National Water Skills Audit - Australian Water Association

1. Introduction1.1 BackgroundAt its 21st meeting on 26 March 2008, the Council ofAustralian Governments (COAG) made a number ofimportant decisions regarding the management of waterresources in Australia. Amongst those was recognitionof the current and likely future constraints imposed byskills shortages and gaps in the Australian water sector.Accordingly, it was agreed to commission an audit ofexisting and projected national water sector skills, to bereported to the 22nd COAG meeting on 3 July 2008, anddevelop a strategy to address identified skills shortagesand gaps, to be reported to the 23rd COAG meeting on3 October 2008. This work is to be commissioned andreported through the COAG Water Sub Group (WSG)and subsidiary governance structures, in this casemanaged by the Department of the Environment, Water,Heritage and the Arts (DEWHA).Following an accelerated procurement process,including assessment of invited proposals by arepresentative steering committee, on 29 April DEWHAverbally advised WaterEd Australia Pty Ltd, tradingas the International Centre of Excellence in WaterResources Management (ICE WaRM) that they wouldbe commissioned to undertake the National WaterSkills Audit and Strategy. The Terms of Reference (ToR)in Appendix A formed the basis of the procurementprocess, and were subsequently amended by mutualagreement to reflect changes arising in this fast-trackedprocess. Notably, the time available for submission ofthe Audit Report was further shortened to allow broaderconsultation and review prior to its presentation to the22nd COAG meeting.The National Water Skills Audit and Strategy assignmentis being undertaken in two phases:• Phase 1 – An audit of skills needs and gaps focusingon both current needs and projected future needs. Theeffective time available to conduct the audit and compilea draft final report was approximately five weeks.• Phase 2 – Building on the audit, the development of anational strategy for addressing the skills shortages andgaps identified in the audit, including options to provideadditional water-related education and training. Thedraft final report for Phase 2 is scheduled for completionthree months later, by the end of August 2008.This Audit Report is the outcome of Phase 1.This initiative under the COAG agenda follows a numberof relevant activities highlighting the issue of skillsshortages in the Australian water sector, some of whichhave been underway for several years. Peak waterindustry organisations and others grouped under theWater Industry Capacity Development (WICD) initiativedetermined several priority activities, and commencedimplementation of them under self-funding andsubscription arrangements. One of these was a studyof skills shortages and gaps, which was subsequentlyundertaken by WSAA, covering the major urban waterutility segment only.The results of the WSAA study were presented to aNational Water Industry Skills Forum convened jointlyby the National Water Commission (NWC), WSAAand the Australian Water Association (AWA), held inCanberra on 17 March 2008 and attended by ChiefExecutive Officers (CEOs) and senior representativesof the industry. Agreements reached at this forumincluded the formation of a Water Industry Skills TaskForce, and action on a number of priority matters whichwere considered essential ingredients of any strategy.The activities of the Task Force are consistent with thisCOAG initiative, and while proceeding to some extentin parallel, are expected to provide valuable inputs intothe second phase of strategy development under thisassignment.ICE WaRM is an Australian Government initiative by thethen Department of Education, Science and Training(DEST, now the Department of Education, Employmentand Workplace Relations, DEEWR) aimed to provide anational focus and international gateway to the best ofAustralia’s expertise in water resources managementeducation, training and research. ICE WaRM’smain founding shareholders are five universities,supplemented by a broad range of partners andsupporters across the education and training and watersectors. Since becoming fully operational in 2005, ICEWaRM has provided the focus for many collaborativeachievements in water management training, educationand research, and has been particularly active in nationalwater-related skills development.For this assignment ICE WaRM has assembled animplementation team of research and water industryspecialists to address the specific elements of theworks to be undertaken, including:• South Australian Centre of Economic Studies(SACES), a joint venture of the University of Adelaideand Flinders University, based at the University ofAdelaide.• Centre for the Economics of Education and Training(CEET), a joint venture of Monash University and theAustralian Council for Educational Research (ACER),based at Monash University.In addition, two external groups were convened toprovide structured support to the implementation team:an Advisory Group, comprising senior representativesfrom interested parties across the sector and led by theAcademy of Technological Sciences and Engineering(ATSE), and a Reference Group of people directlyengaged in water sector skills issues and capacitydevelopment, led by the Australian Water Association(AWA). Composition of these groups is described inICE WaRM • National Skills Audit (Phase One) Report