On the 17th June 2010 the first Industry Leaders Forum, hosted by the Governor of Western Australia, His Excellency Dr Ken Michael AC, was held at Government House. The Forum brought together high-level industry representatives, from public and private enterprises, and university leaders in Engineering to engage in an open and broad-ranging discussion on the role, and contributions, of Engineering to the future development and wellbeing of WA.

The Industry Leaders Forum is an initiative of the WA Division of Engineers Australia (EA) that seeks to be more proactive in supporting, facilitating and bringing together industries, educators and the community to work more cohesively in pursuit of the overarching goal of improving the long-term amenity, security, productivity and quality of life in WA.

Four interconnected themes and directions emerged from the discussions and are summarised as follows.

Education and Training: The focus on developing the analytical skills and rigorous thinking necessary for university study of Engineering needs to be maintained and enhanced. Improved coordination in outreach is desirable with a non-partisan emphasis on meeting the overall need for engineers in WA. An extended and more visible range, of career opportunities is required, especially in high-added-value engineering, to attract bright school students into the profession and advance WA’s excellence in Engineering.

WA Areas of Expertise: The continuing success and wealth-generation of the resources industry provides the opportunity to build world-leading expertise and reputation in specific areas of engineering with a future focus. Culturally and economically, our future competitive advantage resides in the ability to create and innovate; expertise and intellectual property can come to be an export that matches the existing physical exports upon which we are now mainly reliant.

Infrastructure and Planning: WA needs to evolve from its largely ad-hoc model and mind-set of progress through discrete projects so as to adopt a holistic approach to development that, while meeting independent needs and exploiting competitive forces for good, also serves actively to advance the overall growth and improvement of the State. A long-term vision, embracing infrastructure integration, planning principles, community building and commerce, is required. Engineering has a fundamental role to play in the process of its development, dissemination and bi-partisan adoption by Government.

Migration and Population: Population growth continues to be essential for WA to have the critical mass and diversity of economic activity that will enable it to compete in the global market-place. Wellplanned skilled migration will be an important component of this growth.

Engineering has a key role to play in the development of high-amenity and people-friendly towns and cities that engender the sense of belonging and long-term commitment that yields the most effective workforce.

At the conclusion of the Forum, participants agreed on three overarching areas of concern for WA, these being (i) Educational needs, (ii) The acquisition of high-level technical capabilities, and (iii) Integrated future planning.

The Forum recommended that:

• Future meetings of the Industry Leaders Forum expand upon the issues and directions described herein, and
• Engineers Australia facilitate the establishment of a “Committee for WA” to develop and provide input to the Government, especially with regard to infrastructure planning.