Western Australia Report - October 2010

LandCorp working group develop guidelines

In late July CCFWA and LandCorp convened a working group comprising a cross section of our members, to discuss how to improve Aboriginal participation in the civil construction and landscaping industries, particularly in LandCorp’s projects.

The result has been the release of draft Guidelines for Aboriginal participation in WA Civil Construction and Landscaping Industries. This is envisaged as a starting point, with regular reviews between CCF, the civil industry and LandCorp intended to escalate our commitments.
Built around LandCorp’s reconciliation goals, the guidelines aim to:

• Build better relationships and work together;
• Recognise, respect and respond to Aboriginal culture and heritage;
• Create and encourage education and employment of Aboriginal people; and
• Support Aboriginal economic development.

The Guidelines contain a set of commitments by both LandCorp and our industry, which include:

• A proposed project contract levy to provide much needed funding to existing, successful not-for-profit programs, working on Aboriginal numeracy, literacy and work-readiness;
• Industry-wide training and induction programs to build cultural understanding and capacity;
• Early engagement with local Aboriginal communities;
• Aboriginal employment strategies across industry;
• Encouraging engagement of Aboriginal owned companies;
• Clarifying the roles, responsibilities and engagement of Aboriginal monitors on sites, where monitors are engaged; and
• Benchmarking surveys to measure growth of the Aboriginal workforce across the industry.

The civil industry and LandCorp see this as our first steps together toward a strong focus on reconciliation and closing the life expectancy gap between Indigenous and other Australians.
The working group will convene again this month to discuss feedback on the draft and prepare for a launch and implementation of the guidelines.

Congratulations to SRS graduates
We extend our congratulations to more than 70 Certificate III and Certificate IV trainees who graduated in a special ceremony on Friday 1 October in Bunbury.
Sincere thanks go to Glenn Johnson and Tom Cousins from SRS who worked tirelessly with our Civil Train team to ensure that everyone completed their training on time.
We wish all of the graduates every success in their careers.

Skill Centre update
We have received development approval for our skill centre site at 70 Verde Drive, Jandakot and we expect that the purchase of the land will settle in the coming weeks.
The Skill Centre Working Group, comprising new CCF president Mick Unger, vice president David Della Bona, honorary treasurer Paul Francis, board members Trevor Gosatti and Lambros Siamos and CCF WA executive staff including myself and GM Civil Train Aidan O’Grady.
We will be seeking in-kind and/or discounted contributions from members which will be coordinated by a soon-to-be-appointed Skill Centre project manager. Such contributions will be essential as we are required to match a portion of the government’s $1.766m funding with either cash or in kind.

CCF – Western Power liaison group
We are working to re-establish the highly successful liaison group with Western Power. With the recent departure of our representatives Peter Rowles from Underground Services and John Cole from Unified Contracting (both after many years of dedicated and excellent service), we have begun the process of finding new representatives for the group. Interested members are invited to contact our office on 08 9240 5233.

WesTrac President’s Dinner, Excellence in Training Awards
Minister for Training Peter Collier and Chairman of the Construction Training Fund Ian Hill, will be amongst our distinguished guests at the inaugural WesTrac President’s Dinner and Excellence in Training Awards on Friday 12 November at The Sheraton Perth Hotel.
We have distributed nomination forms for the training awards and members of our Board will convene to select winners of the President’s Award and Future Leader Award to be announced that evening.