RESOURCE PEOPLE Issue 010 | Autumn 2015

RESOURCE Issue 010 Autumn 2015

Gender diversity in practice Employers leading the way

MMA Offshore: Exploring unchartered waters Wood Group PSN: Building brownfields success

PLUS Productivity Commission Review: workplace reform on the horizon

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CONTENTS

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COVER IMAGE

OZ Minerals

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EDITOR Tom Reid Tom.Reid@amma.org.au DEPUTY EDITOR Kylie Sully Kylie.Sully@amma.org.au AMMA CONTACTS 1800 627 771 membership@amma.org.au migration@amma.org.au policy@amma.org.au training@amma.org.au

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The Magazine Publishing Company ABN 70 010 660 009 PO Box 406, Nundah Qld 4012 PHONE (07) 3866 0000 FAX (07) 3866 0066 EMAIL sales@tmpc.com.au WEB www.tmpc.com.au

www.amma.org.au | AUTUMN 2015 | RESOURCEPEOPLE

CONTENTS

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REGULARS

04 05 49 54 56

From the Editor Chief Executive’s Message 5 minutes with...

Events Calendar Business Partner Directory

SPECIAL FEATURE: GENDER DIVERSITY

06 07 08 09 10 12 13 14

Foreword: Gender diversity in practice Alcoa’s devotion to diversity Equality unlocks competitive edge GHD engineers top diversity approach Bridging the gender pay divide Scholarships nurture future leaders Farstad turns silver into gold Iluka’s diversity champion

ECONOMY & FINANCE

16 17 18 18

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Opinion: KPMG on the construction boom Productivity key to living standards – CEDA CSG to be nation’s biggest growth industry One-stop environmental approvals nationwide

HUMAN RESOURCES

20 Carving a niche in brownfields excellence 23 New wave of scientists drive Beach growth 24 Powering Indigenous participation OHS & WELLBEING

26 27 28 29 30 31

Employers get the ‘Heads Up’ on mental health Sodexo says ‘I Hear You’ Healthy lifestyles begin on-site AMMA represents Australia at mine safety forum Thiess safety program among world’s best Rural solutions for a healthy workforce

MEMBER NEWS

32 In brief TRAINING

34 36 37 38 39

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Thiess graduate tops her class India, Australia to share lessons in learning Bullying prevention better than cure New doors open for high school apprentices Training boost for Indigenous students

POLICY

40 Workplace reform on the horizon 42 Policy at a glance 43 Facebook slur constitutes ‘bullying’ MIGRATION

44 Important 400 Visa changes flagged 45 Dutton to tackle immigration LEADERSHIP

46 MMA Offshore powers into uncharted waters 49 Shell commits $12m to youth employment INNOVATION

50 51 52 53

Bringing the ballot box into the 21st century Safer drill rigs put to work Reports underscore FLNG opportunities FIFO travel software takes flight

RESOURCEPEOPLE | AUTUMN 2015 | www.amma.org.au

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REGULARS

Tom Reid EDITOR

From the Editor EACH ISSUE OF Resource People has featured one outstanding person or company as the cover story, but when focusing on the topic of gender diversity, it is more fitting to celebrate the achievements of many.

Our 10-page special feature details the practices of resource employers working zealously towards gender equality in the workplace. From St Barbara’s success in reducing its pay gap, to the ‘diversity champion’ overhauling Iluka’s approach to recruitment, and OZ Minerals’ dedication to leadership development – these stories demonstrate how our industry is building strength through workforce diversity.

In Human Resources we also catch up on the latest Indigenous participation activities of Fortescue, Arrow Energy and Morris Corp, and explore how Wood Group has sharpened its HR practices to remain a commanding force in the brownfield services sector.

OH&S delves into a range of health initiatives, beginning with the resource industry’s support of the beyondblue ‘Heads Up’ program, Sodexo’s campaign to ensure every employee

www.amma.org.au | AUTUMN 2015 | RESOURCEPEOPLE

is heard, and the dedicated Compass Group coaches keeping FIFO workers fit, healthy and engaged.

Training and Development tells the story of Thiess Graduate of the Year Loren Burgess who has no regrets in leaving her teaching career for the challenging world of resources, while Policy and Migration detail the latest case studies and developments in workplace regulation – don’t miss our in-depth piece on what the industry will advocate during the Productivity Commission’s review of Australia’s workplace laws.

We also spent some time with Jeff Weber of MMA Offshore, previously Mermaid Marine, to learn how a rebranding and expansion of operations is powering the marine services operator into 2015. Turn to the Leadership section for this interesting insight.

As we look ahead, KPMG Australia’s head of mining Carl Adams forecasts how our key commodities will fair in 2015 and questions whether the resources construction boom created a sense of entitlement. We’ll let you be the judge. RP

Steve Knott

Chief Executive’s Message EVEN MORE SO than the previous 12 months, our first edition of Resource People for 2015 comes as much of our industry faces an increasingly challenging operating environment underpinned by constrained economic conditions and the low end of the commodity price cycle.

Notwithstanding this, AMMA members remain well positioned to seize new opportunities in 2015 and, as our industry transitions to a long-term sustainable production base, they continue to draw great strength through the innovation, leadership and ongoing development of their workforces.

For Autumn ’15, we are celebrating one of the many areas in which our industry is making strong advancements and building workforce capacity. In recent years, gender diversity has emerged as a key priority for resource employers, triggering new and innovative initiatives to up the ante on women’s participation.

With our industry comprising only 15 per cent women, it is clearly in the interests of our productivity and the sustainability of our skills base to pursue a more gender diverse workforce.

In our special cover feature, we highlight some of the standout companies demonstrating excellence in gender diversity policies and practices. As you read their stories we encourage you to consider how your workplace could benefit from new, innovative efforts to increase its diversity during 2015.

Many diversity-savvy resource employers are engaging with AMMA’s gender diversity initiative, the Australian Women in Resources Alliance (AWRA). Due to the breadth of our membership across the mining, oil and gas, and related service sectors, AMMA was chosen by both the current and previous federal governments to roll out this initiative and its suite of practical programs across the nation.

One excellent example of how our members are utilising AWRA’s programs to attract, develop and retain more women in their workplaces is Farstad Shipping. Turn to page 13 to learn how Farstad turned its AWRA Recognised silver rating into gold within just one year.

With new skills, ideas and innovations driving our evolution into a long-term production and export era, women are set to play a critical role in ensuring Australia’s resource future is as strong and as prosperous as its past.

A YEAR FOR WORKPLACE REFORM

While gender diversity is just one example of how our industry is looking internally to boost our competitiveness and productivity, being supported by the right policy foundations is also critical to ensuring our industry’s prosperity during this transitional period.

In this context, 2015 is also shaping up as a pivotal year for meaningful workplace relations reform that will support the resource industry in becoming more productive and more globally competitive.

While we continue to urge our parliamentarians to pass immediate amendments to the current workplace system,

AMMA CHIEF EXECUTIVE

In recent years, gender diversity has emerged as a key priority for resource employers, triggering new and innovative initiatives to up the ante on women’s participation.

particularly those legislative bills stalled in parliament, we are also entering a historic opportunity for fundamental reform through the Productivity Commission’s wide-ranging review.

AMMA’s input to the PC review is set to be the resource industry’s (and most likely the wider business community’s) most significant representation on workplace policy during this term of government. Building on the past four years of research into the failings of the Fair Work system, we will recommend improvements based on the evidence and experiences from within our membership and ensure our members have the opportunity to drive the reform agenda.

You can read about this review in detail in our Policy articles.

Members are encouraged to contact AMMA’s specialist policy team to ensure your views and experiences are represented as we prosecute the resource industry’s case for reform.

The resource industry’s prosperity has decades to play out.

While looking long and hard at our workplace relations laws is certainly not the ‘be all and end all’ in realising the opportunities ahead, reform will greatly assist in addressing our operational challenges and our leadership efforts.

By not only engaging with, but embracing such challenges, we can deliver on the potential to attract more global investment to fuel the next wave of new resource projects and bring further jobs and economic value to this country.

The foundation of all of AMMA’s activities is our vision to ensure Australia’s resource industry is an attractive and competitive place to invest, do business, employ people, and contribute valuably to our nation’s wellbeing.

We look forward to providing our loyal Resource People readers with another year of quality stories and insights and, on behalf of AMMA and our team, I wish members and our industry every success in 2015 and beyond. RP

RESOURCEPEOPLE | AUTUMN 2015 | www.amma.org.au

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GENDER DIVERSITY FEATURE

SPECIAL FEATURE

GENDER DIVERSITY IN PRACTICE FROM IMPLEMENTING ‘BEST PRACTICE’ day-to-day workplace policies, to comprehensive recruitment strategies and organisational culture overhauls, Australia’s resource employers are pulling out all stops to lift their female workforce participation levels.

This is both a challenge and an opportunity, and is by no means unique to Australia’s mining, oil and gas sectors.

Under the federal Workplace Gender Equality Act 2012, 4,000 organisations are required to report on a range of gender indicators to the government’s Workplace Gender Equality Agency (WGEA). However, in late 2014 just 76 of those organisations were deemed to have met the standards of its annual ‘Employer of Choice’ citation – some of which are featured in these pages.

Highlighting the long road ahead for the resource industry, WGEA reports the sector is the least diverse in Australia with just a 15.7 per cent female workforce composition. With 16.1 per cent female employees, construction is not far in front.

While the statistics clearly demonstrate the challenge ahead, more than ever resource employers are engaging with industry-led initiatives such as the Australian Women in Resources Alliance (AWRA) and bolstering their internal gender diversity programs to become stronger, more productive and more diverse organisations.

In this special cover feature, we bring you a selection of those employers tackling the challenge of workforce diversity, driven by the understanding that attracting, developing and retaining more women in the workplace will benefit business, the community and the nation. RP

www.amma.org.au | AUTUMN 2015 | RESOURCEPEOPLE

GENDER DIVERSITY FEATURE

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ALCOA’S DEVOTION

to diversity

Nearly 25 years after establishing a women’s network at its West Australian Kwinana Refinery, seen as a progressive move for a resource employer in the late 1980s, Alcoa continues to lead the pack in gender diversity and inclusion practices.

IF YOU WERE to guess which handful of Australian organisations have been consistently named the best in gender inclusion for over a dozen years in a row, a long-standing bauxite and aluminium producer is probably not the first that would come to mind.

Nonetheless, in 2014 Alcoa of Australia joined an elite group having received the Workplace Gender Equality Agency (WGEA) ‘Employer of Choice’ citation for 12 consecutive years.

Narelle Macfarlane, Alcoa’s human resource manager of recruiting and consulting, says the company’s reputation in the gender inclusion and diversity practices space is built on the back of persistence, flexibility and leadership buy-in.

“Providing a diverse and inclusive work environment has been a long-term commitment and something we’ve worked hard to build a culture around,” she says.

“One of the overarching strategies is our commitment to flexibility for both male and female employees. Our purely residential workforce benefits from a range of different rosters. We offer leisure days, flexible days off and have an extended sick leave policy that is second to none in the resource sector.

“We also provide the technology to assist remote access so people can work from any location, in particular to enable working from home if they have family or carer responsibilities.”

Such an approach ensures Alcoa can attract, retain and develop a diverse range of talented people, who Macfarlane says can respond to industry challenges.

Across Alcoa’s Australian workforce of 4,600, women account for 20 per cent of senior executives, 30 per cent of administrative, professionals and managers, and 11 per cent of

Alcoa employees at the Pinjarra Refinery in WA

operational roles.

This last category is where Macfarlane concedes the biggest challenge lies, however, she hopes Alcoa’s diversity strategy for 2015/16 will help raise onsite female participation.

“We want to achieve 50 per cent female participation across all entry level roles, including apprentices, trainees, graduates and vacation students,” she says.

“25 per cent of the 2014 appointments were women and we’re aiming to set a stronger target in our next strategy.”

Such commitment to workplace diversity could not exist without strong leadership driving these new initiatives.

Macfarlane explains that managing director Alan Cransberg, well known in Perth for his business acumen and as chairman of the West Coast Eagles AFL club, is just as passionate about closing the gender participation gap as he is about Australian football.

Cransberg is an augural member of CEOs for Gender Equity WA and is also on the board of Our Watch – a national initiative led by former politician

Natasha Stott Despoja to end violence again women.

“We have great impact when Alan cascades information because he is authentic. He genuinely champions the principles of diversity and inclusion,” Macfarlane says.

“Our vision is to embrace diversity at all levels and have a work environment in which all employees develop and contribute to their full potential in achieving personal and business goals.”

Not only has Alcoa been at the forefront of corporate gender diversity for more than two decades when it formed its first Alcoa Women’s Network, it is also committed to its EAGLE Network (Employees at Alcoa for Gay and Lesbian Equality).

This ground-breaking initiative contributed to Alcoa being the first mining/resource organisation to be a member of Pride in Diversity – an Australian non-profit assisting employers with the inclusion of lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender and intersex (LGBTI) employees in the workplace – and also acquiring Bronze status in the 2014 Australian Workplace Equality Index. RP

RESOURCEPEOPLE | AUTUMN 2015 | www.amma.org.au

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GENDER DIVERSITY FEATURE

EQUALITY UNLOCKS

competitive edge BEING RECOGNISED FOR its approach to workforce gender equality ‘down under’ is a major coup for global oil and gas company ConocoPhillips, with its expanding Australian portfolio including major LNG facilities in Darwin and Queensland as well as various exploration interests.

Receiving its second consecutive WGEA ‘Employer of Choice’ citation will place the company favourably as it focuses on attracting and retaining the best talent for the soon-to-be completed Australian Pacific LNG Project on Curtis Island.

ConocoPhillips Australia-West president Todd Creeger says the company’s diversity strategy stems from building a workforce that represents the communities in which it operates.

“By bringing together a variety of talents, backgrounds and experiences, we are able to promote new ideas and innovation that is critical for business

success,” Creeger says.

“At ConocoPhillips, we are committed to ensuring all employees have the opportunity to reach their full potential, based on our core principles of diversity, equality and inclusion.”

A driving force behind ConocoPhillips’ gender diversity approach is flexibility.

“One of the key principles of the ConocoPhillips Flexible Work Arrangements Policy is to ensure women can continue to participate in the workplace during the years that they are often the primary caregiver,” Creeger says.

“By remaining in the workforce, we can ensure women continue to gain the experience and development necessary to progress their career.”

Creeger explains policies like this set the framework for business processes.

“We look at gender in these frameworks to ensure there is no bias across recruitment, performance

Flexible work arrangements support ConocoPhillips employees

www.amma.org.au | AUTUMN 2015 | RESOURCEPEOPLE

management, learning and development,” he says.

“Our remuneration system is based on rigorous benchmarking and regular internal salary reviews, which are specifically designed to detect disparities.

“We also have talent management teams whose function is to monitor development needs and new assignment opportunities for individual employees, and ensure promotions are merit-based.

We have this for every function across ConocoPhillips globally.”

Creeger believes organisations need to do more to ensure women have the same participation choices, remuneration and career possibilities as their male counterparts – and the best place to begin is with leadership.

