From the CCF President

Putting members first
As I write this, we are on the cusp of the calling of the 2010 Federal Election and by the time you are reading this, I am sure we will be into the campaign.
So it’s a good time to do two things. Firstly, to state what type of policies we want to see from all of the political parties as part of their plans for the next term as well as for the nation’s long term future.  Secondly, to reflect on why the commitment to a fully national CCF, is so important to achieving these outcomes.
On the political agenda we are looking at what can be done on training to meet skills shortages and which procurement practices will support the ability for more of our members to directly bid for work. These issues, and skills in particular, have been a key focus of our work over the last 12 months both nationally and in the states.
We are looking for 3 key elements in any policy around skills and skills training. These are structural reforms, training infrastructure and how skills are acquired.
Skills needs
For some time now we have been campaigning for the inclusion of civil construction occupations on the National Skills Needs List. That list provides special training incentives. Last year the Deputy Prime Minister, now Prime Minister, referred our issues to Skills Australia. As a result of working with our Skills Council, SkillsDMC, we produced a major report into the skills needs of our industry. 
The Government has responded in part to the report with the establishment of the Critical Skills Investment Fund in the Budget. That fund is targeted exactly to assisting industries such as ours, so it’s a big win.
But we need more. The first step is to fix some of what I would call “structural issues” which are holding us back in training our people. We want the National Skills Needs List reviewed. Importantly, we want Government to look at how it is put together, whether it is responding to our future skills needs and in particular supporting occupations like ours which are not seen as the “traditional trades”.  We want all major parties to commit to this as a matter of urgency. We also want support for our skills centres and centres of excellence ie our training infrastructure.
Training incentives
Finally, we will be looking to the parties to support our training through meaningful training incentives, support for our employers, support for our trainees, support for recognition of our highly skilled employees who don’t have formal qualifications and training which is responsive to our needs for on the job and real experience.
In the procurement area we will continue to press governments to award contracts in a way that gives all sectors of the civil construction industry a chance to bid for work, ie contracts of various sizes as opposed to letting too many contracts in one large lump. We are also calling for a pre-qualification system based either on a nationally consistent pre-qualifications system, or at the least based on mutual recognition.
Which leads me to why I think our commitment to a national organisation is so important. The policies I have outlined resulted from the combined work of our National office working closely with the states.  We are effectively providing strong advocacy for our members’ common interests.
The national office is there to work on issues at a national level and the state and territory branches work at the state and local level. This two-pronged attack ensures that our industry concerns are propagated extensively and that our member’s interests are widely heard. We need to work on issues, as they arise, to ensure the long term wellbeing of our industry.
CCF’s essential role
There are many reasons to be proud of our association and the essential role it is playing for our industry. The CCF must prosper because it is needed. CCF is the only organisation representing the interests of small, medium and large contractors. At its most basic level, CCF is about contractors, subcontractors, suppliers and other professionals, working together to promote the interests of our industry. It is very pleasing to me that we have so many members around Australia who willingly volunteer their time to sit on our boards and committees to further our cause.
The recent work that our national policy director Julie Abramson (known to some as the Delphi Oracle) undertook on the proposed Resources Super Profits Tax really brought home to me how important our national representation is. Julie worked closely with a number of our CEOs and members in different states to provide decision makers with a real world view of just what the proposal would mean for our industry. This wasn’t some academic theoretical piece of work. It was real time, real life and reflected how our members operate.
One national voice
Julie and I met with Treasury officials, ministers, the opposition and other stakeholders and we spoke with one national voice representing our 2000 members who work in an industry of 350,000 people. It was our national voice that really gave us the lobbying punch that we needed. This was a tax that would have worked differently in different states yet we could speak with one voice. We were delighted with the outcome, ie our activities are no longer subject to the tax.
We are, with your support, directly and through the branches continuing to build our national office under Chris White’s leadership. Recently, Mike Steere joined us as national communications and information adviser, and I wonder how we would all manage our conference and events without Sam Morris!
Short term thinking is our enemy. We need to think long term and not just one year at a time. We need to work together to support our industry to ensure its long term well being. We all need to give something back to our industry. Membership of the CCF is one positive way to show support. Attendance at our National Conference in Canberra during October is another! As always, I welcome your feedback.