“New South Wales engineers might consider a move to Queensland, as they operate in one of the world’s toughest markets.”

That was straight from the mouth of Bellrock Advisory’s Practice Leader, Simon Gray, at Consult Australia’s recent Liability & Contracts Roundtable meeting.

Here are just some of the burdens that engineers in Queensland don’t carry: the Practice Standard for Professional Engineers; the inability to secure proportionate liability; the extended duty of care and retrospective duty of care.

While Simon wasn’t suggesting everyone should up sticks, his point is clear. Red tape and onerous regulation specific to NSW expose engineers to additional risks and liabilities that make it a very hard market.  

And of course it is not just in NSW: similar regulatory burdens are impacting our businesses across Australia to varying degrees in every state and territory – from uncoordinated professional registration schemes to non-standard contract forms and unreasonable management of liabilities.  

The recent Arcadis and Australian Constructors Association Market Sentiment Survey found that three-quarters of respondents agree that contract risk allocation is handled poorly. 

As we move into a new financial year, governments must create the operating environment that gives businesses the confidence to invest in the future.

Despite the enormous infrastructure pipeline – $647 billion between now and 2026 – we are starting to see state governments moderate their spending and increasing uncertainty in the shorter-term pipeline of projects. 

I’ve written frequently about how Australia’s federation model can be a source of competitive strength that fuels a race to the top. We currently risk a race to the bottom as regulatory overreach and red tape stifle business growth.

We continue to advocate for an expansion of the ‘best practice’ approaches we see across states and territories supporting a nationally coordinated ‘digital by default’ agenda. 

Poor productivity is currently costing us $56 billion each year. Productivity in the construction industry is worse now than it was 30 years ago. Billions of dollars of infrastructure projects are still delivered with paper plans and PDFs. 

After launching our Digital by Default green paper in June 2023, Consult Australia has spent the last year talking to industry and government representatives around the country. We’ve uncovered many great digital initiatives that are happening in siloes. The perils of federation.

We don’t want to revisit the rail gauge problem that plagued Australia for 150 years. Eight different state standards for digital in infrastructure is not an option. We are now finalising our Digital by Default white paper for release later this year. Watch this space.

In the meantime, competitive strength is evident in each of Consult Australia’s state committees. There’s no better way to come together to share expertise and best practice. Several long-serving chairs have passed the baton to new blood in recent weeks. On behalf of the Consult Australia team and all our members, I thank them for contributing to a stronger, more competitive industry.