“By involving our leaders in processes and initiatives that promote gender equality, we are driving diversity throughout our organisation,” he says. RP

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GHD is a leading diversity advocate in the engineering and professional services sector

GHD ENGINEERS TOP

diversity approach AS ONE OF only two engineering services companies to receive a WGEA citation for gender equality, GHD has been recognised for many years of work on building gender diversity.

GHD’s general manager Australia, Phil Duthie, says solid gender equality initiatives, backed by an ability to embrace a diversity of thought, background, skills and experiences, made the company a deserving recipient.

“To achieve this citation, WGEA has benchmarked GHD’s performance across a range of criteria, including senior leadership focus, learning and development opportunities, flexible work arrangements, remuneration practices, and preventing sexual harassment and discrimination,” says Duthie, who is also a member of Consult Australia’s Male Champions of Change group.

“GHD champions gender balance by assisting both women and men to

become technical innovators and business leaders through its approach to talent management and succession planning.

“The Women in GHD program, which has been running since 2007, also enhances mentorship and career development opportunities. We offer adaptable and flexible working arrangements and parental leave to support family and caring responsibilities, or personal interests.”

Already, 30 per cent of GHD’s 2,700-strong Australian workforce are women, however, the company is on track to increase this proportion in the next few years.

“GHD is committed to increasing female representation in senior roles through our approach to succession planning,” Duthie says.

“We also consciously target women in sourcing potential candidates and by including a diversity of candidates on short lists for interviews. GHD is focused

on addressing the issue of unconscious bias by re-examining assumptions that may otherwise hold people back in their career progression.”

Duthie says building a culture of inclusion is also part of GHD’s ongoing strategy.

“This is a journey that requires continual focus. We have set up a structured stepplan to strengthen our inclusive culture,” he says.

“One of the key elements is our Diversity and Inclusion Group, which includes representatives from all parts of the business in Australia. The group meets on a regular basis to provide advice and feedback.”

GHD’s proven diversity approach, backed by a successful track record of delivering EPCM expertise for major operators including BHP Billiton, Anglo American, Santos and ConocoPhillips, will no doubt see it continue to build a reputation as an employer of choice for talented women across Australia. RP

RESOURCEPEOPLE | AUTUMN 2015 | www.amma.org.au

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GENDER DIVERSITY FEATURE

BRIDGING THE

gender pay divide Gold miner St Barbara has been recognised for its commitment to gender diversity largely through its success in bridging the gender pay divide.

ADDRESSING LONG-STANDING GENDER pay equity gaps through effective remuneration strategies remains one of the key challenges for resource employers seeking best practice in workplace diversity.

The ABS estimates the gender pay gap of the mining industry is around 24 per cent, or six points greater than the all industries average of 18 per cent.

Despite increased national awareness of pay equity issues, the past seven years has seen the industry’s average pay gap increase by 4 per cent.

When looking for inspiration to address this backwards slide, mining employers would be hard-pressed to find better than St Barbara, which as of June 2014 had a pay equity gap of an incredibly low 11.4 per cent.

However, not so long ago St Barbara was on the other end of the pay gap performers. In 2007, the Melbourne-based gold explorer and producer was faced with a staggering pay equity gap of 43 per cent.

Under former executive general

manager, people and business services Katie-Jeyn Romeyn, St Barbara’s leadership group developed and implemented a remuneration strategy that between 2007 and 2010 effectively cut this pay divide in half, down to 21.7 per cent.

While many miners would be satisfied with this impressive progress, the results only encouraged St Barbara to aim even higher. In 2011, Romeyn oversaw a comprehensive Diversity Policy and robust targets that would see its pay equity gap dramatically reduce further.

St Barbara’s now-general manager of human resources, Val Madsen, explains how dropping the company-wide pay gap from 43 to 21.7 per cent was ‘incredible over just three years’, however, it was recognised there was still work to be done to reduce the gap even further.

“The board and senior management understood it made good business sense, and the business case was really around employee engagement and the view there shouldn’t actually be any gap,” Madsen says.

St Barbara has greatly reduced its gender pay gap

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Targets are set around gender equality

“There are many organisations that say people are their greatest asset, but actually demonstrating this by addressing pay equity meant we quickly gained recognition from our employees and external candidates.”

Building on its previous success, St Barbara upped its yearly review to monthly measuring and monitoring of key genderrelated targets. Madsen says this allows for a better understanding of what impacts pay equity and how inequalities can creep in.

“If you review data monthly, you can actually see what’s working. If done on an annual basis, we wouldn’t see those incremental changes and be able to identify what is making an immediate and ongoing impact,” she explains.

“For instance, when St Barbara acquired Allied Gold in 2012 our pay equity gap worsened because of the merger. We looked at the data and quickly addressed that. Once you have the data set, it is not difficult to maintain and report.”

In 2014, St Barbara was one of only three

GENDER DIVERSITY FEATURE

St Barbara is aiming for 30 per cent women’s participation

mining companies to receive the Workplace Gender Equality Agency’s (WGEA) Employer of Choice for Gender Equality Citation and also took out a Women in Resources National Award for ‘Excellence in Diversity Programs and Performance’.

While its achievements in pay equity played a major role in these accolades, since 2010 St Barbara has actively

supported gender equality more broadly.

A key driver has been its six-point human resources strategy that is hardwired to the business plan. Diversity is linked to the success of each of the six-points. Underpinning this strategy is a talent management framework, which aims for gender balance among graduate recruits and ensures all leaders

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participate in the company’s leadership development program.

The company also has advanced practices around paid parental leave, return to work incentives and flexible work arrangements.

Despite already far exceeding industry averages, St Barbara shows no sign of slowing in its diversity focus.

A target has been set to further reduce the pay equity gap to 8 per cent, and also to increase the proportion of women employees from the current 24 per cent (already well above the industry average of 15) to 30 per cent by 2018.

“Not only do we want to be in a world where there is no pay equity gap, which is certainly possible, but we absolutely believe we can achieve our gender composition target as well,” she says.

“And one way to do that is to put targets in place, develop the strategies to achieve them and monitor monthly. That has worked for us and I am confident this approach will see St Barbara achieve our targets in the future.” RP

RESOURCEPEOPLE | AUTUMN 2015 | www.amma.org.au

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GENDER DIVERSITY FEATURE

SCHOLARSHIPS

nurture future leaders OZ MINERALS HAS long proved itself a mining company that walks the walk when it comes to gender diversity.

Women currently represent 23 per cent of the copper-gold miner’s workforce and a honed diversity policy is steadily progressing the company towards a goal of 25 per cent women’s participation across every job level, with middle management a particular target area.

Recently, OZ Minerals acclaimed leadership program offered another group of talented women scholarships for career progression.

Mine geologist Chiara Lorini, management accountant Kimberly Sczesny, and senior geoscientist Nancy Khov have proudly joined the ranks of OZ Minerals’ employees to benefit from the Leading My Career Program.

In its third consecutive year, the Leading My Career Program is a joint initiative between OZ Minerals, Beach Energy and Thiess, and is providing strategic training and development opportunities for high performing women to articulate and achieve their career goals.

During the initial part of the program, the women were paired with a senior mentor and formulated action plans for career development.

Now, they are embarking on scholarships to attend either the Behind Closed Doors Luminaries program run by a national network of female leaders and aimed at nurturing ‘future executives’, or a one-on-one coaching program through Xplore for Success. Xplore offers services to drive gender equality focusing on women and their career aspirations.

Both opportunities will expand the participants’ leadership and management skills through access to peer insights, knowledge and support.

Scholarship recipient Kimberly Sczesny is looking forward to professional development through the Luminaries program.

“I work in a male dominated team within a male dominated industry and so I am particularly looking forward to the benefits from the support network of professional women that I will gain access to through the Luminaries program,” she says.

Overseeing OZ Minerals’ owned-andoperated Prominent Hill copper-gold mine and Carrapateena exploration project, both in South Australia, director and CEO Andrew Cole says the Leading My Career Program and associated scholarships are

OZ Minerals senior geologist Nancy Khov

www.amma.org.au | AUTUMN 2015 | RESOURCEPEOPLE

developing the female leadership capability that is currently underrepresented across the resource industry. ”Increasing female representation is definitely on the agenda across the resources industry – we want to see more women in senior leadership positions in the future,” Cole says.

“OZ Minerals continues to look for innovative opportunities, such as these scholarships, to assist our high-performing women in taking on increased challenges in their careers.” RP

GENDER DIVERSITY FEATURE

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FARSTAD TURNS silver into gold One year on from being the first Australian Women in Resources Alliance (AWRA) ‘Recognised’ participant, Farstad Shipping is celebrating a golden achievement.

WHEN OFFSHORE MARITIME employer Farstad Shipping became the first organisation to take part in the AWRA Recognised – an assessment of gender diversity capability – executive vice president Wayne Aitken vowed to implement its recommendations to turn the company’s Silver rating into Gold.

Fast-forward 12 months and true to Aitken’s word, Farstad Shipping is now a proud bearer of an AWRA Recognised Gold stamp.

“There has been a significant impact on organisational culture in the past 12 months including greater employee awareness and buy-in. I believe all staff are seeing a more proactive approach to diversity across the Asia Pacific region,” Aitken says.

The AWRA program recognises Australian resource organisations for their achievements in gender diversity and inclusion.

Following a rigorous assessment, participating organisations are awarded either a Bronze, Silver, Gold or Platinum stamp, bench marking their ability to build, nurture and benefit from a gender diverse workforce.

Practical recommendations help improve their gender diversity capability.

At the time of receiving its Silver stamp, Farstad had some positive practices in place, but the company lacked a strong vision for gender diversity.

In the 12 months since, the company has developed a formal diversity strategy that Aitken says will have the greatest impact on Farstad’s ability to recruit, develop and retain female talent.

“Developing a formal diversity strategy and policy, and communicating this to staff, has built greater awareness of how our female employees could be supported and developed to achieve their professional and personal goals,” he says.

“Using recommendations from the assessment process, we conducted a

Farstad has been recognised for its gender diversity strategy

Leadership Workshop for female staff that received excellent participant feedback.

“A few employees also joined the AWRA e-Mentoring program and we hope to increase participation during 2015 to ensure more of our women benefit from mentoring within the industry.”

Office and sea-based staff across Farstad’s Asia Pacific locations are also members of a newly established Diversity Committee.

“The maritime sector is still highly maledominated, with women comprising just 2 per cent of seafarers worldwide,” Aitken says.

“I hope the initiatives we have implemented help to build female participation across our sea-going and leadership roles, as these are the areas which have lacked diversity.”

AWRA Recognised assessor Susanne Moore says moving from a Silver to Gold rating is not easy.

“Moving from one award level to the other means that many more assessment criteria must be met, and supporting evidence in terms of survey responses, interviews and document checks must show a demonstrated improvement,” Moore says.

“Farstad implemented virtually every recommendation from their first review and this resulted in a substantial and measurable business and cultural transformation.”

Aitken believes the formal recognition of where Farstad is on its diversity journey in itself positively impacted employee engagement and culture.

“Everyone at Farstad now understands the business case for embracing diversity across the organisation – not just in relation to women’s participation – but for the development of all employees, business growth and performance,” he says. RP

RESOURCEPEOPLE | AUTUMN 2015 | www.amma.org.au

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GENDER DIVERSITY FEATURE

ILUKA’S DIVERSITY champion Stuart Forrester’s courage to challenge traditional recruitment methods has seen the Iluka Resources operations manager emerge a true gender diversity champion, and his vision is taking the company to new performance heights.

WHAT IF YOU could build a workforce that is more diverse, more productive and more engaged simply by choosing to focus on candidates’ core values and behaviours instead of their skills, qualifications and previous work experience?

If you think that approach would never work in practice, let alone get by the executive team, then you probably haven’t met Iluka Resources’ Narngulu operations manager Stuart Forrester.

Forrester is credited with turning the mineral sands mining company’s recruitment process on its head using an unconventional method that would make the most liberal of hiring managers nervous. And it’s paying off remarkably.

VALUES OVER SKILLS

Before joining Iluka, Forrester worked for Rio Tinto, where he witnessed the positive Iluka’s recruitment practices have been transformed to increase diversity

impact that recruiting more women and people of varying backgrounds can have on workforce performance.

In 2009, when he started in his operations manager role at Iluka’s Narngulu-based minerals separation plant near Geraldton, Western Australia, there wasn’t a single woman in his team of 90, so Forrester set about changing perceptions of the ‘right candidate’.

“Most people will argue safety statistics will suffer if you bring in people that don’t have experience in mining operations or an understanding of the safety culture,” Forrester says.

“I don’t believe that. Iluka recruits people based on our three core values of commitment, integrity and responsibility.

Considering responsibility alone, the interview process is set up to find people who are responsible – irrespective of what

industry they’ve worked in previously.”

One of the first steps was removing operational minimum requirements from Iluka’s job advertisements. Instead, advertisements called for people aligned with the company’s values of commitment, integrity and responsibility.

“We opened the recruitment process up for more people to apply for our jobs and advertised in the local community paper that positions were open for all,” Forrester explains.

When interviewing for an operator’s role, inviting a greater diversity of applicants meant Forrester and his team would now meet as many applicants as possible.

“It takes a lot of time and commitment but people are one of our most important assets, so why not put that time up front to get the right person?” he asks.

“We’ve got to the point where we

GENDER DIVERSITY FEATURE

Stuart Forrester was named a national gender diversity champion

You need to communicate the tangible benefits of a diverse workforce to leaders and hiring managers. That’s how you will achieve real change.

hardly ask about previous experience. We have some targeted questions tailored around our core values to understand who they are as an individual.

“For me it’s not about just recruiting females, it’s about recruiting the right people for our organisation and a natural consequence is more females gain employment with our organisation.”

While Forrester was confident hiring people with the right values would benefit Iluka in the long run, he was not naïve to the level of guidance and training that people who did not have experience in mineral processing would need.

“We put some really sound support systems in place, including what we know as the ‘standard operating platform’ – a clear set of guidelines on how to operate the plant to achieve optimal performance,” he says “We also ask our best operators to construct an in-house Certificate III in Resources Processing.”

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TANGIBLE BENEFITS

Forrester acknowledges it took some time for the company’s hiring managers to see his method as more than just ‘the right thing to do’, but they soon recognised the tangible benefits.

From starting with zero women in his operations team, within two years Forrester had a 20 per cent female workforce composition. Across Iluka’s broader mid-west workforce, female participation has increased from 14.6 per cent to 26 per cent – well above the national industry average of 15 per cent.

But the benefits go well beyond participation rates.

In 2011, 12 months after the recruitment shake-up, Iluka’s Narngulu operations achieved record production and, according to Forrester, ‘continues to dramatically improve’. This is helped by a 200 per cent increase in ‘new ideas submitted’ within Iluka’s continuous improvement program.

Workforce engagement, measured through biannual workforce surveys, has almost doubled to reach 86 per cent. The benchmark for miners is 34 per cent, with high performers averaging 58 per cent.

