National Water Skills Audit - Australian Water Association

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education.• National Water Commission 2005,Institutionalarrangements in the Australian water sector –information paper.• National Centre for Vocational Education Research(NCVER) 2007a, A well-skilled future.• National Centre for Vocational Education Research(NCVER) 2007b, Matching supply of and demand forskills: international perspective.• National Centre for Vocational Education Research(NCVER) 2006, Future skill needs: projections &employers’ views.• Water Industry Capacity Development (WICD) 2007,Project 2: university courses, preliminary water industryinteraction with universities survey.For full details of all sources consulted in this audit, seereferences section.1.4 Scope of the Water SectorAny self-identifying industry sector has difficulties inclearly defining the boundaries of the sector. This isparticularly true for the water sector, which is very muchtrans-boundary and multi-disciplinary in nature. Theurban water supply and wastewater services segmentsrepresent the largest grouping of employees and areeasiest to define. Coincidentally this is the segmentmost clearly identified from ABS data, and was thesegment targeted by the March 2008 WSAA report.However, urban water-related services represents only asegment, variously estimated at between one-third andone-fifth of the total water sector population.It is necessary to define an approximate boundary ofthe sector for the purposes of this analysis, at least foridentifying a representative sample of the whole sectorto be covered by a new survey. This is discussed morefully in the following chapter. Suffice to note that thesector definition covers the range of responsibilities,from policy and regulation, through planning andmanagement functions, as well as capital works design,construction, operation and maintenance, across urbanand rural environments, for all types of consumptiveuses, including environmental aspects.1.5 Structure of ReportAn Executive Summary at the beginning of this reportprovides the key outcomes of the Phase 1 Audit.The methodology employed in the Phase 1 Audit isdiscussed in Chapter 2, which begins with a definitionof the water industry. The methodology was developedto ensure that, in the short timeframes available, areasonable understanding of skills across the varioussegments of the water industry would be gainedthrough a number of discrete approaches, includingcomposition of existing data, a new survey and analysisof secondary data.Chapter 3 presents the preliminary findings from theimplementation team work streams:• Desk research and analysis.• Reproduction of relevant WSAA survey and analysisresults.• Industry survey (excluding WSAA members).• Secondary analysis of data from Census 2006 by joband occupation profiles.Chapter 4 commences with an analysis of the findingsof all elements of Chapter 3, providing an aggregatedindustry view and then determines results for the sectorand key findings.In Chapter 5, the specific items of the ToR are addressedwith the presentation of outcomes, directions, issuesand learnings.Chapter 6 provides suggestions for the next stepsrequired to ensure that positive actions proceed towardsclosing the identified gaps in required skills.The sector definition also covers the range oforganisations which have water-related employees,in the public sector, wholly or majority governmentownedcorporatised entities, private sector and relatedstructures such as cooperatives and non-governmentorganisations.These organisations may provide goodsand services to the water industry, either primarily orsignificantly from time to time, and may cover a rangeof sizes of entities and a range of geographic spread ofactivities.ICE WaRM • National Skills Audit (Phase One) Report
2 MethodologyThe methodology for this Stage 1 Skills Audit wasdesigned and implemented to achieve an industrywide view, within a limited timeframe and build onrecent work addressing skills requirements in the waterindustry. To provide an industry wide view required thatthe industry be first defined and the definition appliedis one which covers the private and public industrysegments and identifies the functions which are carriedout in the industry.Four parallel streams of work were initially undertakento provide a preliminary view of skills requirements andissues:• Research and analysis by ICE WaRM specialists.• Reflection of the WSAA survey and results.• Industry survey (excluding WSAA members) bySACES.