The Civil Contractors Federation SA (CCF SA) supports the multi-billion dollar civil constriction industry path ahead that was unveiled at the Great Infrastructure Debate at Adelaide Oval.

CCF SA chief executive Rebecca Pickering (pictured) says the future is bigger and brighter than ever before, with a record $17.9bn to be spent on South Australia’s infrastructure over the next four years.

“With fresh thinking and practical initiatives, we are delivering greater support and services to drive capacity and capability of our industry, in order to deliver billions of dollars worth of projects,” she says.

The new strategy was born from overcoming the difficulties of the past and the needs of the industry right now.

“It was obvious things needed to change with issues like; traditional training constraints, procurement and project delays at all levels, unreasonable contract terms, unfair risk allocation, occupation invisibility with the ABS, long payment terms and an ‘us and them’ mindset to name a few,” Rebecca adds.

“Our projects are bigger and more advanced; our industry faces are far more diverse and inclusive; succession planning has never been more important; and the industry now has an official trade with the recent launch of the Civil Apprenticeship program.

The strategy outlines key civil industry infrastructure priorities which include: the delivery of a consistent, industry-led, bipartisan civil infrastructure future works program; the development of the future workforce focusing on building the numbers and upskilling capabilities in both young and diverse newcomers as well as retaining our current workforce; reform of procurement and project delivery policies and practices to improve productivity and deliver greater value back to the broader community; ensure commercial frameworks are more collaborative and fair; and finally ensure that every South Australian must benefit from our work.

It adds that roads, rail, bridges, pipelines, traffic management through to foundation construction of every commercial and residential project, ports and utilities, none of these exist without civil professionals and businesses.

Rebecca says that for far too long our industry has been the silent achiever for our great state: “We need to maintain our momentum in striving to be the best. The recent uncertainty has provided us with a window to do things differently to achieve greater outcomes.”