Forrester’s belief that emphasising behavioural competencies in the hiring process would foster a safety culture was also spot on.

“In 2009 the TRIFR (total recordable injury frequency rate) for Iluka’s Narngulu operations was above 40. We are now sitting at 4.2,” he says.

“We have people who are fully engaged within our business who want to work for us and want to do the right thing.”

While acknowledging the company’s senior leaders, Forrester is a shining example of how anyone can make a difference through diversity. Last year he was named ‘Gender Diversity Champion’ at the Women in Resources National Awards, and his recruitment approach is now being rolled-out across Iluka’s Australian operations.

“If you are going to drive diversity, you need to do it with leadership and passion,” he says.

“You also need to communicate the tangible benefits of a diverse workforce to leaders and hiring managers. That’s how you will achieve real change.” RP

A SHINING EXAMPLE

While recognised for his success in building a strong and diverse workforce at Iluka Resources, Stuart Forrester’s passion for equal employment opportunity extends far beyond the resource industry.

As the chairperson of not-for-profit organisation SHINE, a school-based program established in Geraldton, Western Australia, he is helping to improve the education and employment prospects of ‘at risk’ young women.

A purpose-built hairdressing salon is used as a safe and fun space where the young women learn essential life skills, improve their confidence and keep engaged with education.

“If we are serious about equality in our workplaces, then it all starts with school education. These are at-risk girls, but all we need to do is show them there is opportunity out there,” Forrester says.

In just four years, the SHINE program has helped increase school attendance rates and promote good behaviour and academic performance.

Iluka has recently employed its first SHINE Year 12 graduate, Rhiannon Mourambine, as a trainee and Forrester hopes many more will discover opportunities within the resource industry. RP

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ECONOMY & FINANCE

DID THE RESOURCES CONSTRUCTION BOOM

create a sense of entitlement?

While much focus is on the resource industry doing it tough in 2015, guest author, KPMG Australia head of mining Carl Adams says our island country of riches still holds an enviable global position.

AUSTRALIA IS SUCH a lucky country.

We have some of the best resources on the planet; are closest to the fastest growing economies in the world; have low sovereign risk; world class technologies and supply chain infrastructure; and of course, plenty of good old Australian entrepreneurship and a ‘can do’ attitude.

However, reading the daily media you would think the resource sector is about to close and is the root cause of our economic and government budget challenges. While most of the world struggled during and post the GFC, Australia continued to grow and has maintained low levels of unemployment and debt compared to the rest of the world.

While in the short-term, some commodity prices are lower than their recent record highs, the outlook for most commodity prices including coal, alumina, uranium, zinc, gold and nickel are positive. Even at $60-$70/t for iron ore, the majority of Australia’s iron ore industry is very profitable.

Ongoing urbanisation and the growth of Asia will drive energy consumption, and LNG and coal will be a significant part of the energy mix. Australia has built (or is finishing) a world-class LNG and coal sector that few countries will be able to replicate in the short to medium term.

The demand for steel continues to grow

Asian demand for aluminium, copper and coal is driving the next wave of exports

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Carl Adams

as Asia urbanises and the demand for next-phase metals such as aluminium and copper is now following. In the long-term, Australia is also well-positioned to take advantage of an Indian transformation that will be analogous to that seen in China in the recent past.

For most of the past decade, extremely high prices have rewarded those who focused on driving volume at all costs.

More recently there has been a period of persistently high prices where cost control started to come into focus, but prices were still high enough to hide a multitude of sins. The industry is now focused on lowering production costs.

In some ways the more difficult changes will be faced by the employees of the resources sector. In the past 10 years a culture of entitlement has developed.

Rosters have become lighter, pay higher, and unemployment has been extremely low. This generation has only known the good times. In the next couple of years,

ECONOMY & FINANCE

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PRODUCTIVITY KEY TO

living standards CEDA

As Australia’s terms of trade decline and its population ages, the Committee for Economic Development of Australia (CEDA) says lifting productivity must become a priority in 2015 or gains in living standards over recent years could be ‘significantly eroded’. organisations across Australia will be forced to find ways to obtain more output for every dollar they pay to their employees.

People will adapt, but not without a period of friction as realisation slowly dawns.

Governments also benefited from capital investment, royalties, increased jobs and higher tax receipts. With lower commodity prices the resources sector has now become an easy scapegoat for governments’ budget deficits as they seek to cover the increasing costs of areas including health and education.

One area of concern is the decrease in exploration spending at both the major and junior end of the market. Contrarian investors prepared to take risks could find great value in the Australian resources market.

Operations have never needed more people or spent more money. To give an idea of scale, iron ore production has risen more than four-fold from approximately 160mtpa in 2000 to approximately 700mtpa at present.

There will be some belt-tightening in operations as long as low commodity prices persist, and some smaller marginal operators will strike difficulties, but the boom has raised the baseline level of economic activity in Australia and those changes are here to stay.

The resources industry in Australia has experienced a once-in-a-generation change in the past 15 years. The industry is now dramatically larger than it once was. The froth of the construction boom is quickly subsiding however, and the industry as a whole will need to take every opportunity to do more with less while it waits for the next wave of global development. RP

RELEASING THE ORGANISATION’S 2015 Economic and Political Overview, CEDA chief executive Professor Stephen Martin notes the business community is taking action to lift productivity but says there needs to be greater focus on innovation and investment in people.

“Economic reform will also be vital to keep our economy healthy as terms of trade continue to fall post the mining boom,” Professor Martin says.

“On the political front, key issues will also result from our changing economic fortunes with rising unemployment and underemployment, particularly youth unemployment, and industrial relations.”

Other key economic forecasts include that: • GDP growth will remain below average in 2015 before returning to around average in 2016; • The rate of decline in resources investment is expected to increase this year; • Housing construction’s contribution to growth will fade in 2015 without further rises in building approvals; and • A sustained pick-up in household spending growth is needed this year to support the non-mining sectors.

Professor Martin says financing in Australia is likely to significantly change in the coming decades, particularly with the growing pools of funds managed through superannuation and likely increasing foreign capital flows, in

particular from China.

“It is important Australia is on the front foot about how these changes will impact business more generally but also financing for major projects such as infrastructure,” he says.

“Unfortunately the political instability currently being experienced federally, and at a state level through changes of government, is impacting on debates and implementation of reforms and major projects we need to keep our economy on track.

“It is also concerning there has been a lack of appetite for national debate on areas of reform that need to be examined now, such as broadening or increasing the GST, corporate tax loopholes and federal/ state fiscal arrangements.”

CEDA’s Economic and Political Overview has provided analysis and discussion annually for more than 30 years. RP

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ECONOMY & FINANCE

CSG TO BE NATION’S

biggest growth industry COAL SEAM GAS (CSG) extraction has topped the list of Australian industries set for substantial growth in 2015, according to business information analysts at IBISWorld.

In a report on industries it tips will ‘fly or fall’, the research group forecasts the CSG sector’s revenue to rise by 148 per cent over the year, to reach $1.83 billion.

IBISWorld senior industry analyst David Whytcross explains it is the development of export capabilities that is expected to drive rapid growth.

CSG-LNG production will also be boosted as all three Curtis Island LNG plants become operational in 2015.

“The opening of the domestic east coast gas market to the international market is expected to push gas prices higher – particularly as Australia is wellpositioned to meet strong demand from Japan, China and South Korea, which are the world’s three largest natural gas importers,” Whytcross says.

“Once operational, the Curtis Island LNG plants will be the world’s first projects to turn coal seam gas into

liquefied natural gas, which will be a boon to operators of newly developed coal seam gas fields in the Cooper Basin.”

Countering this positive news for the CSG sector, IBISWorld is also predicting petroleum exploration to be the top industry to ‘fall’ this year, citing the crash in world oil prices.

“High oil prices have acted as an incentive for global companies to invest in petroleum exploration over the past

five years. However, the subsequent oversupply is going to hamper exploration in 2015, as Australian firms are unable to compete with the low production costs and high production volumes from the world’s major oil producers,” Whytcross says.

Electricity distribution and mining construction machinery manufacturing also made the list of top five industries to suffer setbacks in 2015. RP

QGC plant works at Curtis Island

ONE STOP ENVIRONMENTAL

approvals nation-wide ALL STATES AND territories now have bilateral agreements in place to implement the federal government’s ‘one-stop shop’ reform to environmental assessments.

The Northern Territory Government was the final government to sign the agreement, which creates a single assessment process that satisfies both governments’ requirements.

Federal Environment Minister Greg Hunt says his intention is to reduce the regulatory burden on business.

“This will reduce duplication of red tape and put in place a

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critical reform that will save business in Australia around $420 million each year,” the Minister says.

“Removing unnecessary duplication will streamline the assessment process for business while maintaining high environmental standards.”

Minerals Council of Australia research indicates that reducing approval timelines by one year has the potential to lift Australia’s national output by $160 billion and create an extra 69,000 jobs by 2025. RP

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HUMAN RESOURCES

CARVING A NICHE

in brownfields excellence As Australia’s oil and gas landscape transforms with $200 billion worth of new projects starting production, Wood Group PSN is readying its internal capabilities and people culture to maximise brownfield opportunities.

FROM THE PERSPECTIVE of Wood Group PSN’s regional people and organisation director Vikki Pink, the engineering, procurement, construction (EPC) and maintenance company is in prime position to capitalise on the transition taking shape in Australia’s oil and gas sector.

“A number of long-term projects are now requiring really reliable service providers and we are one of those, so the opportunities for us are strong. In a sense we are in the box seat,” Pink says.

A division of international energy services provider Wood Group, Wood Group PSN provides brownfield EPC and maintenance services to oil and gas projects, including in the Bass Strait and Papua New Guinea.

The company recently secured contracts in Malaysia and for the Woodsideoperated North West Shelf Project’s Karratha Gas Plant but remains focused on expanding its Australian portfolio further.

“We’ve managed this business really tightly from a cost perspective in the past seven years, even when the market was

more buoyant,” Pink explains.

“We’ve got a strong track record and we are coming into this wonderful era where we will benefit from our discipline and efficiencies.”

Vikki Pink

VALUES AND PRODUCTIVITY

Central to capturing new opportunities is meeting rising expectations of productivity.

When discussing Wood Group PSN’s competitiveness in this area, Pink brings it right back to the company’s valuesdriven culture. While such terms are often dismissed as corporate rhetoric, Pink’s enthusiasm in this case suggests otherwise.

“I often say to people that I have never before worked in a business that has the values base that this business has. Our values really do underpin everything that we do and every decision that we make,” she says.

Unsurprisingly, at the top of the list, is safety.

All employees must sign up to a ‘safety cocoon’ – a framework that involves education, training and a commitment to a

Wood Group PSN employees in the Bass Stait

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set of behavioural standards that Pink says offers ‘no leeway’.

This focus is rewarded with tangible improvements in safety performance as demonstrated in 2014 with a decrease of 68.5 per cent in recordable incidents across the Australia/Asia Pacific region.

“My take on people is that 99 per cent have really strong values and when they’re working in a place that replicates those values, they feel comfortable and motivated. If there is strong leadership alongside that, then that is what raises productivity,” Pink says.

Underpinning this further is Wood Group PSN’s preference for permanent employees over contractors.

“We directly employ trades personnel in combination with project and maintenance delivery services personnel for safe deployment across operating assets,” Pink explains.

“We have a high percentage of

HUMAN RESOURCES

employees as opposed to contractors and we do that quite strategically because we believe if people are employees of our business, they’ll be much more willing to buy-in to our culture and processes and go that extra mile.”

STRATEGIC RESOURCING

In the past six years, Wood Group PSN’s regional workforce, encompassing Australia, New Zealand, Papua New Guinea and Singapore, has grown from 700 to more than 2,200.

During much of this growth, recruitment was more reactive with an over-reliance on external agencies, leading the company to overhaul its approach in an effort to better capitalise on workforce capabilities.

A strategic resourcing network was formed to build a cohesive database of employee skills, and recruitment was streamlined through the establishment of regional resourcing hubs.

“The resourcing hubs are staffed by teams who understand the business’s strategic direction and what this means

A values-based culture underpins Wood Group PSN’s success

from a people perspective,” Pink says.

“We’ve had to be a lot savvier about where we look and who we talk to – utilising industry networks and speaking to people face-to-face.

“We’ve come from a point of not having a complete picture of our talent to bringing in people who have changed our capability for the better.

The resourcing network has also become critical to succession planning,

99 per cent of people have really strong values and when they’re working in a place that replicates those values, they feel comfortable and motivated… that is what raises productivity.

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redeployment and retaining people in the business as skills needs evolve with each project.”

Regional resourcing hubs have also furthered Wood Group PSN’s commitment to local employment. Pink says the company has a number of tenders on the table that may require some use of fly-in, fly-out (FIFO) arrangements during the initial mobilisation stage, but so far the company has avoided a heavy reliance on the practice.

“In Australia we use very little FIFO. We have been able to source local talent for every one of our projects and that has been an outcome of our resourcing network. We’ve been a lot more proactive and really built the regional knowledge,” Pink says.

“We are very focused on employing locally first and will only go outside of the area, state or country if we absolutely have to.”

Wood Group has an extensive international presence with operations in 50 countries, which has its advantages when certain skills cannot be found in the domestic market. »

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»

HUMAN RESOURCES

Wood Group PSN has streamlined its recruitment

“People don’t always have to be in Australia for us to access their skills. We utilise our global network of expertise and work can often be done remotely in any area of the world,” Pink says.

“We also have the capability to bring in expertise and experience with clients from our global network on a short term basis to assist with mobilisation, startups or critical projects. The learning opportunities and cross pollination of ideas is invaluable to our operation.

“The skills of our Australian employees are also utilised overseas. Last year, we sent Australians to work on Wood Group projects in Papua New Guinea, America, Russia, the UK and Malaysia.”

LONG-TERM FOCUS

While Pink is enthusiastic about the brownfield project opportunities that will present as more major projects begin production, she also remains realistic about competitive challenges.

“The world is saying Australia is too expensive to produce in and we have to

take that very seriously. Our clients are more cost-conscious and the depressed oil price has put them under even more pressure,” she says.

“At the same time, every one of these large-scale projects will be looking for the best talent. There is great opportunity for Wood Group PSN to

www.amma.org.au | AUTUMN 2015 | RESOURCEPEOPLE

grow and develop in the Australian market, to demonstrate our leadership capability and continue building a multi-skilled workforce with a focus on local content.

“We’re looking to secure long-term contracts, so our resourcing strategies will replicate that.” RP

HUMAN RESOURCES

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NEW WAVE OF SCIENTISTS

drive Beach growth

Beach Energy is undertaking the biggest recruitment drive in its 54-year history, snapping up talented scientists and engineers as it capitalises on consistent company growth.

SOUTH AUSTRALIAN OIL and gas exploration and production company Beach Energy is completing a year-long recruitment campaign to fill up to 70 new technical positions.

Following five years of outstanding growth, outgoing managing director Reg Nelson says recruiting across a diverse range of roles is now critical to Beach’s ongoing corporate development.

