Consult Australia is the sole association dedicated to the success of consulting businesses in design, advisory and engineering, and has been for over 70 years.

Our members, ranging from Australia’s most innovative small and medium sized firms to global corporations, deliver the solutions to the nation’s most complex challenges helping shape, create and sustain our built and natural environment.

Team Consult Australia:
Jonathan Cartledge, Penny Clark, Linda Gaunt, Kristy Eulenstein, Kristine Banks, Alison Kirk, Mark Rogers, Emma Thunder,
Brooke Baker, Amy Costin, David McGovern, Laura Macdonald, Louise Dowbiggin, Lyndall Rowe, Matt Piesse, Coleen MacKinnon

NATALIE MUIR

Regional Director, Water AU, Stantec.
President | Consult Australia

This is my first Annual Report as President of Consult Australia, and it has been a privilege to work alongside our Board, members and the Consult Australia team as we begin delivering on the ambitions of our 2025-2028 Strategic Plan. Over the past year, we have moved from strategy development to strategy in action, making meaningful progress across our pillars of focused advocacy, industry leadership, strategic partnerships and consulting excellence. The strategic advocacy review has sharpened our focus and influence, while our partnership mapping is helping identify where collaboration can create the greatest value for members and for the industry.

This work has been particularly important at a time when our members are navigating a complex market. Across our engagement with members and our 2026 Market Conditions Report, the message has been consistent: there is more work, but not more certainty. Challenges around pipeline visibility, productivity, workforce capacity and market confidence continue to shape decision-making across our sector.

Against this backdrop, Consult Australia has continued to advocate on the issues that matter most to members. The release of the Protecting Cost Certainty and industry-leading Meeting Positive Duty reports demonstrate our commitment to addressing both the commercial and cultural challenges facing consulting firms.

This year I was proud to represent Consult Australia alongside Jonathan Cartledge at the FIDIC Global Infrastructure Conference, exchanging insights with peer organisations from around the world and contributing to conversations about the future of consulting and infrastructure delivery. A consistent theme was the importance of greater collaboration, earlier involvement of designers and advisors, and improved certainty in project pipelines. These sentiments reinforce the critical role our industry can play in helping deliver better outcomes for governments, clients and communities.

Looking ahead, we will continue to deliver our strategy, including the next phase of our consulting excellence work, while considering the opportunities and implications of emerging technologies such as artificial intelligence. Consult Australia will continue to advocate, lead and partner on behalf of members to help build a respected, thriving consulting industry that drives innovation, sustainability and prosperity for Australia. 

JONATHAN CARTLEDGE

Chief Executive Officer | Consult Australia

One of the privileges of leading Consult Australia is seeing what becomes possible when people come together around a shared challenge.

Many of the issues facing our industry cannot be solved by one business, one profession, one client or one level of government acting alone. Whether we are talking about productivity, procurement and risk, workforce capacity, decarbonisation or new technology, progress increasingly depends on our ability to work across traditional boundaries.

That is an important part of Consult Australia’s role: bringing the right people together, creating space for candid conversations, testing different perspectives and turning shared expertise into practical action. It is also central to the ambitions of our 2025–28 Strategic Plan.

We have seen that approach in action throughout 2025–26. Our work on procurement and contracting has brought consultants, constructors, insurers and clients together around shared challenges. Enabling Digital by Default has brought industry and government together around the opportunity to lift productivity through more consistent digital approaches to infrastructure delivery. CollabX again demonstrated what can happen when government and industry come together not simply to discuss problems, but to work through them.

And as we have celebrated the excellence of our industry, we have seen plenty to give us confidence in its future leaders. Our 2026 Awards for Excellence were our strongest yet, showcasing the ingenuity, impact and breadth of work being delivered by consulting businesses across Australia. We expanded our Future Leader Program, and the calibre and ambition of those taking part gives me enormous optimism about our next generation of industry leaders. FutureNet continues to thrive across Australia, creating connections and community for emerging professionals.