• Secondary analysis from Census 2006 data by CEET.The results of these streams of work were thenanalysed, providing an aggregated industry view andkey findings. This aggregated industry view enabledthe determination of outcomes, directions, issuesand learnings, which led to the suggested next stepsfor closing the gaps in skills required for the waterindustry. The methodology of each of the four streams isdiscussed in the sections following the definition of thewater industry.2.1 Definition of the Water SectorFor many decades up to the 1990s, it would have beenrelatively easy to define the Australian water sector. Itwas characterised by large utilities, departments andcommissions wholly within the public sector, fulfilling allthe key roles and responsibilities of water management,from policy, planning and regulation through to design,construction, operation and management of allwater-related infrastructure. In some cases in-housecapabilities even extended to custom manufacturing,though most made use of external consultants,construction contractors and equipment suppliers,especially for major capital works programmes.Following tentative steps towards alternativebusiness models, the 1994 COAG reforms signalledmajor restructuring of all water sector institutions.Responsibilities for policy and regulation were separatedfrom operations, and operating entities were significantlyrestructured, downsized, corporatised (followingcorporate enterprise structures and operations, thoughretaining ownership by government) and some privatised(including cooperative and related structures). Manyfunctions were outsourced to the private sector,including operations and management of waterinfrastructure, though in most cases the ownershipof major assets was retained by the public sector andcorporatised entities. Adding to the complexity wasthat the COAG reforms were interpreted differently ineach jurisdiction, resulting in the application of differentinstitutional models across the nation. The private sectorparticipants have also continued to evolve, and manyhave significant international interests.Figure 2.1: The water sector in AustraliaNational/International ‘Boundary’ConsultantsIrrigatorsFarmersPrivate WS & WWOperatorsConstructionContractorsPublic Sector/Private Sector ‘Boundary’BulkWaterSuppliersWaterRe-UsePublicHealthUrban WS &WW ServicesPlanningPolicyRegulationNRMEnviron.Cl. ChangePrimaryIndustryManufacturersSuppliers and AgentsEnvironmentalServicesICE WaRM • National Skills Audit (Phase One) Report
Page 1 and 2: Department of Environment, Water, H
Page 3 and 4: Table of ContentsAcknowledgementsii
Page 5 and 6: Executive SummaryBackgroundThe Coun
Page 7 and 8: Executive SummaryFor the WSAA segme
Page 9 and 10: Executive Summarydemands. These and
Page 11: 1.2 Terms of ReferenceAppendix B. T
Page 15 and 16: This section consists of desktop re
Page 17 and 18: Australian Water Directory. This ma
Page 19 and 20: educated at the top levels, but les
Page 21 and 22: members (at all educational levels)
Page 23 and 24: Table 3.5: Australian Government st
Page 25 and 26: priority issues within the educatio
Page 27 and 28: Ages of the employees were recorded
Page 29 and 30: Figure 3.4.1: Workforce demand fore
Page 31 and 32: Table 3.6: Estimated headcount gaps
Page 33 and 34: 3.3 The ‘Non-Urban’ Water Indus
Page 35 and 36: Figure 3.7: Percentage of employees
Page 37 and 38: Age BracketsThe organisations were
Page 39 and 40: Sources of Recently Appointed Staff
Page 41 and 42: Table 3.14: The types of employees
Page 43 and 44: Table 3.15: Preferences of organisa
Page 45 and 46: Table 3.16: Estimated total sampled
Page 47 and 48: Table 3.18: Projected total (non-WS
Page 49 and 50: Table 3.19: Projected total sampled
Page 51 and 52: in these three sectors, with the la
Page 53 and 54: Table 3.23: Qualifications in sewer
Page 55 and 56: Table 3.25 shows the age profile of
Page 57 and 58: 4 Analysis of Results4.1 Combining
Page 59 and 60: Table 4.4: Projected total addition
Page 61 and 62: Employment Gaps - Qualifications 20
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Recruiting and Retaining - GeneralW
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4.3 DiscussionA survey response was
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5 Outcomes/Issues5.1 Current Needs
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Figure 5.3: Composition of survey p
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Table 5.4 shows the combined result
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• There is a high demand for civi
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organisations such as CRCs or Inter
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6 Next StepsThe first phase of this
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ReferencesAttikiouzel Y 2008, ‘Li
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Water Industry Capacity Development
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Appendix ATerms of ReferenceICE WaR
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2. Lodgement Details2.1 Quotes shou
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PART A STATEMENT OF REQUIREMENT (Se
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• includes an executive summary o
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Appendix BProject organisation char
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Appendix CJob Family Description Jo
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