Advocacy Highlights

Since last edition, we’ve of course had a change of government at the federal level. Already we can see our advocacy priorities reflected in the initial stages of the new government. For example, the government has recognised the significant skills shortages many industries are facing and has announced an upcoming Jobs and Skills Summit. Consult Australia has secured a seat at the Infrastructure Roundtable of the Jobs and Skills Summit. We have also provided Tony Burke, Minister for Employment and Workplace Relations with our latest thought leadership piece Thinking Smarter About Skills. We are also leveraging our membership of the Australian Chamber of Commerce and Industry, who are attending the summit proper, to ensure the skills issues facing our sector are voiced loud and clear. We have also had several Ministers contact us in response to our letters of congratulations to set meetings to discuss our priority issues from procurement reform to statutory reform. We’ll keep you updated in our Policy Pulse videos of how those engagements progress.

The Productivity Commission has published its Interim Report: The Key to Prosperity. This comes after our submission at the start of the year as well as two meetings with commission staff on digital and procurement/risk. We thank members involved in the submission work and those meetings for their openness on the challenges of piecemeal digital investment and commitment by governments across the nation. As a result of all our hard work, the Interim Report includes points linked to our advocacy priorities such as:

• recognising the need for policies that foster a business environment that encourages efficiency, innovation and diffusion

• a focus on data policy, digital technology and cyber security noting the economy-wide importance of data and the digital technologies that generate and use data, as general-purpose technologies that could boost productivity in many areas of the economy, including services

• to achieve a productivity-friendly business environment we need to limit impediments to business investment, allow a flexible workforce, have sound regulation and an efficient approach to decarbonising the economy

• the importance of a skilled and educated workforce.

We look forward to seeing how feedback to the Interim Report is used to generate the final report and how the government can realise some of the opportunities.

This is just a quick overview of our activity at the Federal level, remember to watch our Policy Pulse videos, and find out more about what we are doing at the local level from the team below. See also later in this issue our Small Business Spotlight and our Roundtable Round-up.

Kirsty Eulenstein

Head of Policy and Government Relations

NSW

1) Nicola was pleased to be a panellist at Transport for NSW’s Pipeline 2022 event to give industry’s perspective on collaboration. This continues our ongoing engagement with the agency, including on the improvement of contract terms for members.

2) With significant work already done with Treasury NSW on the proposed capped rates for infrastructure advisory, industry engagement has started on the terms and conditions. Consult Australia is pleased to be working with the agency on this important program for all members.

3) With the shifting of ministers and movement within NSW agencies, we remain committed to engaging on problematic contract terms, regulatory burdens and pipeline transparency. To share any concerns you have on NSW contracts or interactions, please contact Alison.

ACT

1) The ACT Committee will be seeking information from the government to support a smooth registration process for engineers, should this go ahead.

2) The ACT Committee has been discussing the importance of supporting staff mental health and wellbeing through resource constraints.

3) Engagement with clients is a priority focus for the ACT Committee.

Alison Kirk

VIC

1) Mark and Teone had a positive meeting with the Victorian Small Business Commissioner to discuss the issues of most importance to our small business members. The Commissioner agreed to ongoing meetings to see where assistance was best directed.

2) The Innovation Victoria Conference was attended by Mark to gather more intel on digital awareness, innovation, and the importance of legacy data when working on projects.

3) Mark is engaging with Victorian agencies with an upcoming meeting with the Red Tape Commissioner raising issues including the construction supplier register, labour hire laws, and more. Any ideas or agencies to be included, please contact Mark.

Mark Rogers

WA

1) With Emma joining the Consult Australia team, she has been busy talking to members, getting to know the WA committee, and engaging with key stakeholders. Get in contact with Emma to discuss WA priorities.

2) The WA committee, led by the new Chair Sarah Iwaniw and Deputy Chair Brad Harris, has reaffirmed its commitment to providing a diverse, representative, and committed voice on behalf of all Consult Australia members in WA.

3) Nicola and Emma met with Infrastructure WA to discuss Consult Australia’s policy priorities. Consult Australia received a response from Infrastructure WA thanking us for our recommendations to help shape the WA State Infrastructure Strategy.

Emma Thunder

SA

1) With Jane joining the Consult Australia team, she will be contacting local members in SA and NT to introduce herself and get to know your top issues for action.

2) We are progressing advocacy work in SA, for example with recent positive engagement with the Department of Infrastructure and Transport especially on contractual issues and seeking consistency across transport and building projects. DIT are keen to hear how novation of contracts impacts consultants. If you have feedback to share please contact Jane.

NT

1) We recently held an in-depth workshop on design reviews with the Department of Infrastructure, Planning and Logistics. Nicola made her way to the top-end to support the engagement which allowed all to share productivity benefits of re-thinking the standard approach.

2) The NT committee is keen to continue its positive engagement with government including having some new members on the committee. If you’d like to drive the agenda in NT, please contact Jane.

Jane Creaser

QLD

1) Consult Australia attended a joint workshop with Queensland government and industry stakeholders looking at solving procurement challenges that will make it easier to do business with government. Solutions raised included greater industry engagement upfront to inform scoping and to build an understanding of client aspirations.

2) With members facing ongoing resourcing challenges, we met with the Department of Education, Small Business and Training to discuss skills shortages and the Department of Multicultural Affairs to discuss the need for stepping-stones to increase migrant engineer job access. This was followed by an industry roundtable discussion on employment pathways for migrant engineers where member representatives shared their experiences and discussed support needed.

3) Kristine met with the Queensland Small Business Commissioner to discuss mutual areas of advocacy and the small business friendly program. If you would like to recognise a small business friendly activity by councils as part of the program, please contact Kristine.

TAS

1) Consult Australia is pleased to be a signatory to Building Tasmania’s Future Memorandum of Understanding and looks forward to contributing to the reform agenda. The TAS committee has identified nominees for each of the Infrastructure Tasmania working groups and will share Consult Australia’s advocacy priorities through these forums.

2) We recently met with a Tas Irrigation, Department of Health, TasPorts and IPWEA members to discuss contracts, risk and insurance. All discussions were positive with TasPorts in particular interested in the interrelationship between contract conditions and insurance issues.

Kristine Banks

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