Australia Needs Engineers

1
Australian NationalEngineering Taskforce
www.anet.org.au

• APESMA
• Consult Australia
• Engineers Australia
• The Australian Council of Engineering Deans
• The Australian Academy of Technological Sciences
  and Engineering

2
Australia Needs Engineers

• Government is investing in infrastructure.
• Stimulus spending - 277 billion by 2012
• 2010 budget announced 5.6 billion for the
  Resources Infrastructure Fund

3
An Identified Capacity Shortage

• A July 2010 CEO survey from the Australian
  Industry Group found that engineers were in
  demand, with half of companies surveyed giving
  the management of skills shortages top priority
  or high priority.
• In 2010 the National Resources Sector Taskforce
  heard from employers that there will be a heavy
  shortfall in engineering skills in the resources
  sector without investment.

4
A Recognised Shortfall

• POWER The Australian Power Institute has stated
  that in the next 5 years an additional 700-1000
  graduate engineers will be required in power due
  to retirements and growth in the industry.
• WATER The Water Services Association of
  Australia has predicted that 25-27 of the
  workforce will have retired by 2017.
• RESOURCES It has been estimated that at its peak
  the Gorgon LNG Project in WA will require 6,000
  workers. How will this affect other industries in
  the state?

5
Industry Needs Engineers

• Blake Dawsons Scope for Improvement report
  discovered cost overruns of some 200 million for
  every 1 billion spent on major infrastructure
  projects in 2008, due mainly to scoping
  shortfalls.
• Consult Australias Skills Survey found that two
  thirds of consulting firms delayed projects last
  year because of staff shortages. Employers had
  most difficulty attracting mid-level and senior
  engineers.

6
A Workforce Development Problem

• The engineering profession is ageing.
• Engineers Australia estimated that 70,000
  engineers will have retired between 2006 and
  2011. Only half that number will graduate from
  university during that period.
• There are too few new engineers
• 40 of commencing engineering students do not
  complete their engineering degree.
• 75 of graduates will leave the profession within
  10 years.
• Only 17 of engineering graduates are women,
  unacceptably low.
• Immigration sustainable?
• 40 of engineering graduates from Australian
  universities were overseas students in 2006.
• In 2007-8 around 80 as many engineers immigrated
  to Australia as graduated from Australian
  Universities.

7
Engineer Survey December 2009
8
Engineer Survey December 2009
9
Engineer Survey December 2009

• We have insufficient qualified people to make
  effective judgement calls regarding the
  expenditure of public money. We have a large
  number of partially qualified people doing the
  job of senior engineers.
• I am the youngest. There has been NIL succession
  plan - All my peers will retire
• 2 staff in two years
• 1 in four years
• 2 in ten years
• We moved from having a large in-house engineering
  workforce, to outsourcing most functions We
  struggle to remain an informed client and are
  desperately trying to build technical expertise
  in key areas that cannot be met through the
  private sector. The current situation is
  inadequate to meet current demands, let alone
  provide a sustainable model to meet future
  demands.

10
Engineer Survey December 2009

• Not enough personnel in auditing, quality and
  compliance with engineering and/or technical
  skills. Non-technical people are assessing
  engineering management systems for compliance and
  not properly comprehending technical aspects and
  risks.
• Anytime one of us has a technical question on
  flotation, we go to the same guy who is close to
  retirement and only works 2 days a week. It
  means delays in making decisions on our projects,
  or winging it.

11
Industry support

• Australasian Railways Association
• Australian Railway Industry Corporation (ARIC)
• Australian Rail Track Corporation
• Queensland Rail
• Railcorp
• Roads Australia
• Transport and Logistics Centre (TALC)
• Infrastructure Partnerships Australia
• Austroads
• The National Transport Commission (NTC)
• The Australian Construction Industry Forum
  (ACIF)
• The Civil Contractors Federation (CCF)

• The Australian Constructors Association (ACA)
• Master Builders Association
• The Australian Council of Built Environment
  Design Professionals (BEDP)
• The Australian Procurement and Construction
  Council (ACPP)
• The Chartered Institute of Purchasing and Supply
  Australia (CIPSA)
• Australasian Institute of Mining and Metallurgy
  (AusIMM)
• The Australian Power Institute
• Water Services Association of Australia
• The Warren Centre for Engineering Excellence

12
Government Leadership

• Skills Australia have nominated Engineering as an
  occupation requiring workforce development
  interventions to address market failure.
• ANET has been funded by Government to begin
  building a national workforce development agenda
  for engineering.

13
ANET Projects For 2010

• Demand and workforce development analysis by
  industry/sector priority, road and rail.
• Draft report by June, final November 2010
• Developing a model for industry analysis
• Creating consensus and engagement with key
  stakeholder concerns
• Education pathways, specifically VET/HE
  articulation and best practice unblocking
  supply.
• Report to Government by the end of 2010

14
Next Steps A National Plan

• Develop education policy proposals, including
  mechanisms for improved industry involvement, on
  the job development and intergenerational
  transfers.
• Work with National Resource Sector Employment
  Taskforce and Skills Australia to assess needs.
• Apply ANET research model to other sectors
  Power, Local Government etc.
• Incorporate work/findings of Water sector
  employment taskforce
• Work with Government on sustainable migration
  issues