With more than a dozen government submissions and the release of ground-breaking policy reports during the Pitch For A Better Nation campaign, the Engineers Australia policy team says it’s only the beginning for what’s been an active four months of advocacy.
The Engineers Australia’s Policy and Public Affairs team have released 13 submissions to various government inquiries and consultations across the Commonwealth, states and territories to further strengthen engineering’s voice in various sectors.
Submissions made by the team include the Productivity Commission Issues Paper on Water, Statutory Declarations Regulations and Alan Finkel’s Independent Review into the Future Security of the National Electricity Market.
The team has also made submissions to various regional and state enquiries ranging on topics as diverse as the environment and transport infrastructure.
2017 marked the launch of our Pitch For A Better Nation campaign, spearheaded by the Public Affairs team, which aimed to highlight key issues in the engineering sector in Australia.
The reports gained significant mainstream media attention, including Engineers Make Things Happen report, which called on Government to invest in an engineering pipeline strategy to try to reverse the decline of secondary students taking up STEM subjects.
The Future of Australian Electricity Generation report called for a national transition plan for the country’s electricity sector as a matter of urgency.
Our final addition to the campaign included our flagship report, The State of the Engineering Profession.
The report supports Engineers Australia’s overarching vision for Australia to grow as a prosperous nation and maintain a high standard of living.
National Manager Public Affairs Jonathan Russell says 2017 has been a productive year already for the team, but there’s much more work to do.
“Engineers Australia has always been an active advocate for the profession to government and these reports and submissions are one of the most effective ways that we can lend a voice that imparts our technical and informed perspective,” he said.
“And these are just some of the ways we advocate. Our Divisions are constantly involved in many conversations by working with key stakeholders including the community, government, media.
“And our policies and submissions are the best way to help inform these discussions and hopefully bring about good decision making from governments. To get involved, we recommend members work with their Colleges to stay in touch with the work of the Public Affairs unit.
“Expect more submissions and more engagement with government as the year goes on.”
You can find all our policies, submissions, statistics and campaigns on our Government and policy page.