Canberra Division President Report – August 2015 Monday, 24 August 2015

2015 continues to pass at pace. Engineer’s Australia has recently announced some changes to staffing which affects our Division Office. We welcome our new Membership Engagement Coordinator Ms Kiri Robbie, who started on 27 July. Under the guidance of Vesna as General manager. Within the National Office at the higher level Dr Brent Jackson now has carriage of the management of Divisions, along with policy and marketing. Mr Ben Leaver heads up commercial services and Mr Ron Watt leads Professional Standards and Practices. So a lot is happening on the organisational front in responmse to a strong state member response that Engineers Australia must change to reflect the profession.

In July Canberra Division hosted a CEO Breakfast where the CEO of Infrastructure Australia Mr Philip Davies spoke.  Infrastructure Australia has just completed a nationwide tour promoting the ‘Audit of National Infrastructure’ and there is much to do.  Our Canberra event had it’s fair share of questions on light rail and one key issues stood out from all arguments.  The message is: “once contracts are signed for infrastructure development then political leadership should not change direction; infrastructure planning deserves bipartisan political support that encourages investment and jobs.”  The Federal Minster Assisting Infrastructure Jamie Briggs reinforced this point in his address and during questions. 

I congratulate Canberra’s Engineering Awards winners.  Canberra Professional Engineer of the Year is Ambarish Natu . Ambarish’s diverse experience includes innovation of new technologies, managing technology direction in product development teams, international standards and driving product development based on International Standards. Ambarish was also recently awarded the Neville Theile Eminence Award a national award for excellence in Electronic Engineering featuring a cash prize of $10,000.  Canberra Young Professional Engineer of the Year is Anil Kumar.  Anil is a young electrical engineer working with Downer Utilities and Icon Water Alliance. The judging panel described Anil as a passionate, innovative, dynamic young engineer with a strong understanding and commitment to workplace health and safety standards both in Australia and overseas.

Engineering week was a success across the nation with all divisions conducting exciting activities that put engineering front and centre.  Our week saw a screening of the documentary of “The Humanitarian Engineer”, and a wonderful presentation by Mr Rolfe Harley on the life of Sir John Monash.  Monash was a great Australian who shaped modern Australia in many different ways beyond his engineering expertise. A great trivia night was hosted by Engineers Without Borders and the finale was the engineering games for school children at the ANU.  Thank you to all the tireless volunteers who gave their time to make the week happen.

This brings me to the point of the value of volunteering in Engineering Australia.  Recently Volunteering Australia pointed to an alarming drop off in volunteering across Australia. The reasons are many and Australians should be deeply concerned by the implications of societal change associated with less volunteering.  Engineers Australia is a member based not for profit organisation with a small professional staff and wide volunteer network.  Thus, it is natural that we see some areas of our Division suffering from a lack of volunteer support.  Each of the branches in Canberra Division need volunteers to help organise the events for members.  While I understand the pressures of modern life are significant and that our time has a special importance to us all, I ask you consider a small volunteer commitment to assist our branches.  If you are interested please contact our Division Office and they will kindly point you in the right direction.

Perhaps I might end with John Monash’s words that Rolfe reminded us of in his presentation:

“…equip yourself for life, not solely for your own benefit but for the benefit of the whole community.”

Neil Greet
2015 Canberra Division President

Photo: Mike Flood, Chair of Engineering Games and Prof Elanor Huntington, Dean of Engineering, ANU attending Engineering Games hosted by Canberra Division during Australian Engineering Week.