A call for government collaboration and up-skilling of the engineering workforce will be the focus in the IPWEA response to Infrastructure Australia’s 2019 audit.
The report by independent government advisor, Infrastructure Australia, has highlighted widespread challenges and opportunities facing the nation’s quality of life and productivity. Its themes reflect the key interests and concerns of IPWEA, which is the peak association for professionals delivering public works and engineering services to communities in Australia and New Zealand.
“IPWEA welcomes the national attention Infrastructure Australia has brought to the need for investment and reform in developing and maintaining community assets and in preparing the workforce to meet the evolving requirements of a growing population,” said IPWEA CEO, Cathy Morcom.
“IPWEA exists to build professional capacity within industry and the public sector to develop and enhance infrastructure service delivery, whilst endeavouring to balance cost, risk and sustainability.
“Our members and stakeholders believe the way forward is to bring all tiers of government together to achieve this common goal.”
Morcom says IPWEA is ready and able to contribute expertise to the issues raised by Infrastructure Australia in its 640-page assessment. IPWEA will consider a possible response to the Audit, upon consultation within the group, on Infrastructure Australia’s findings and predictions.
Activities and discussions have been steadily growing in IPWEA communities on many topics, issues and concerns scrutinised in the Infrastructure Australia audit.
“At our conferences and workshops and in on-line forums, IPWEA members have raised the need to close the infrastructure planning gaps at the local level and empower all levels of government to collaborate on the effective management of current and future growth challenges,” said Morcom, who noted that the critical issue of ‘capacity to deliver’ is included in the 2019 audit.
“The engineering skill shortage is having a detrimental impact on our capacity to deliver and manage infrastructure at the required rate. For some time, the IPWEA NSW Division has been lobbying for the Australian Government to support councils with a National Cadet Engineering Program to help grow the community infrastructure workforce.
“Without action on training and employment, we risk a crisis scenario in the foreseeable future, because the majority of public works engineers who are serving the sector today are approaching retirement age and it may not be possible to replace them all with skilled labour.”
The IPWEA executive team and its eight Divisions, across Australia and New Zealand are committed to increasing their collaboration with industry and government. Contributing to the national infrastructure discussion will showcase the valuable collective knowledge of IPWEA members, who are comprised of asset managers, engineers and local government professionals.
“IPWEA helps professionals working in infrastructure to make informed decisions through certified training, publications, workshops, tools and templates, online communities and mentoring,” said Morcom.
“With IPWEA’s mission to provide central industry support and a responsive professional network, it has the authority and connections to contribute to the next Australian Infrastructure Plan, which will set priorities for the next 15 years.
“IPWEA’s community is highly active amongst the wider infrastructure community in Australia, New Zealand and Canada resulting in IPWEA being able to keep up-to-date and relevant, maintain current in our understanding of existing and emerging needs, challenges and opportunities.”