“The recruitment campaign is progressing well, with a number of experienced technical roles filled in the past six months as well as the appointment of new graduates,” Nelson says.

“We will be looking for scientists and engineers and, more specifically, geologists, geophysicists and reservoir engineers.

“There will also be corporate positions including administration support and business analysts. “(In 2013-14) we added more than 50 people to our team, and we are looking forward to welcoming even more.”

Due to step down as managing director after nearly 25 years with Beach Energy in July, Nelson has been praised by the company chairman Glenn Davis for transforming Beach from ‘the brink of liquidation to a $1.4 billion ASX top 100 company’.

Beach is now considered Australia’s largest onshore oil producer and a leader in shale and gas exploration in the Cooper Basin with a solid financial footing.

In 2014, the company announced a record underlying net profit after tax of $259.2 million for the full financial year.

The results, up 84 per cent on the previous year, marked the third consecutive year of significant growth for the company.

Beach’s oil business in the Western Flank of the Cooper Basin continues to be one of its success stories with three new

oil discoveries in 2014. The company is also embarking on a fully funded capital expenditure program that will expand its exploration activities to the Eastern Flank of the resource-rich region.

“It really is an exciting time for Beach as this growth demonstrates how active we are across both our oil and gas businesses, in particular in South Australia,” Nelson says.

“This is a great opportunity for skilled, former South Australians working interstate to come home.”

While post-July he will no longer be overseeing the recruitment and development of Beach Energy employees, Nelson is proud to have helped lay the groundwork to foster the next generation

of budding scientists.

“It’s important to remember how vital science is to our business. As explorers, our decision-making is based on science,” he says.

“That’s why last year we partnered with the state government to co-fund reintroducing geology into senior high school studies through the Thebarton Senior Campus.

“I would encourage all young people who are interested in science to explore the opportunities that the oil and gas sector provides for employment.”

Nelson’s successor as Beach Energy managing director will be former Woodside Petroleum executive director Rob Cole. RP

New Beach Energy talent will support the company’s expanding Cooper Basin oil and gas operations

RESOURCEPEOPLE | AUTUMN 2015 | www.amma.org.au

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HUMAN RESOURCES

More than 1,200 Aboriginal people work across Fortescue sites

POWERING INDIGENOUS

participation

The Australian resource industry is widely recognised for its pioneering work in improving Indigenous workforce participation. Such engagement is not limited to a few sub-sectors or regions, but rather occurs right across the supply chain and in all areas of the country.

RECENTLY, RESOURCE PEOPLE caught up with a West Australian-based iron ore producer, a Queensland-based gas company and a leader in remote site facilities management to explore how their unique Indigenous engagement strategies are progressing towards a common goal.

FORTESCUE METALS GROUP

Fortescue now holds partnerships with eight native title groups surrounding its Pilbara iron ore operations, each offering assistance in the company’s range of Indigenous incentive programs.

More than 1,200 Aboriginal employees work across Fortescue sites, while the company’s direct Aboriginal employment exceeds 12 per cent. This accounts for

$130 million in wages paid to Aboriginal employees each year.

Fortescue has also surpassed its $1 billion Indigenous supplier target, having awarded $1.66bn in contracts and sub contracts to Aboriginal businesses.

However it is the miner’s vocational training and education centre (VTEC) providing Indigenous people with long-term employment opportunities that has received enormous praise from government, industry and the community.

“Since 2006 we have trained and supported more than 1,500 Indigenous people. We run a unique holistic model which guarantees jobs,” says VTEC driver training coordinator, Janelle Woodley.

“We believe in providing training and

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support tailored to a person’s needs.

This can also include personal support such as housing and food. If people aren’t fed or sleeping properly then we’re not able to engage them.

“In the driver training program I coordinate, we are also able to provide people with a leaners permits and undertake driving lessons to pass their practical driving assessment.

“Once they have completed training we continue post-job placement support.

We continue to train our Indigenous employees to get them on to a pathway that they are willing to progress for themselves and their families.”

In July 2014, a record 25 graduates from FMG’s Port Hedland VTEC celebrated five

HUMAN RESOURCES

Trainee Michael Isaacs and Arrow Energy CEO Andrew Faulkner

years working with the company.

FMG’s success inspired the Australian Government to commit $45 million to deliver VTECs across Australia.

ARROW ENERGY

Arrow Energy CEO Andrew Faulkner has long voiced the Queensland-based coal seam gas company’s focus on the direct involvement and empowerment of Indigenous communities.

Through its latest training program, Arrow is teaming up with All Trades Queensland and NRL club the Brisbane Broncos to offer 15 Indigenous high school students the opportunity to gain on-the-job skills and begin a traineeship or apprenticeship.

Six placements have already been filled by students from the Western Downs region.

“Arrow is committed to supporting employment, training, and education and business opportunities for Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people,” Faulkner says.

“We initially ran this program in Brisbane (in 2013) to support Indigenous youth at a key stage of their learning and development.

“I’m thrilled we have now extended into the Western Downs to support local students on their career journeys.”

The program provides work placements at local businesses that match the student’s interest. At the end of the program they will gain a nationally recognised Certificate II or III qualification, with all costs covered by Arrow. The students also receive mentoring support from the Brisbane Broncos.

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to Triumph program involves a specialist approach to induction, training and recruitment of Indigenous jobseekers.

“It is an opportunity for us to work with people who for whatever reason have slipped out of the employment process, maybe for social, family or health reasons,” Merrett says.

“A pre-employment program is followed by a work-ready program, and we offer a guaranteed employment outcome.”

Track to Triumph has helped Morris achieve an Indigenous participation rate of 10 per cent. Some accommodation sites, such as those at Fortescues’ Chichester Hub operations, average 18 per cent Indigenous employment.

“The Track to Triumph program is very good grounding but we have found MORRIS CORPORATION retention challenging,” Merrett continues.

The launch of Morris Corporation’s Reconciliation Action Plan (RAP) in mid“We identified that there was a lack of support, so we now have an Indigenous 2014 cemented a long-standing affinity with Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islanders. retention coordinator and on-site mentors “Our RAP focus is around strengthening who work closely with employees. the capability of our Aboriginal and “Our cultural leave policy and flexible Torres Strait Islander people through approach to rosters recognise the roles and employment opportunities, business responsibilities Aboriginal and Torres Strait development and cultural awareness,” Islander people have in relation to social and says general manager of human resources, family networks.

Maree Merrett.

“We also have a strong focus on educating As a remote facilities management our leaders and employees around crosscompany, Morris offers opportunities to cultural awareness with training delivered by gain skills in the resource industry through a local traditional owners.” variety of entry-level roles such as catering, The leadership displayed by just these three organisations foretells even greater cleaning, maintenance and administration.

The company’s award-winning Track Indigenous engagement success in 2015. RP

Morris Corporation is a leader in Indigenous employment programs

RESOURCEPEOPLE | AUTUMN 2015 | www.amma.org.au

26

OHS & WELLBEING

EMPLOYERS GET THE

‘Heads Up’ on mental health Beyondblue chairman Jeff Kennett and AMMA chief executive Steve Knott have teamed up to promote a joint initiative seeking to roll out beyondblue’s marquee mental health awareness program across remote resource industry worksites.

IN THE SHORT time since its launch, the ‘Heads Up’ campaign, which assists employers to develop mentally healthy workplaces through action plans, practical tools and education, has become one of beyondblue’s most successful and widely recognised initiatives.

The next phase targets business sectors and workplaces where community initiatives have traditionally had difficulty reaching, and beyondblue’s partnership with AMMA will ensure remote resource industry sites are at the top of the hit list.

“This Heads Up campaign is a new initiative where we encourage employers and employees to recognise that if we have mentally healthy workplaces, not only is that good for the individual within the

Jeff Kennett, beyondblue chairman and ‘Heads Up’ advocate

workplace and their family relationships, but it also has a huge upside in terms of business productivity,” explains Jeff Kennett, the former Victorian Premier who founded beyondblue in 2000.

“Heads Up is designed to not only continue to educate employers but to have them proactively drive the issue of a mentally healthy workplace down the line through their managers to the most junior employee on the floor.

“The program allows employers to access the Heads Up material and resources online, and develop an action plan that can be introduced in any workplace, whether they are on an isolated site offshore or within a large mining community onshore.

“The aim is to create an environment where people can openly talk to each other, support each other and access professional help if required.”

With the rapid evolution of Australia’s resource industry in the past decade, an increasing focus of employers operating fly-in, fly-out (FIFO) remote working villages has been on the overall health and wellbeing of their employees.

AMMA boss Steve Knott says the employer association actively supports beyondblue for its work not just in the resource industry, but in the broader community. He acknowledges, however, that the demographics of the resource industry workforce means employers must remain especially vigilant on matters of mental health.

“Our industry is about 85 per cent maledominated and guys aren’t really good at talking about their mental health issues.

They tend to keep things to themselves, especially when they are working out in remote locations, a long way away from

their families,” he says.

“We also have a lot of people in that 18 to 35 age group who are recognised as high-risk and often in need of support.

So we need to have conversations about mental health issues and promote a culture where it is okay and normal to do that on-site.

“AMMA sees a lot of upside to being involved with beyondblue and the Heads Up program, to support our industry, the wider community and the national wellbeing. We look forward to raising awareness and encouraging these conversations.”

Kennett adds the resource industry’s work on mental health in the workplace will flow through to happier families at home.

“If we can make people think more about living a mentally healthy lifestyle it will have ramifications back at home too, because those separations (during FIFO shifts) can at times be very difficult and hard to manage,” he says.

“When working away on remote sites, this concept of creating a mentally healthy workplace where employers encourage people to talk to each other without discrimination becomes terribly important.”

Watch Jeff Kennett and Steve Knott talk about the Heads Up program at amma.org.au RP

The aim is to create an environment where people can openly talk to each other, support each other and access professional help if required.

OHS & WELLBEING

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SODEXO SAYS ‘I Hear You’ Mental illness may be a confronting topic to broach, but through its ‘I Hear You’ campaign, Sodexo is bringing mental health to the forefront of conversation.

FEAR OF THE stigma associated with mental illness can often hold someone back from seeking help. Recognising this, facilities management company Sodexo has launched the ‘I Hear You’ initiative, to reassure its workforce that support is always available in times of personal crisis.

“In any one year, three million Australians will experience depression or anxiety, and nearly half of all Australians will experience a mental health condition

in their lifetime,” Sodexo Australia CEO Johnpaul Dimech says.

“Seeking help early is crucial. As an employer, introducing preventative measures is not only a priority for Sodexo to uphold our duty of care, it also promotes good mental health in the workplace leading to happier, healthier and more engaged employees.

“It is vital to help tackle depression and anxiety issues in the work environment as

Site manager Matt Queen instigated Sodexo’s I Hear You campaign

it can be an important source of support.”

The original idea for ‘I Hear You’ stems from Queensland-based Sodexo site manager Matt Queen (pictured) who had been personally impacted by suicide and felt it important to begin talking about mental illness on a wider scale in the workplace.

Reaching all 4,000 employees across Sodexo’s operations in Australia, the national roll-out of the campaign included several Toolbox Talks both at office and site level, team building events and distribution of valuable mental health awareness resources.

Considering ‘I Hear You’ a key component of its broader corporate social responsibility, Sodexo offers employees access to confidential support, resources and information on seeking appropriate guidance or counselling.

Selected employees will also receive training to develop the confidence and expertise to help fellow employees who may be experiencing mental challenges.

Chief operating officer of Sodexo’s Remote Sites business in Australia, Keith Weston, says the campaign educates employees that mental health is just as important as physical health, with the key message: ‘Know that you can be heard.

Believe that you will be listened to’.

“Aligned with Sodexo’s mission to improve quality of life is the goal of a zero-harm workplace. Safety is our number one priority and this includes both physical and mental health safety,” Weston says.

“On many of our sites, we provide services to improve physical wellbeing, from nutritional dietary plans to fitness programs.

Mental wellbeing is just as important but mental illness is often difficult to detect and many people suffer in silence.

“I Hear You enables a safe and comfortable medium for our employees to talk about mental health, know they will be listened to and be offered the support and education they need.” RP

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OHS & WELLBEING

HEALTHY LIFESTYLES

begin on-site

Visit an oil rig or a mine site around Australia and among the engineers, geologists, truck drivers and boilermakers, you may find fly-in, fly-out workers of a different kind.

THE GROWING FOCUS on holistic employee wellbeing in the resource industry means there is now an army of people flying to remote sites with one goal – to help workers become healthier in body and mind.

One company leading the way is food and facilities support provider ESS Support Services Worldwide.

ESS, a division of Compass Group, is celebrating the ninth successful year of its Tastelife Challenge, which has seen more than 7,000 site-based workers lose more than 17,000kg.

In 2014, more than 1,500 people participated in the 12-week health and fitness challenge across 33 sites in Western Australia, Queensland and the Northern Territory. One Port Hedland employee lost an incredible 42kg.

The challenge is the largest calendar event of ESS’s ongoing Tastelife program which includes Nutritiouslife and Activelife – subprograms designed to educate resource workers about healthy eating and physical health.

Joining ESS in 2010 as an Activelife coach, Ashleigh Doig had the challenging role of motivating workers to eat healthily and exercise during their full on-site swing.

While now manager of Nutritiouslife company-wide, Doig still regards Activelife coaches as the core drivers of the wider Tastelife program on-site.

“The coaches engage with the residents on a daily basis and give them the motivation and ongoing encouragement they need,” she says.

“We often find residents have never

Our main aspiration is to get residents out of their rooms and engaged in some form of activity so they feel they belong to a community.

Group fitness classes are popular on many sites

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been to the gym and lack knowledge about healthy eating, so there is a lot of education required around the basics of exercise and how to structure a healthy daily intake.”

The varying workforce sizes and facilities on any one site means Activelife coaches must be creative when it comes to exercise.

“On some offshore rigs the coaches do one-on-one training on the helideck using boxing gloves and skipping ropes, while other large onshore sites have full-scale commercial gyms, group fitness classes of more than 100 people and team sporting competitions.”

At meal time, Doig makes a healthy eating choice as easy as possible.

“A big part of the Nutritiouslife program involves training with our staff on healthier cooking methods and the adaptation of recipes. We also look at the position of foods in the bain-maries and menu compliance to make sure all of our meals are nutritionally adequate and meet Australian dietary guidelines,” she says.

“During the Tastelife Challenge – and through the year – we also run educational seminars and put specific labelling around the dining room to make it easier for residents to make healthier choices.”

Activelife manager Hamish Johnston says the program has expanded throughout the years in the attempt to engage more residents.

“Our main aspiration is to get residents out of their rooms and engaged in some form of activity so they feel they belong to a community,” Johnston says.

“We’ve changed our recruitment strategies to ensure our Activelife coaches are highly skilled at engaging people.

Traditionally, they were more focused on the gym and personal training, but now they run activities like pool competitions and talk to the residents when they are

OHS & WELLBEING

competition or it could be providing other opportunities for people to talk to one another,” Johnston says.

