These shifts inspired us to reshape the Consult Australia Awards this year. Our aim was to shine a stronger spotlight on the collaborative partnerships between industry and government that drive innovation, while also showcasing innovative approaches to collaboration itself.
One standout example, among many you can read about in this issue of Consulting Matters, is Tonkin, which took home the inaugural Collaboration for Project Excellence – Working with Government Award at the ICC Sydney last week.
When floodwaters threatened communities along the Murray River in 2022, Tonkin’s cross-border and cross-disciplinary approach was exemplary. With teams strategically located in Adelaide, Mildura and Berri, Tonkin was already working collaboratively with government agencies in Victoria and South Australia, and with 10 local councils. Tonkin could serve as an ‘information conduit’ between government agencies and local councils to support swift action and a standardised approach levee construction that spared devastation in two states.
Tonkin’s example shows how new ways of collaborating delivers real world results. This is why we launched Collab X in 2022 as an information exchange between the Department of Defence and industry. This year, we brought together more than 70 Department of Defence specialists, alongside 230-plus industry representatives, to explore how we work together to meet the nation’s biggest challenges.
The Defence agenda is being pursued in a market with the same challenges as every other infrastructure sector: pipeline and productivity pressures, capacity and skills shortages, digitalisation and decarbonisation imperatives. But against a rapidly shifting geopolitical setting and new emerging risks, the Defence context is even more complicated.
Among the topics on the table at this year’s Collab X how to deliver the recommendations of the Defence Strategic Review and ensure the $53 billion annual Defence budget meets its strategic objectives while building thriving, innovative Australian businesses.
Collab X doesn’t just bring government and industry together. It also fosters cross-government collaboration necessary as we learn from each other and lean into the challenges ahead. We think Collab X is an innovative approach to collaboration that works – and from the feedback this year, so do participants.
One more collaboration proof point. Consult Australia and Engineers Australia signed a historic collaboration agreement this month that will direct our joint efforts to elevate a range of issues, including diversity, health, wellbeing and education. You can read more in this month’s issue of Consulting Matters. I’d like to extend my sincere appreciation to Engineers Australia CEO Romilly Madew AO and President Dr Raj Aseervatham, and to Consult Australia President Tasos Katopodis, for demonstrating new approaches to collaboration in action.