These activities may look different, but they harness the collective strength of our membership. The expertise and experience our members bring gives our advocacy authority, strengthens our programs and extends our impact.

None of this happens without the commitment and expertise of the Consult Australia team, the generosity of our members particularly through all our national roundtables, state and territory committees, and the support of our sponsors and industry partners. I am also grateful to Natalie and our Board for their stewardship, support and shared ambition for Consult Australia.

As the challenges facing our industry become more interconnected, the value of working collectively only grows. We do not need to have all the answers. Our strength lies in bringing together the people who, collectively, can find them.

Submissions, reports and media releases

Regular forums with government (including federal, state/territory and local government agencies) 

Member forums (including Large Firms, SME Open, national roundtables and state/territory committees)

Collaborative activities with other industry associations 

Activities with government contacts (including meetings with Ministerial offices etc) 

Activities with member contacts, delivering the support our members need 

In May 2026, Consult Australia released Protecting Cost Certainty, a thought leadership examining how government and industry can deliver better cost outcomes across infrastructure projects.

Building on our 2025 report, Unravelling Risk, it explores how risk, scope, governance, accountability and cost management influence project outcomes.

The report identifies five actions to improve cost certainty across the project life cycle:

At a time of increasing scrutiny on project costs and delivery outcomes. Protecting Cost Certainty reinforces that cost overruns are not inevitable. Cost certainty is built through decisions made throughout the project lifecycle, not achieved through contract mechanisms alone.

The report highlights the importance of active project governance, clear accountability and effective management of scope, risk and change. It calls for clients, consultants and contractors to work together to improve project outcomes and deliver better value for communities.

The report has strengthened Consult Australia's advocacy for procurement and project delivery practices that support accountability, collaboration and better outcomes, helping shift the conversation from transferring risk to actively managing projects for success.

Since launch, feedback has been positive with governments across Australia recognising the report’s focus on planning, client capability and active project management as key drivers of cost certainty.

Protecting Cost Certainty is informing governments around Australia:

Protecting Cost Certainty >

Market Conditions >

Unravelling Risk >

Digital by Default >

Infrastructure Net Zero >

Our campaigns supported by enduring and strengthened partnerships across industry and globally.

CollabX Conference 2026

Consult Australia members, when dealing with clients, the community, and other members, will uphold the standards expected of professional
consultants, committing to collaboration, fairness and integrity as per our Code of Ethics.

We represented 168 member organisations, employing over 32,000 staff.

The Board of Consult Australia follows a process for evaluating the performance of the Board in accordance with good governance principles described by the Australian Institute of Company Directors (AICD). A Board effectiveness assessment including a self evaluation is conducted by the Board Remuneration & Nomination Committee who also monitor Board skills and diversity. The skills and diversity of the Board (considered across technical skills and experience, gender diversity, geography and market representation) were considered appropriate. The attendance of Board Members at all scheduled Board and Committee meetings has been assessed and considered suitable with most of the Board attending all scheduled meetings, and assessed as committed to furthering the interests and performance of Consult Australia.

Awards for Excellence Gala Dinner 2024-25

Keeping you up-to-date with the news, issues and people affecting our industry and your business.

We acknowledge the Traditional Custodians of the land on which we work and live which includes the lands of the Gadigal, Kuarna, Kulin, Turrbal and Wurundjeri people.

We pay our respect to Elders past & present.

Every 12 months, Consult Australia prepares an Annual Report to outline the organisation’s activities and achievements, performance and financial position for that year.

Use the links below to download the Annual Reports from the last few years:

2024-25 Annual Report
2023-24 Annual Report
2022-23 Annual Report
2021-22 Annual Report
2020-21 Annual Report

If you would like more information about Consult Australia’s Annual Report, please contact Consult Australia on (02) 8252 6700 or via email info@consultaustralia.com.au.