Doig’s role as a Nutritiouslife manager means she is often visiting a different resource site every week where she is constantly witnessing the positive impact of the Tastelife program.

“Some sites used to have an ‘old school’ mentality where the only form of activity was drinking beer in the wet mess, but when we have the chance to interact with residents and make small, incremental changes, we begin to see a shift in mentality, an increase in participation at the gym and even an uptake of vegetables,” she says.

“Once employers begin to see the change in their workforce, the increase in productivity and morale, it just snowballs from there.” RP

ESS Activelife coaches at the Chevronowned Wheatstone project

waiting for their work buses.

“Some of our coaches are actually former school teachers, which is ideal because they have strong education experience and the ability to run both small and large events.”

In the coming year, ESS will look at trialling other activities from language classes to lessons on how to use Facebook and even dance classes, which Johnston

29

says are ‘surprisingly popular’.

This expanded focus is underpinned by the belief that building a sense of community and a healthy environment will also support the mental wellbeing of FIFO workers.

“What drives positive mental health is the sense of belonging to something.

So we run activities that create community. That may be a social event or

AMMA REPRESENTS AUSTRALIA

at mine safety forum AUSTRALIA’S LEADING mine safety record was just one topic explored at a recent Indonesian forum on improving safety and health in mining in Asian countries.

Government, employer and trade union representatives converged in the country’s capital city Jakarta for the important meeting involving seven countries and hosted by the International Labor Organisation (ILO).

Representing Australia, senior policy adviser with resource industry employer group AMMA, Lisa Matthews, described the event as beneficial for the Australasian region.

“Key themes that emerged included the growth of small-scale or ‘artisanal’ mines in some Asian countries and how best to ensure safety standards were regulated and improved at operations which are largely unregulated,” Matthews says.

“It was agreed it was important to try and extend existing OHS protections to this part of the ‘informal’ economy.”

ILO standards and conventions were also discussed so represented countries could measure their performance against world’s best practice, with the aim to promote sectoral standards across the region.

Each country also gave a presentation on the state of their mine safety systems.

“China has 12,000 mines across the country, 9,800 of them are small, with 5.5 million people working in the industry,” Matthews adds.

“India is dealing with an unprecedented increase in the mean age of its population and the implications of that for mine workers’ health and safety.

“Mongolia has 50,000 people currently working in mining and it is in the process of developing a national

policy for mine safety.

“Myanmar is working on improving data collection and improving its reporting framework for mine safety incidents, with a focus on sustainable development and the application of environmentally friendly technologies.

“Meanwhile, Vietnam is working on improving mine worker training and establishing a reporting system for safety incidents in mining.

“Australia’s strong mine safety record and low level of fatalities was highly regarded, although our focus on continuous improvement and goal of zero fatalities was emphasised.”

The importance of tripartite groups working together to improve mine safety was a key recommendation from the workshop, highlighting the need for government, industry and trade unions to work together to lift safety standards in the region. RP

RESOURCEPEOPLE | AUTUMN 2015 | www.amma.org.au

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OHS & WELLBEING

THIESS SAFETY PROGRAM

among world’s best A PROGRAM DESIGNED to promote a proactive safety culture has won mining contractor Thiess an international accolade.

Thiess’ Safety Transformation Program was named the Silver Stevie Winner in the Health, Safety & Environment Program of the Year category for Asia, Australia and New Zealand.

The Stevie Awards acknowledge the achievements and contributions of organisations and working professionals across the globe, with more than 250 business specialists participating in the judging process.

Peter Olsen, executive general manager of support resources at Thiess, says the program shifted the focus from ‘lag to lead indicators’, meaning

instead of reacting to safety incidences, employees focused on proactive and preventative actions.

“We backed ourselves to do something different in the safety space and this award has reinforced that we are on the right track,” Olsen says.

“Congratulations to our safety and operational teams and to everyone across the business who has embraced the new safety program.

“Our Safety Transformation Program is a home-grown initiative and to have it recognised as one of the world’s top two safety programs is a significant achievement.

“It shows that we are setting the benchmark not only in Australia, but across the globe.” RP

www.amma.org.au | AUTUMN 2015 | RESOURCEPEOPLE

Thiess has been globally recognised for safety

OHS & WELLBEING

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RURAL SOLUTIONS FOR

a healthy workforce

While the past six months has seen increased national discussion on the health and wellbeing of Australia’s fly-in, fly-out workforce, a leading corporate health insurance provider is reminding the resource industry of the inherent health challenges of those living and working in rural and remote communities.

GU HEALTH OFFERS a range of services aimed at keeping remote workers ‘fit for work’, including specialist on-site packages for FIFO workforces, however, it says remote residential employees also have their own unique set of health risks to consider.

“Outside of dense urban areas, or a FIFO village environment where health facilities are provided, accessibility can be an issue when servicing the health needs of employees and their families,” explains GU Health’s head of product, marketing and communications, Heather Norman.

“Research by the Australian Institute of Health and Welfare (AIHW) indicates residents of rural and remote communities experience poorer health outcomes and exhibit higher health needs than those in urban areas.

“For instance, when compared with metropolitan residents, rural Australians tend to have higher mortality related to coronary heart disease, diabetes and asthma; lower incidence of early cancer detection; and higher rates of smoking and alcohol intake.”

Noting the national resource industry is a large employer in many regional communities, Norman urges mining organisations to work with specialists like GU Health to develop a thorough understanding of the challenges faced by non-urban workers and their families.

“Where a large proportion of a mine’s workforce are locally-based, corporate health plans tailored to include benefits or initiatives that support those working in remote areas will deliver positive outcomes for both the individual and their employer,” she says.

GU Health’s online health portal, ‘My Health Space’ aims to break down the barriers that living in remote communities

can have on accessibility to first rate health services. The channel allows individuals to take ownership and selfmanage their health and wellbeing by offering information and support that is available 24-7.

“Online wellness programs are just one way of offering accessibility and flexibility to rural or remote workers to assist in managing their health needs,” Norman explains.

“My Health Space caters to the individual with online learning programs, recipes, health risk assessments and various articles on living well.

“In addition, employers can choose to brand and customise the portal to their business and receive de-identified, aggregate employee health status reports.

This allows them to ensure wellness activities are focused on behaviour change that returns the greatest impact on absenteeism and presenteeism.”

To cater for a range of complex health challenges facing regional-based employees, GU Health has developed a

gamut of unique solutions that are proving popular among resource employers.

For instance, its ‘Hospital Care at Home’ program tackles the anxiety and stress for rural Australians needing to visit a major hospital by allowing for a number of home-based medical support services. Similarly, GU Health’s services include telephone-based chronic disease management programs, travel and accommodation benefits and Skypebased psychology and counselling consultations to manage mental health.

“Corporate private health insurance today is required to do more than just offer the traditional benefits of insurance.

While the recent focus on FIFO is important, it’s also critical to understand the concerns of everyday working Australians in non-urbanised areas,” Norman adds.

“And ultimately, in terms of productivity, there are certainly positive outcomes for the employer who chooses to invest by offering subsidised private health insurance to their remote workforce.” RP

RESOURCEPEOPLE | AUTUMN 2015 | www.amma.org.au

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MEMBER NEWS

IN BRIEF A snapshot of recent news and milestones across the Australian mining, oil and gas sectors.

TRANSFIELD SERVICES WINS WOODSIDE CONTRACT TRANSFIELD SERVICES HAS signed a new agreement to provide a range of services at the Woodside-operated North West Shelf Project offshore facilities.

The contract’s scope incorporates all offshore brownfield projects’ execution works including electrical and instrumentation, mechanical, inspection, cladding/insulation, blasting and painting, scaffolding, rope access

and web decking and other Perth-based support services.

Transfield Services managing director and CEO Graeme Hunt, says the twoyear contract continues a 20-year relationship between the company and the North West Shelf Project.

“We are very proud of this longstanding relationship and will continue to deliver a high-quality service,” he says. RP

The Woodsideoperated North West Shelf Project

Vessel transporting first gas from Curtis Island

FIRST LNG EXPORTED FROM CURTIS ISLAND THE FIRST SHIPMENTS of LNG from the Queensland Curtis LNG (QCLNG) project have left Curtis Island.

QCLNG is the world’s first LNG project to be supplied by coal seam gas. The start of production from the plant’s first LNG train is the result of more than four years of development and construction.

“The start-up of QCLNG is testament to the hard work, skill and dedication of all our employees, partners and customers including the thousands of individuals who have been involved in physically building the plant,” BG Group interim executive chairman Andrew Gould says.

The project will expand further with the start-up of the second train in the third quarter of 2015. RP

ADANI AND DOWNER IN $2BN GALILEE DEAL DOWNER MINING HAS confirmed it will help develop one of Australia’s largest coalmines in Queensland’s Galilee Basin.

The mining contractor is expected to sign a $2 billion contract with Indian coal mining company Adani Mining for potentially seven years of construction and operational works on its $16 million Carmichael coal project.

Mine infrastructure construction is due to commence in the fourth quarter of 2015, with first mining scheduled for the second quarter of 2016.

Adani Australia country head and CEO Jeyakumar Janakaraj, says the deal is the

latest milestone in Adani’s prompt transition from the approvals to the build phase of the company’s mine, rail and port projects.

“The Carmichael mine lies at the heart of these projects, which will deliver vital export opportunities for Queensland, 10,000 jobs, $22bn in taxes and royalties to be invested right back into frontline services across our state, and crucial work opportunities for small and medium-sized businesses,” Janakaraj says.

This partnership with Downer reflects the clear confidence that tier one firms have in Adani’s projects and we

www.amma.org.au | AUTUMN 2015 | RESOURCEPEOPLE

welcome the chance to work with such a respected, proven partner on this critically important task.” RP

Adani’s Carmichael coal project

MEMBER NEWS

Seamus French

ANGLO AMERICAN REVISES DRAYTON MINE PLAN ANGLO AMERICAN HAS resubmitted plans to the NSW Government for an extension of its Drayton mine in hopes of providing continual employment for its local workforce of 500.

The coal miner’s bid to extend the mine beyond 2015 with the development of the Drayton South project south-west of Muswellbrook was rejected by the state government in October 2014 due to possible environmental impacts on two nearby equine stud farms.

The new project has been reduced to provide a greater ‘buffer’ between the operation and the stud farms. The life of the mine will be reduced from 27 to 15 years, producing 75 million tonnes of coal.

“Anglo American will develop a new project to provide employment and operational continuity for the Drayton workforce, address the Planning Assessment Commission’s (PAC) October 2014 report and deliver world-class environmental management practices

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around rehabilitation, noise, dust, visual amenity, proximity to neighbours and equine health,” CEO of Anglo American’s coal business, Seamus French, says.

While significantly reduced from initial estimates of $360m in associated state government royalties, Anglo American estimates the revised Drayton mine extension project will secure at least an annual $30m in state government royalties, $90m in wages and $70m for local business.

French is urging the PAC to consider the company’s leading environmental management practices and scientific evidence to make a ‘fair and balanced’ assessment of the project so that the local community and economy can continue to benefit from coal mining.

“The government must play their part and provide an efficient approvals process to protect the future of 500 families and 140 local businesses that hang in the balance,” he says. RP

CHEVRON GAS DEAL IN A MAJOR step towards commercialisation of the Gorgon LNG Project, Chevron and its Australian subsidiaries have reached an agreement with South Koran industrial conglomerate SK LNG Trading to supply 4.15 million tonnes of LNG over five years.

Beginning in 2017, the agreement will deliver more than 75 per cent of Chevron’s equity LNG from Gorgon to customers in Asia.

“SK joins our existing strong LNG customer base and demonstrates the Chevron-led Gorgon and Wheatstone projects are well-placed to meet the growing demand for natural gas in the Asia-Pacific region,” says Chevron Australia managing director, Roy Krzywosinski. RP

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RESOURCEPEOPLE | AUTUMN 2015 | www.amma.org.au

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TRAINING

THIESS GRADUATE

tops her class

Loren Burgess left her teaching career to learn the ropes of engineering with Thiess and quickly excelled to the top of her class. Winning Thiess ‘Graduate of the Year’ was only part of the reward.

GROWING UP IN a household where engineering feats were mapped at the family dinner table, South African-born Loren Burgess seemed destined to join the resource industry.

“Mining concepts and challenges have often been part of the conversation at home, which is why I have always been interested in mining both here in Australia and overseas,” the 30-year-old mine planning engineer says.

“However, it took four years of studying a commerce degree and four years working in Italy as a teacher to realise that a career as a mining engineer is what I truly wanted to pursue.”

Seeking to convert her work environment from Italian classroom to Australian minesite, Burgess began a Bachelor of Mining Engineering at the University of Queensland and was on the talent radar of Thiess long before graduating.

“I felt that work experience throughout my degree would be highly beneficial to my education and career and that working for a contractor would give me a diverse skill set in both coal and metalliferous mining,” Burgess says.

“Thiess offered me summer and winter vacation work, as well as casual

employment throughout my degree, which gave me the opportunity to develop and challenge myself as an engineer and a young professional.

“Thiess’ commitment to my professional and technical development made the Thiess Graduate Program an obvious choice for me as the next step in my career.”

The Thiess Graduate Program attracts hundreds of young graduates each year, however, it is those graduates who share in Thiess’ values – motivation, flexibility and passion – that stand out as the leading candidates.

The two-year program develops technical, business and personal skills, balancing theory in the corporate office with practice at the coalface to prepare up-and-coming professionals with realworld experience in resources.

Comprising four professional development workshops, study assistance and exposure to all aspects of the business, the program has become a leading choices for trainee engineers.

Burgess, crowned Thiess Graduate of the Year 2014 from her cohort of 65, says the support network of Thiess team members provided exceptional value.

“Thiess is made up of an amazing

The Thiess Graduate Program offers experience on mining projects like Lake Vermont in Queensland

www.amma.org.au | AUTUMN 2015 | RESOURCEPEOPLE

2014 Thiess Graduate of the Year Loren Burgess

team of professionals who are committed to providing support and training to graduates,” she says.

“Through the graduate program, I have been able to recognise my strengths and weaknesses and develop the confidence to ask for help when I cannot complete work on my own.

“No matter what technical or developmental challenges occur, I know I will receive support and dedicated mentorship from my colleagues.”

With mentorship and personal development at the core of her accomplishments, Burgess is now giving back as a mentor to up-and-coming candidates aiming for new careers in mining, oil and gas.

“My advice is to find a mentor who can help you develop technically and professionally, and take every opportunity given to you in the early stages of your career, even if it’s not what you expected,” she notes.

“Honesty, trust and getting on board early goes a very long way.” RP

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TRAINING

INDIA, AUSTRALIA TO

share lessons in learning Accompanying Minister for Industry Ian Macfarlane on a skills-focused trade mission to India, AMMA executive director Tara Diamond recently addressed a major conference in Mumbai to share prospective skilling outcomes of tighter ties between Australia and India.

WHILE JOINING MORE than 100 Australian business leaders, Diamond was the key representative for Australia’s resource industry – where more than $25 billion worth of Indian capital investment currently lies.

