOVE: Liam at the footy with his brother and father

STAFF FEATURE

Liam loves heading back down to Phillip Island to visit his family and spend a weekend on the beach, as well as exploring through nature.

“When I am able to escape on the weekends, I love strolling through local markets, going on bush walks, or finding a new mountain bike trail to explore.”

With all the time he spends outdoors, it’s no surprise Liam chose a career in the environmental field, now spending his time as an Environmental Coordinator down with the Camms Road team. But his original career dreams weren’t so obvious.

“I wanted to be a Postman. Not sure why, maybe it’s because my name spelt backwards is ‘mail’,” he says. “Or maybe it’s because they get to zoom around on a scooter all day.”

“I didn’t last in my Postman phase for too long though,” says Liam.

“It was during high school that I started down the environmental path and I quickly knew I wanted a career in that space. I volunteered at the Philip Island Nature Parks and Bass Coast Landcare and then went straight into studying Environmental Management at Deakin University.”

Liam would say that the best way to start the day is with bacon and eggs, a coffee in hand, and a podcast on. However, if he’s having a bad day, he’s got a pretty solid plant to turn it around.

“I’ll usually sit down with a cup of tea to watch a nostalgic, easy viewing comfort show such as an idiot abroad and Curb Your Enthusiasm. The classics definitely cheer me up.”

“I’m also happiest when I’ve got a Bahn-mi in hand,” says Liam. “And music is also a must. It’s one thing I can’t live without and always helps me get through the day.”

A fan of underground dingy basements, Liam loves the local music and comedy scene. “Currently a local band ‘These New South Whales’ has been on repeat for me.”

The last time Liam laughed so hard he cried was at a Greg Larsen stand-up comedy gig.

“If you haven’t seen him before, I’d highly recommend checking him out.”

Having travelled mainly throughout Australia and Tassie, Liam has set his sights on Vietnam as his next overseas destination.

A fan of Asian countries, Liam’s first international trip took him to Japan.

“I went to Japan a few years back on a solo trip. I travelled all over by myself, and it was an incredible journey,” he says.

“Going to Disneyland alone sounds like it wouldn’t be a lot of fun, but I would recommend it. You get to skip heaps of lines when an extra person is needed to fill the rides.”

ABOVE: Liam on the World Heritage Cruise in Tasmania with mates

STAFF FEATURE

How would you describe your job to a child?

Help my work lower its environmental impact

What is something you learned in the last week?

A few DAX formulas for Power BI such as:

Qtr = IF(MONTH([Date])>=10, “Qtr 2”, IF(MONTH([Date])>=7, “Qtr 1”, IF(MONTH([Date])>=4, “Qtr 4”, “Qtr 3”)))

What animal most closely matches your personality?

A capybara. They seem pretty chilled and down to earth.

If you could make any task and Olympic sport, which task would you take the Gold medal in?

Collecting hot sauces

What is your favourite movie?

Bill & Teds Excellent Adventure

What do you do in your spare time?

A lot of my afternoons and evenings are filled by gym sessions and going on runs.

Hadley in his happy place whilst rockclimbing

ISC EVENT TEAM

A big shout out to Ashleigh Smith, Isabelle Ryan, and Jessica Eberle for their presentations at the ISC Certification Night.

Public speaking can be pretty daunting sometimes, so well done to these ladies for representing the Alliance with their well delivered speeches.

ASHLEIGH SMITH

Shout out to Ashleigh for putting in the hard yards to get the Brunt Road base case submission across the line.

Ashleigh displayed great Built It Together attitude and worked hard to get everything submitted on time.

ENVIRO CASE STUDIES TEAM

Shout out to Grace Wheildon, Isabelle Ryan, Dominic D’monte, and Viviana Lloyd for their efforts pulling together and submitting the sustainability case studies.

A huge amount of work has gone into these on top of everyone’s day-to-day jobs.

HIRUNI WICKRAMARATHNE

Shout out to Hiruni for her efforts in supporting the AWP7 SP1, PC.

Hiruni acted promptly on all requests and completed all tasks with a positive and Give A Damn attitude.

ASSET INTEGRATION TEAM

More specifically, Jack Fang would like to shout out Abhishek Lall, Zailen Mejia Lora, Paul Rodgers, Nick Khalouei and Ali Burns for their efforts in securing 3PCs and 1FC since March 2023.

This was a monster effort by the team and displayed great Get Amongst It and Built It Together attitude.

JASON MIZI AND HAYLEY GAVIN

Shout out to Hayley and Jason for their hardwork organising the ‘Meet your new Neighbours’ community sessions.

Your efforts ensured the event ran smoothly and all community members left feeling positive and well-informed.

Fitted For Work

During the end of June, the Environmental and Sustainability team will be running a clothing drive for Fitted for Work.

The charity, Fitted for Work, helps women in Australia experiencing disadvantage become work ready, gain secure employment, and experience success in their careers.

The clothing drive aims to collect business, corporate, or work appropriate clothing for women all across Australia. Through these drives, fundraising events, and regular donations, Fitted for Work can provide women re-entering the work-force with an outfiting service that helps them gain confidence in job interviews and applications.

What can I donate?

Fitted for Work accepts clean, undamaged women’s fashion and accessories. They also accept new and un-opened makeup products. For a full list of what you can and cannot donate, head over to their website.

Look out for the clothing bins that will begin to pop up around each project site at the end of June.

Tarneit Opening Mimics Beetles

AROUND THE TRAPS

The Tarneit team - a combination of Fulton Hogan Civil, MRPA and V/Line employees - have re-created the Abbey Road album cover art as they open their South East car park.

APRIL Birthday! HAPPY

Celebrating a birthday this month is:

Ashleigh Smith, Bridgette Rizzatto, Crystal D’Mello, David Evans, Derek Collins, Eliza McNamara, Ethan Caruana-Smith, Harry Adams, Ihab Qassab, Iyasu Enoro, Jihad Chahda, John Paraskevas, Josiah Butter, Linden Chapman, Louisa Janssen, Mathew Dib, Maureen Balitaan, Mike Daly, Mitchell Jacques, Patrick Sabaruddin, Pilip Rossmanith, Rohan Went, Sendoor Bala, and Stephanie Delle Chiaie.

Not pictured but also celebrating is Geoffrey Blackwood and Tania Keays.