Speaking to an audience of skills and training experts at the third India Australia Skills Conference, she notes how mutual ties between both countries provide an opportunity to align skills practices and engage in transnational training initiatives.

“Seizing opportunities to create consistencies in our workforces is becoming very important as India’s economy continues to evolve at an astounding rate, and Australia readies itself to be a major global supplier of resources to such developing nations,” Diamond says.

“Indian companies are playing a big part in our industry’s ongoing prosperity, with Adani and GVK progressing two major coal developments in Queensland’s Galilee Basin, requiring more than 5,000 personnel during the construction period.

“Together, India and Australia can take advantage of trans-national skills

Tara Diamond

opportunities to create bilateral benefits within our respective resource industries.”

In particular, Diamond focuses on opportunities to standardise skills qualifications between the two countries through the mutual exchange of best practice in vocational education.

Kick-starting the opportunity, Minister Macfarlane used the conference to launch a vocational education and training pilot program to be trialled in the next 12 months, delivered by

Australian registered training providers working with industry, Indian training providers and governments.

“India needs thousands of additional trainers and assessors as it strives to skill 500 million people by 2022 and Australia is a nation with training expertise,” Mr Macfarlane says.

With a new free trade agreement now under negotiation, further training benefits for India and Australia are expected to unfold in future. RP

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TRAINING

37

BULLYING PREVENTION

better than cure

The Fair Work Commission has made just one stop-bullying order since gaining jurisdiction over workplace harassment, but with an average of two claims heard every day, AMMA training and development director Janine Temple writes why prevention is better than cure.

IN ITS FIRST year as the national authority on workplace bullying, the Fair Work Commission has heard more than 530 complaints across the Australian business community, resulting in just one stopbullying order.

When involving employers or managers, the majority of complaints were dismissed as reasonable management action, and many others settled long before arbitration.

However, while the ratio of success in bullying claims reflects a pragmatic approach to workplace bullying by the Commission, employers should be looking to take preventative measures at the coalface to reduce the risk of such complaints and improve workplace culture.

A bullying-free workplace begins with education, and every member of your workforce has something to gain from awareness training against workplace harassment.

Mitsui subsidiary Shark Bay Salt, in partnership with AMMA’s registered training organisation, delivers all-of-staff training to its workforces at both the Shark Bay and Onslow salt fields in Western Australia on a bi-annual basis.

Participating in AMMA’s Equal Employment Opportunity Awareness workshops, all 67 of the organisation’s employees have learnt to recognise behaviours that constitute workplace bullying and how to address them appropriately, leading to stronger ties among workmates and a more positive working environment.

As well as improving productivity, reducing staff absenteeism and improving morale, the Australian Human Rights Commission also argues that a bullyingfree workplace reduces costs associated with legal proceedings, workers’ compensation and management time

associated with investigations.

At present, those costs are estimated to reach up to $36 billion annually for Australian business, making an all-ofstaff approach to training that reduces workplace bullying a positive investment.

While the likelihood of bullying complaints arising is significantly lower in workplaces that keep their employees up to date on harassment training, tackling those complaints is a delicate matter reserved for specialists in their field, namely Contact Officers.

With a workforce of more than 2,000 across its West Australian operations, gold miner Gold Fields recently delivered a

Janine Temple

double standard of training in collaboration with AMMA Training & Development.

As well as enrolling all employees in the Equal Employment Opportunity Awareness course, Gold Fields also appointed two as trainees to become Contact Officers for colleagues experiencing harassment in the workplace.

A position specialising in recognition of bullying conduct and how to address it with sensitivity and confidentiality, Contact Officers have the legal know-how to ensure an organisation’s obligations to its employees are met and that its rights and the rights of its workers are adequately upheld.

Further, Contact Officers are wellpositioned to resolve bullying behaviours through in-house avenues, a skill the Fair Work Commission describes as critical to alleviating the growing bulk of bullying claims dismissed as reasonable management action.

Senior deputy president Jonathan Hamberger recently told delegates at a Sydney University conference the best grievance procedures are the ones rarely used, a notion backed by adequate training and accountability in the workplace.

As mental health emerges as a major focus for resource employers and onsite bullying continues to pose a risk, training to improve workplace culture is swiftly becoming a trend. In fact, nearly 1900 employees across the mining, oil and gas sectors participated in antibullying training with AMMA in the past year alone.

Staying on top of a harassmentfree workplace is not only crucial to reducing disputation, it’s also an investment for your organisation’s workplace culture, and healthy workers make healthy workplaces. RP

RESOURCEPEOPLE | AUTUMN 2015 | www.amma.org.au

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TRAINING

NEW DOORS OPEN FOR

high school apprentices QUEENSLAND HIGH SCHOOL students are gaining greater access to trade qualifications and on-the-job training with the state government incentivising businesses to take on school-based apprentices.

Aiming to tackle the challenge of youth employment, the School to Trade Pathway initiative helps create long-term and meaningful employment opportunities for school-age apprentices.

Employers can receive up to $5,000 to take on a school-based apprentice and employ them full-time on completion of their high school education.

Former Queensland Minister for Education, Training and Employment John-Paul Langbroek says the initiative is a core component of getting students jobready for the ‘real world’.

Queensland employers are encouraged to take on school-based apprentices

“For students, this program means more opportunities to enter a full-time apprenticeship directly after school, gaining hands-on experience and training with an employer and a leg up towards a career or perhaps even a business of their own one day,” he says.

Queensland’s resource sector is likely to benefit from the program.

Mining and quarrying employer Redcorp says the School to Trade Pathway program has become vital for futureproofing their skilled workforce.

“School-based apprentices are used to working a full day and their future employers are going to be very surprised to see they know what to do on a civil worksite and how to operate heavy machinery,” Redcorp’s Veronica Luhrs says.

“Apprentices are the future, and it’s

a pleasure to assist these kids by taking them on as apprentices and helping give them opportunities that they may not have had otherwise.”

Just 18 months since its initial launch, the program has won a year extension to its two-year limit and an additional $5 million in funding, making it a $15m incentive. RP

Apprentices are the future, and it’s a pleasure to assist these kids by taking them on as apprentices and helping give them opportunities that they may not have had otherwise.

TRAINING

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TRAINING BOOST

for Indigenous students 2015 WILL PRESENT new opportunities for Indigenous youths in New South Wales with the launch of a new training program linking local Aboriginal students to future careers in mining across the Upper Hunter Valley.

Indigenous recruitment specialist Aboriginal Services Group (ASG) received a state government grant of $300,000 to support the education and work skills program, focusing on mentoring, career awareness, training, leadership and vocational skills to provide a leg-up into the mining sector.

“ASG will provide support for Aboriginal students to become ‘complete players’ in the jobs market,” says ASG managing director Cory Robertson.

“Our local Indigenous students will benefit from a strong foundation for positive lifestyle choices and sustainable employment opportunities.”

State Minister for Aboriginal Affairs, Victor Dominello, says: “This program will help local students to establish links with the mining industry and its supply chain companies and enable them to participate in field trips to gain a better understanding of the career opportunities which exist in the industry,” The Upper Hunter Valley is home to more than 30 mining projects that account for 64 per cent of the state’s total coal production. Some of the country’s largest resource employers, including Glenore, Rio Tinto, and Anglo American operate in

the area, providing real prospects for the Indigenous students.

Member for Upper Hunter George Souris says the funding, which runs for two years, is crucial for both industry and local Indigenous students.

“The resources industry in this region requires a constant stream of ambitious young people to fill roles including machinery operators, geologists, mechanics and engineers,” he says.

“More than 100 Aboriginal students, from years five to 12, are already engaged in a local Opportunity Hub and this provides a strong foundation for ASG to work with these students to secure training and mentoring opportunities in the mining industry.” RP

RESOURCEPEOPLE | AUTUMN 2015 | www.amma.org.au

40

WORKPLACE REFORM

on the horizon

As the Productivity Commission commences its long-anticipated review of Australia’s workplace relations system, the resource industry is leading the charge for reforms that will better support doing business in the Australian resource sector, major project investment and job creation.

WHILE POLITICAL AND public debate ensued following the Productivity Commission’s release of its five issues papers, the message from the business community remains clear – the review of Australia’s workplace relations framework must be wide-ranging, free from politicking and premature judgements, and, above all else, should seek to set Australia up for long-term prosperity.

Encouragingly, the Productivity Commission is asking the big questions about Australia’s workplace system and how it can better support where the nation seeks to go both economically and socially.

With the Australian Labor Party and various trade unions immediately rolling out predicable WorkChoices scare campaigns, Chair of the Commission Peter Harris hit back at critics, saying the process will be ‘open-minded, evidencebased and impartial’.

“We know people hold passionate views about workplace relations,” Harris says.

“We [also] know that a workplace

relations system goes beyond its important economic impacts, and will take account of the human and social elements of what is at stake. We are required by our legislation to account of benefits to the community as a whole, and not any particular interest group.”

In framing its inquiry, the Productivity Commission has been willing to pose some fundamental and challenging questions. While its issues papers cover the key aspects of the Australian workplace relations system, much of the political debate has centred on protections and allowances on the ‘lower end’ of the employment and remuneration scale, such as minimal wage and penalty rates.

For the resource industry, however, where billions of dollars of major project investment are at stake, this opportunity for reform goes well beyond these much-debated aspects, including how the system should regulate high-reward workplaces and how bargaining and negotiations should be regulated in

www.amma.org.au | AUTUMN 2015 | RESOURCEPEOPLE

AMMA’s submission: Key Priorities for the Industry • Damaging strikes and threats to strike.

• What can be included in an employment agreement, and in union logs of claims.

• When and how unions can come onto worksites.

• Employment terms and conditions for new major resource projects.

• New options for individual agreement making.

the future. Employers are particularly concerned with how genuine renewal and reform can support Australia’s capacity to ‘reboot’ record levels of resource investment and construction.

In the five years since the introduction of the Fair Work Act 2009, resource industry employer group AMMA has built a formidable body of evidence backing the

POLICY

need for a fundamental overhaul of the former Labor government’s ‘over-ambitious and under thought’ workplace system.

AMMA’s submission to the review will address specific areas that are impacting the nation’s capacity to deliver major resource projects on time and on budget, thus acting as a barrier to future investment and employment opportunities (see breakout box on previous page).

“No other sector of our economy has a more important role to play in future workplace reforms that will support national productivity growth, new employment opportunities and increased living standards than the resource industry,” says Scott Barklamb, AMMA’s executive director of policy and public affairs.

“The experiences of AMMA members operating under the former Labor government’s workplace laws reveal a picture of reduced flexibility, increased union power, productivity being forced ‘off the table’ in bargaining, project delays and a growing climate of industrial uncertainty.

“The 2009 Fair Work changes were an

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resource industry’s agenda well apart from the wider business community, is substantial specialist research undertaken with resource employers. The research No other sector of our will back up years of anecdotal evidence economy has a more to provide the most meaningful possible important role to play in picture of the competitive challenges and future workplace reforms the opportunities that will be lost should than the resource industry.

Australia’s policy makers rest on their laurels and ignore reform opportunities. experiment, and they are increasingly “We encourage all AMMA members failing the needs of employers, employees to get involved with our submission to the and the community. AMMA is well-placed Productivity Commission and, importantly, to be a key national generator of ideas on to contribute to critical research for our industry and our capacity to grow, prosper how we can do better.

“From our representations, the and generate jobs,” Barklamb says.

Productivity Commission will appreciate The Commission is due to report by the the scale of the problems with the national end of November 2015 and will produce a draft report midyear. Public hearings will workplace laws that must be confronted then be held in August and September. if the resource industry is to continue to attract billions of dollars in major AMMA’s first submission is due in midMarch. AMMA members are encouraged project investment, thus creating endless employment opportunities and flow-on to email policy@amma.org.au or call economic benefits.”

1800 627 771 to ensure they have their A major component of AMMA’s say on the future of Australia’s workplace submission, and one that will set the relations system. RP

RESOURCEPEOPLE | AUTUMN 2015 | www.amma.org.au

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POLICY

POLICY AT a glance A wrap-up of recent resource industry and employment policy developments

by AMMA executive director, policy and public affairs, Scott Barklamb.

OUTSTANDING AMENDMENTS: Key workplace relations amendment bills remain before parliament with little clarity on when they will be brought on for a vote. Key proposals for AMMA members are: Fair Work Amendment Bill 2014, which includes a number of pro-employer changes to the Fair Work Act 2009; the Fair Work Amendment (Bargaining Processes) Bill 2014 (see below), and legislation to restore the Australian Building and Construction Commission (ABCC).

BARGAINING CHANGES: A new Coalition government workplace relations amendment bill, currently before the Senate, seeks greater productivity considerations during enterprise bargaining. The Fair Work Amendment (Bargaining Processes) Bill 2014 would require employers, employees and trade unions to have actively discussed lifting productivity in negotiations toward a new enterprise bargaining agreement.

The bill also outlines a range of prerequisites trade unions would need to meet before the Fair Work Commission can approve a union’s application for a protected action ballot order.

NUCLEAR ENERGY: AMMA welcomes the Australian Government’s call for a ‘sensible debate’ on future nuclear energy developments. Though legislation currently outlaws the development of nuclear power in Australia, Prime Minister Tony Abbott and Foreign Minister Julie Bishop raised the technology as a clear option for reducing future carbon emissions, also flagging potential opportunities to expand South Australia’s emerging uranium mining sector.

MODERN AWARDS: AMMA is representing the resource industry in the Fair Work Commission’s ongoing review of Australia’s Modern Awards system.

AMMA has previously been active in successfully shaping awards covering mining, hydrocarbons, the maritime sector, and offshore oil and gas,

Scott Barklamb

therefore our current role has focused on ensuring union claims do not create additional or new minimum award obligations which would be unworkable, restrictive or inflexible. The review may not be complete until early 2016.

STRIKE AVERTED: One of the biggest industrial relations stories of 2014 has been resolved without strikes, after Port Hedland tug boat operator Teekay Shipping reached an agreement with the Australian Institute of Marine and Power Engineers (AIMPE) late last year. The threatened strike action was widely condemned by the industry including iron ore majors Fortescue Metals and BHP Billiton.

OFFSHORE VISA CHALLENGE: Hearings before a Full Court of the Federal Court in Sydney commenced on February 9 for the maritime unions’ challenge to an earlier decision regarding migration arrangements in the offshore resources industry. Both the MUA and the Australian Maritime Officers Union (AMOU) have challenged the decision of Federal Court Justice Buchanan on September 15, 2014, to uphold Assistant Minister

www.amma.org.au | AUTUMN 2015 | RESOURCEPEOPLE

for Immigration & Border Protection, Michaelia Cash’s efforts to restore certainty to the offshore resource industry.

URINE TESTING WIN: Major ports operator DP World has successfully appealed a Fair Work Commission (FWC) decision prohibiting the company from taking urine samples as part of its drug and alcohol testing policy. The appeal followed initial proceedings launched by the MUA, in which deputy president Anna Booth ordered DP World to amend its drug and alcohol testing policy to exclude urine samples.

CFMEU FINE: The Construction, Forestry, Mining and Energy Union (CFMEU) is facing fines of up to $10 million for an alleged secondary boycott against construction supply group Boral on 12 Melbourne construction sites. CFMEU Victoria state secretary John Setka and assistant state secretary Shaun Reardon are also facing fines of up to $220,000 each for alleged harassment and coercion.

The case, brought by the Australian Competition and Consumer Commission (ACCC), will be heard in October 2015. RP

POLICY

43

FACEBOOK SLUR

constitutes ‘bullying’ In a landmark bullying application against the Maritime Union of Australia (MUA) the Fair Work Commission has expanded the definition of bullying at work to include social media content posted outside of the workplace.

THE CASE BROUGHT by three employees of stevedoring company DP World against their employer and the MUA for stop-orders to workplace bullying is breaking new ground on several industrial relations fronts.

Not only does the action mark the first time the Fair Work Commission (FWC) has been asked to rule on a complaint levelled at a union under its new bullying jurisdiction, it has also seen the commission actively consider the very definition of bullying in the modern workplace.

Late last year, employees Sharon Bowker, Annette Coombe and Stephen Zwarts launched proceedings against DP World and the MUA after ‘aggressive and intimidating behaviour’ by union delegates left them fearing for their safety on-site at the West Swanson dock.

Serious allegations about the conduct of MUA delegates and members at the West Swanson terminal include defacing one of the applicant’s work overalls with the words ‘give up, dog f***head’; and MUA assistant national secretary Warren Smith telling Bowker that, ‘if there are any ramifications for Mark Johnston (MUA delegate later sacked for harassing Bowker), I can’t guarantee your safety in the workplace’.

A key complaint from all three applicants was in relation to derogatory posts made by union delegates to social media platform Facebook. Language such as ‘lagger’, ‘dog’ and ‘scab’ was cited in the case.

As part of preliminary hearings for the matter, the MUA sought to have nine of the complaints struck out, arguing the alleged conduct did not occur ‘at work’ within the meaning of section 789FD of the Fair Work Act 2009.

Noting the complexities social media bullying brings to an industrial relations case, the FWC Full Bench rejected the

union’s argument and this will allow the applicants to push ahead their case.

“Conceptually there is little doubt that using social media to repeatedly behave unreasonably towards a worker constitutes bullying behaviour,” the Full Bench says on the matter.

“The relevant behaviour is not limited to the point in time when the comments are first posted on Facebook. The behaviour continues for as long as the comments remain on Facebook.

“It follows the worker need not be ‘at work’ at the time the comments are posted, it would suffice if they accessed the comments later while ‘at work’.”

The application to have the complaints struck out was dismissed and the case handed to a single commission member to assess whether the conduct constituted workplace bullying. The ongoing case against is expected to receive significant public attention during 2015.

BULLYING REFORMS NEEDED – AMMA

The landmark case against the MUA and DP World demonstrates the need for reform to federal anti-bullying laws, argues AMMA chief executive Steve Knott.

Section 789FD(1) of the Fair Work Act

states workplace bullying can be carried out by ‘an individual’ or ‘a group of individuals’, but Knott believes recent bullying and intimidation relating to industrial matters underscore a need for anti-bullying laws to also explicitly apply to unions.

“Unions should not be able to hide behind legitimate protections of rights of association and representation to make themselves immune from responsibility for bullying conduct,” he says.

“Simply, if someone is harassed, bullied or threatened by a union representative or member in relation to a union matter, agenda or position, the union should be held accountable or at least scrutinised as to whether it endorses or encourages such behaviours.

“If the MUA’s leadership is serious about supporting efforts to clean up the stevedoring sector, it should support this proposed clarification in our anti-bullying laws and not allow thugs and bullies on the wharves to hide behind a closed culture of militancy and industrial intimidation.”

AMMA, as the national resource employer group, is pursuing amendments to the national anti-bullying laws as part of the Productivity Commission’s review into the wider operation of workplace laws. RP

RESOURCEPEOPLE | AUTUMN 2015 | www.amma.org.au

44

MIGRATION

IMPORTANT 400 VISA

changes flagged

The Department of Immigration and Border Protection has released a proposal paper outlining options to simplify Australia’s skilled migration visa programs, including several key recommendations put to it by AMMA on behalf of resource industry employers.

THE SIMPLIFICATION OF the skilled migration and temporary activity visa programs is part of the federal government’s wide ranging review of Australia’s skilled migration framework, distinct from its separate and more specialist review of the 457 Visa scheme.

Generally, the proposals seek to address inconsistencies in processing times, assessments and documentary requirements – most of which resource industry employer group AMMA has raised as a concern and provided direct feedback from the perspective of members using the system.

Arguably the most significant proposal for resource employers is for changes to the Subclass 400 (Temporary Work – Short Stay) Visa that would create a 12-month pathway for short intra-company transfers, reoccurring and intermittent workers to enter Australia on multiple occasions.

AMMA has advocated for such a change for some time.

“The proposal for new pathways for short intra-company transfers is a positive development that resource sector employers and employees would particularly benefit from,” Scott Barklamb, AMMA executive director, policy and public affairs, says.

The proposal for new pathways for short intracompany transfers is a positive development that resource sector employers and employees would particularly benefit from.

“The resource industry is highly globalised, and the importance of sharing skills, experience and career development opportunities extends well beyond our shores. Australians working in the resource sector often have opportunities to work and live temporarily all over the world, and the Australian industry must similarly benefit from global engagement.

“The proposed 12-month multiple entry visa would enable such opportunities to be reciprocated by the Australian operations of our multinational resource organisations. With appropriate safeguards, it would better equip Australia to engage with the growing global

The government is aiming to simplify Australia’s skilled migration system

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community of highly mobile, highly skilled professionals who temporarily live and work where their specialised skills are most in need.”

Overall, Barklamb is pleased the government is engaging positively with many of AMMA’s recommendations, and says he looks forward to further cooperation on implementation measures during coming months.

To provide your feedback on this Department of Immigration proposals paper, or to ensure your views on any other migration policy developments are represented in AMMA submissions, contact policy@amma.org.au or 1800 627 771. RP

MIGRATION

45

DUTTON TO

tackle immigration FORMER HEALTH MINISTER Peter Dutton has gone from one challenging portfolio to another after being appointed Minister for Immigration and Border Protection during Prime Minister Tony Abbott’s Cabinet reshuffle.

Dutton was formerly Minister for Health and Minister for Sport, both now assigned to Sussan Ley. His predecessor in Immigration, Scott Morrison, has been promoted to Minister for Social Services.

A Queenslander who made his political debut at the age of 30 when elected Federal Member for Dickson in 2001, Dutton wasted no time declaring his focus on people smugglers.

“I think Scott Morrison’s done an exceptional job so I want to continue that

good work, but the organised criminals who are involved in people smuggling are constantly changing their techniques, their ways and are well-resourced,” he told News Corp Australia.

Retaining his core focus on border protection activities indicates that ongoing consultation with industry on skilled migration policy will continue to be the domain of Senator Michaelia Cash, who retained her role as Assistant Minister for Immigration and Border Protection Senator Cash has developed a strong rapport with the business community and in particular has undertaken extensive consultation with the resource industry to improve Australia’s migration laws, including streamlining the 457 Visa

process for temporary skilled workers.

Following the PM’s announcement, the Migration Institute of Australia – a professional association for registered migration agents – called on the government to elevate Senator Cash’s position to Cabinet level.

“The Assistant Minister for Immigration and Border Protection has the carriage of the greater part of Australia’s migration program and many major policy decisions on immigration are made by Cabinet, of which she is not a part,” says national president Angela Chan.

“The importance of immigration to Australia is such that the position of the Assistant Minister should be a cabinet position.” RP

RESOURCEPEOPLE | AUTUMN 2015 | www.amma.org.au

46

LEADERSHIP

MMA OFFSHORE POWERS

into uncharted waters

ASX-listed marine services provider MMA Offshore is powering into 2015 with a new brand, new global operations and 1,000 new employees. In this Leadership feature, managing director Jeff Weber reflects on the organisation’s recent growth and future prospects, all underpinned by its people.

IN THE SPACE of 12 years Jeff Weber has led the transformation of Mermaid Marine Australia from a modest WA-based vessel operator into a diversified global leader in maritime support services, recently rebranded MMA Offshore Limited.

Having invested $470 million in its Australian vessels and supply base infrastructure at Dampier and Broome, the acquisition of Singapore’s Jaya Holdings in 2014 has provided the final piece of the puzzle for MMA Offshore’s next exciting growth phase.

“We recognised in 2012 that in our next five-year strategic period to 2017, the Australian market was going to change rather dramatically as we move from an intensive construction phase to more of a production support phase,” Weber, who began his career as a marine engineer with BHP Transport, says.

“Strategically, we decided to do something a bit different and broaden geographically in the markets we service.

On that basis, and on the age of the fleet

and price, the Jaya transaction ticked a number of boxes.”

The Singapore acquisition added 32 relatively young vessels to MMA Offshore’s global fleet of now 63. It dramatically increased the company’s workforce from 700 to 1,700 and importantly, provided the company with significant new shipbuilding capabilities in South East Asia.

“Jaya was more mature as a vessel builder than it was as a vessel operator, whereas being an owner-operator is what we do at MMA Offshore,” Weber says.

“One of the attractions of the Jaya transaction was that they had a bunch of people, including naval architects and engineers, who were experts around shipbuilding. This offered a valuable expertise factor to us.

“Now we can offer our clients in Australia, Asia or elsewhere in the world the technical capability to build and set up a vessel and provide a crew to best meet their specific project requirements.”

82m production support vessel Leeuwin in action

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MMA managing director Jeff Weber

PEOPLE & CULTURE

Having operated in South East Asia under the old Mermaid Marine brand since 2006, Weber and his management team are confident in building a cohesive, client-oriented culture across the merged organisation.

With marine expertise being a ‘diminishing resource on a global scale’, he says the company targets people who are considered everyday experts in their fields.

“The vessels are just one part of the equation. The maritime services sector is very much a people game. The crew that operates the vessels are absolutely critical, as are those that manage, maintain and supply the vessels,” Weber says.

“A lot of our success throughout the Australian construction phase has been in providing a unique solution for our clients, and that has come from a level of experience, expertise and innovation that requires good people. We are now applying this approach to our growing international business.

“We have our own project management division that allows us to bring in specialist expertise to work with our vessel operation teams towards very

47

On the bridge of the 52m Mermaid Cove

specific solutions for clients. With our new shipbuilding expertise we are building higher end vessels that are tailored to client or project requirements.”

While Weber speaks passionately of MMA Offshore’s HR strategies, it was a workforce-related issue that provided the only black spot on the company’s 2014, with industrial unrest disrupting its Dampier supply base and a difficult enterprise bargaining period for its offshore workforce creating further distractions.

Acknowledging ‘the important role unions have in this country’, Weber believes Australia’s workplace relations legislation, the Fair Work Act 2009, could be ‘tweaked’ to better encourage a partnership approach between employers and unions during enterprise bargaining.

“The environment we have at the moment is very adversarial and I believe that adversarial nature comes from the national workplace system. I think it just points people down the wrong direction,” he says.

“During both sets of negotiations, we maintained the best way for MMA Offshore to provide good job security, local employment opportunities and

The vessels are just one part of the equation. The maritime services sector is very much a people game. long-term careers in the marine sector is to remain market competitive, productive and have some flexibility.

“We have achieved an agreement at Dampier that is a good agreement for all parties, and that’s exactly what we want to do on the marine side of our business. In the current maritime environment, working in partnership to ensure competitiveness and job security is really critical.”

AUSTRALIAN OUTLOOK

Despite MMA Offshore’s recent expansion, Weber says the Australian market remains ‘absolutely critical’ to its short and long term prospects.

Proving there are still significant contracts to be won in the construction

phase of major oil and gas projects, in September the company was awarded a $105m contract to manage Chevron’s 202m Silja Europa cruise ferry that has been converted into a floating accommodation vessel for its Barrow Island workforce.

While making the most of ongoing construction support works, Weber says MMA Offshore is ‘going as aggressively as possible’ on longer-term production support opportunities.

In one of the most significant wins in the company’s history, MMA Offshore was awarded a major contract for the provision of two platform supply vessels (PSVs) for INPEX’s Ichthys Project. The initial fiveyear period is worth $160m, with two fiveyear options to extend that could bring the total contract value up to $500m.

“The two PSVs are being built in Vietnam as we speak,” Weber says with enthusiasm.

“This was a really important contract for us as it reflects where the Australian market is heading – long-term contracts supporting long-term production projects like the INPEX development. Those sort of contracts will attract just about every major maritime company on a global basis. »

RESOURCEPEOPLE | AUTUMN 2015 | www.amma.org.au

48

LEADERSHIP

»

“We pride ourselves on being able to provide a very good technical solution and back that up with strong day-to-day vessel operations. I think that was the thing that won it for us and it’s a great endorsement for where we are heading.”

From Mermaid Marine to MMA Offshore, Australia’s largest provider of marine solutions to the offshore resource industry has come a long way since Weber took the reins in 2002.

While acknowledging the industry’s transition out of its lucrative construction phase, and the additional pressure on resource companies due to the oil price position of 2015, Weber has plenty of reason for his positive outlook.

“When I first got here there were about 12 people in our office and our supply base wasn’t developed; it was quite a small business at that point,” he says.

“Our industry has obviously seen some significant growth and through the construction phase we have successfully grown with it. We’ve continually upgraded our fleet of vessels, invested heavily in our

Jeff Weber says marine expertise is a ‘diminishing resource’ globally

supply bases to be world class facilities, and we have talented crews who want to work for us.

“Australia is an island nation and having a strong maritime industry is very important to our country as a whole. It’s interesting that many people aren’t aware of how big our maritime sector is; they are really surprised to learn there are a couple

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of hundred vessels operating off the North West Shelf.

“There is some pressure on oil and gas companies at the moment, but our industry is set up for the long term and MMA Offshore will continue to invest, provide employment and be a big part of the local communities in which we operate.” RP

LEADERSHIP

49

SHELL COMMITS $12M

to youth employment Global oil and gas employer Shell will contribute more than $12 million over the next two years in an effort to unlock the potential of disadvantaged communities and tackle Australia’s dismal youth unemployment rate.

WITH THE LAUNCH of its national Social Investment Portfolio for 20142016, Shell highlighted that almost 15 per cent of young people in Australia are out of school and out of work. Youth unemployment rates reach 40 per cent in some disadvantaged communities.

Shell country chair Andrew Smith says the oil giant’s plan will impact more than 100,000 young Australians, 300 teachers and 700 Indigenous people by improving employability, skills and creating job pathways.

“Through education and support, Shell’s social investment program will help young people discover their future career potential and equip them with the knowledge, skills and values to help solve challenges – creating a better

future for all Australians,” Smith says.

“It is a program that recognises that as a society our greatest assets are our communities and our families. If we truly want to be prosperous we must bridge the barriers of geographic isolation and stop economic disadvantage from being a barrier to career aspirations.”

The social investment program will involve Shell and its Prelude FLNG project partnering with 14 social change organisations, including the National Centre for Indigenous Excellence and the Foundation for Young Australians.

Targets include increasing numbers of students studying maths and science in senior schooling, building teacher capacity and increasing Year 12 or

equivalent completion rates.

Shell’s youth employment commitment follows another major training and employment program recently launched in partnership with the Northern Territory Government, Charles Darwin University and Group Training NT. As part of the Prelude to the Future program, NT jobseekers will gain skills and experience in roles needed to support Australia’s first floating LNG project, once it is situated in waters off the West Australian coast.

Participants in the program will receive 20 weeks’ training provided by Charles Darwin University, as well as six weeks’ work experience, followed by mentoring support for a period of 18 months. RP

5 minutes with...

AMMA Membership Manager, West Coast, Kristian Stratton

A typical day’s work for me involves: Visiting and speaking with AMMA members or clients across Western Australia, South Australia and the Northern Territory. This takes me to a range of different places where I get the opportunity to meet a variety of interesting people.

The thing I like most about my job is: Visiting AMMA members on their project sites – I’ve visited some amazing places.

The greatest challenge of my role is: Making sure our members are always

up to date with the great services AMMA offers.

My alternative career choice would be: A professional golfer. It’s on my bucket list to play at one of the oldest and most famous golf courses in the world – St Andrews Links in Scotland.

If I could give my younger self one piece of advice it would be: To trust your ability.

If I got a free airfare to anywhere, I would go to: Africa – it is an amazing destination and

Shell is helping to increase youth employment

my kids really want to go.

What I like most about living in WA is: It is so relaxed and a great place to bring up a family.

You wouldn’t know it but: I used to own two travel agencies in Perth and still love to travel whenever I can.

I’m inspired by: People with a positive attitude who work hard.

When I’m not at work I’m: Enjoying time with my wife and two young daughters. RP

RESOURCEPEOPLE | AUTUMN 2015 | www.amma.org.au

50

INNOVATION

BRINGING THE BALLOT BOX

into the 21st century

How do you manage 5,800 remote resource project employees voting simultaneously on seven separate draft enterprise bargaining agreements, in just five days? The answer, as explained by the innovators in paperless electronic voting, is through embracing modern technology.

THIS SCENARIO, INVOLVING a series of construction contractors and subcontractors for one of Australia’s most significant and complex LNG megaprojects, is just one of many examples where Cirrena IVS (Independent Voting Solutions) has proven its mettle.

Not only was the project dealing with multiple contractors and thousands of employees, but differing working arrangements, shift patterns and strict quarantine processes of the site would have added significant cost and complexity to a traditional paper-based voting method.

“This was a prime example of how conducting a vote via a traditional paper ballot box is often impractical in the complex and evolving modern workplace,” Cirrena IVS general manager Matt Petrich says.

“It’s very difficult to think of anything, let alone a critical business process, that is still done today the same way it was done 100 years ago. With standard EBA voting, employers have lead times for printing, postage and counting to deal with, let alone the workplace disruption of having everybody stop work for a ballot.

“And as employers in Australia’s resource sector would greatly appreciate, it’s not exactly easy to fly an independent third party to an offshore oil rig or a remote mine site to oversee a vote.”

The concept behind the Cirrena IVS service is relatively simple. Employees are enabled to vote privately and independently from any mobile device, with employers choosing any combination of a web-based portal, SMS texting, or phoning-in.

In the LNG project example, the majority of the contractors utilised

Cirrena’s ‘education portal’, which provides employees instant access to the agreement and other relevant documents, as well as assisting with the employer’s statutory requirements.

“Leading up to the vote opening day, our representatives met with each of the seven individual clients to ensure the specific voting challenges of each individual workforce was understood and addressed,” Petrich says.

“While managing the electronic vote over the five days, a 24-hour ‘How to Vote’ call centre was created with multiple operators manning the phone lines during shift changes. Thankfully, the simplicity of the system meant only 1.5 per cent of the workforce accessed this help line.”

In developing its business and marketing strategies, it’s easy to see why the resource industry’s unique workplaces were identified as among the key potential users of Cirrena’s systems and tools.

The company recently managed an

Voting is as simple as a phone call

www.amma.org.au | AUTUMN 2015 | RESOURCEPEOPLE

EBA vote for a major Australian nickel miner that is one of the largest global suppliers to the stainless steel industry.

With 2,300 employees working on three sites, the client was seeking to maximise its participation rate.

The benefits of such services, however, are not restricted to large employers with thousands of staff. Another of Cirrena’s satisfied clients is an Australian vessel operator company that, while employing less than 80 workers, had to deal with four sites across Western Australia and a number of their employees offshore at any given time.

“Given the challenging nature of the maritime industrial relations environment, the customer liaised extensively with Cirrena IVS to ensure a voting system was created that satisfied all the industrial stakeholders,” Petrich explains.

“After the initial vote was unsuccessful, we were engaged to conduct a confidential, anonymous text-based survey that provided valuable insight and feedback into why the workforce voted down the proposed agreement.

The final successful EA vote achieved a participation rate of 91 per cent.”

As Cirrena’s electronic voting technology catches on, Petrich says the main barrier is assuring employers there is a better way.

“Security and privacy is usually the number one concern, as it should be, however, we don’t seem to question having our banking and financial systems, our government information and taxation all done online these days,” he says.

“To us, it’s well overdue that EBA voting catches up to the 21st century and joins our paperless society. Once our clients have used our systems for the first time, there is no looking back.” RP

INNOVATION

51

SAFER DRILL RIGS put to work in well drilling technology as part of its contract with QGC,” Easternwell’s chief operating officer Tim Phelan says.

“We will draw on decades of experience in well drilling to ensure high levels of safety and productivity are achieved.”

The rig represents a major expansion to Easternwell’s drilling capability which has previously focused on shallower drilling for natural gas in coal seams.

The contract commenced late last year and supports QGC’s program to explore for natural gas in sandstone formations deep in the Bowen Basin. RP

JSD02678

DRILLING AND WELL services company Easternwell, a subsidiary of Transfield Services, is now operating the latest in drilling rig technology as part of a two-year $42 million dollar contract with natural gas company QGC. The first of three new rigs has been specially built for highpressure and high temperature gas operations in Australia and are equipped with latest generation rig automation technology to eliminate many personnel hazards typically associated with drilling.

“Easternwell is proud to supply and operate the latest

RESOURCEPEOPLE | AUTUMN 2015 | www.amma.org.au

52

INNOVATION

REPORTS UNDERSCORE

FLNG opportunities

Advances in floating LNG technology could lead to the global placement of up to 22 FLNG platforms within the next decade, but will Australia be equipped to leverage evolving employment opportunities?

A KPMG REPORT Floating LNG: Revolution and evolution for the gas industry has predicted global gas extraction to surge by 2019 to 44 million tonnes per year, but challenges in project costs are placing the industry at risk.

“The recent boom in global LNG construction could see global output almost doubling its 2012 level of 250 million tonnes per year by 2030, and 60 million tonnes per annum (Mtpa) of this is in Australia,” the report says.

“However, developers of onshore projects have become increasingly frustrated with budget blow-outs and slow time to market.

“Construction costs, usually the largest single component, (typically) run at 30 per cent of total project cost, but in Australian projects, this has risen to 50-60 per cent.

From 2000 to 2013, average capital costs of liquefaction plants rose from US$300 per tonne per year to $1,200.”

However, with floating LNG projects potentially delivering first gas faster and cheaper, floating LNG technology may soon emerge as the first choice for gas extraction.

“Floating LNG may offer reduced capital costs, particularly once shipyards have gained experience with construction and standardised solutions are employed,” the KPMG report says.

“Onshore construction, marine works and the related high labour costs, in remote or hostile environments, can be minimised, and a simpler supply chain can mean FLNG projects make it to market faster.”

Access to small or remote gas fields, as well as environmentally sensitive fields were also listed as benefits in floating LNG technology.

While the benefits are clearly outlined in the KPMG research, Australian business and community groups have previously

An artist’s impression of Shell’s Prelude floating LNG platform

From 2000 to 2013, average capital costs of liquefaction plants rose from US $300 per tonne per year to $1200. raised concerns about the impact on design and construction jobs if FLNG platforms primarily take place in countries with cheaper labour costs.

A recent West Australian-focused review of the technical, economic and workforce issues surrounding FLNG projects conducted by Engineers Australia found business and academia must work together to ensure Australian expertise is developed and utilised for the FLNG market.

“The engineering workforce in Western Australia has a large number of skills directly relevant to support the installation, commissioning, operations,

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maintenance, ongoing development and eventual decommissioning of FLNG facilities,” Engineers Australia WA president Francis Norman says.

“With Western Australia being the first location for the large-scale deployment of FLNG, the state has the opportunity to establish itself as a centre of knowledge and excellence in the operations and maintenance of the technology.

“If properly managed, these skills could then be marketed to organisations deploying FLNG into other regions of the world.

“Organisations need to be given opportunities by operators to fill some knowledge gaps and enable them to offer the best services possible to the operators.

“Engineering companies need to be honest and open about their actual skills but also prepared to invest in developing the skills needed, and academia needs to produce both graduates and research that is relevant, wherever possible.”

The respective reports can be found on the KPMG Australia and Engineers Australia websites. RP

INNOVATION

53

FIFO TRAVEL

software takes flight DEVELOPERS OF A new travel booking system aimed at simplifying multiple fly-in, fly-out (FIFO) travel arrangements are expecting their software to take-off across the resource industry.

Business travel company Carlson Wagonlit Travel (CWT) and workforce management software company Osmotion have launched a fullyintegrated booking solution that promises to change the way companies manage remote site travel.

The software seeks to eliminate key challenges of resource organisations including multiple booking touch points, time-consuming manual processes and business inefficiencies,

as well as providing travellers with a single traveller itinerary for all their commercial, charter and site logistics.

Vice president for CWT’s Asia Pacific energy, resources and marine division, Peter Bradey, says the solution is an industry first, providing real-time information on each traveller and their journey.

“Given that more than 40 per cent of bookings made in this sector will be rescheduled at least once, this tool gives you the ability to manage changes quickly, cutting the stress for both the traveller and the travel arranger,” Bradey says.

“A FIFO employee may have a flight with a commercial airline, an overnight hotel, a charter flight, bus journey and

then finally their site accommodation, all before they make it to work for their shift.

This is the first time they will be able to see it all on one single page itinerary, or on their smartphone via CWT’s award winning mobile app, CWT To Go.” Osmotion’s general manager Andrew Barr says the tool was developed in response to industry demand.

“By providing better and more accurate information, energy and resource companies can improve forecasting, rosters and utilisation of assets such as accommodation,” Barr says.

“This is about giving employees a better travel experience and delivering important benefits to the business.” RP

RESOURCEPEOPLE | AUTUMN 2015 | www.amma.org.au

EVENTS 54

EVENTS

MARCH

APRIL

NATIONAL HR SUMMIT 2015

SOUTH AUSTRALIA RESOURCES & ENERGY

Now in its 13th year, the HR Summit addresses the topics that really matter when navigating the complex HR landscape such as leadership, legal, change management and communication skills.

Held at Luna Park, Sydney.

More info at: sydney.hrsummit.com.au

INVESTMENT CONFERENCE

Tues 10 – Wed 11

Wed 11 – Fri 13

Mon 13 – Wed 15

From uranium prospects, to geothermal energy and the buoyant hydrocarbons sector, South Australia is now a leader in exploration for next generation energy sources. With full support from the Department of State Development, this conference will showcase this burgeoning sector in 2015. Held at the Adelaide Convention Centre.

More info at: www.saresourcesconf.com

AUSTRALIAN OIL & GAS EXHIBITION & CONFERENCE

Expecting to attract more than 600 exhibitors from more than 20 countries, the Australian Oil and Gas Exhibition and Conference will detail the latest technology and technique breakthroughs that will drive the industry into the future. Held at the Perth Convention & Exhibition Centre.

More info at: www.aogexpo.com.au

Wed 11 – Thurs 12 MINE SITE AUTOMATION & COMMUNICATION

Are you embracing innovation and upgrading communication networks to ensure constant productivity, efficiency and safety improvements? This two-day conference will cover all this and more. Held at the Fraser Suites, Perth. This event will also be held in Brisbane on April 21-22.

More info at: www.mineautomation.com.au

Tues 17 – Wed 18 ANNUAL GEOSCIENCE EXPLORATION SEMINAR

In its 16th year, AGES 2015 will showcase the rich minerals and petroleum potential of the Northern Territory. New data from the NT Geological Survey will be presented, along with technical presentations from industry on recent exploration and discoveries.

Held at the Alice Springs Convention Centre.

More info at: www.nt.gov.au/d/Minerals_Energy/Geoscience/

Mon 23 – Tues 24

Thurs 30 – Fri 1 AUSTRALIAN COAL CONFERENCE

After years of high investment and export levels the coal industry must now address critical issues to establish long term sustainable solutions. This conference will provide a key opportunity for Australian stakeholders to hear from industry experts and analyse current trends. Held at the Sydney Harbour Marriott.

More info at: www.informa.com.au

MAY

Thurs 14 AMMA SKILLED MIGRATION CONFERENCE

AMMA’s annual Skilled Migration Conference is the resource industry’s go-to event to hear directly from top government representatives, migration experts and resource employers on the latest in legislation, regulation and best practice in sourcing temporary skilled workers from overseas. Held in Perth (venue TBC).

More info at: www.amma.org.au

Sun 17 – Wed 20 APPEA CONFERENCE & EXHIBITION

AMMA CEO Steve Knott will be one of the many resource industry leaders speaking at the 2015 APPEA Conference. Mr Knott will be speaking on productivity and the need for workplace relations reform. Held at the Melbourne Convention and Exhibition Centre.

More info: www.appeaconference.com.au

BUSINESS CONTINUITY IN THE RESOURCE INDUSTRY

Natural disasters, epidemics, industrial action, the rise of political and sovereign risk and other unforseen events can strike anywhere at any time. This forum will discuss recovery, emergency management and minimising disruption during a crisis. Held at the Four Points by Sheraton, Perth.

More info at: www.informa.com.au

Wed 20 AMMA MEMBER DINNER FORUM

The annual dinner for members of the Australian Mines and Metals Association (AMMA) will be held on the east coast in 2015. This relaxed evening event is the perfect opportunity to hear from AMMA’s CEO and executive team, get up-to-date on industry developments and network with peers, all while enjoying delicious food and great entertainment. Held in Brisbane (venue TBC).

More info at: www.amma.org.au

Tues 19 – Wed 20 AUSTMINE 2015

Under the theme ‘Transforming Mining: Technology and Innovation’ Austmine 2015 will explore the new strategies, solutions and ideas that will rule the future of the resource industry. Held at the Royal International Convention Centre, Brisbane.

More info at: www.austmine2015.com

www.amma.org.au | AUTUMN 2015 | RESOURCEPEOPLE

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BUSINESS PARTNER DIRECTORY