CURRENT INQUIRY - The shortage of engineering and related employment skills

EDUCATION, EMPLOYMENT AND WORKPLACE RELATIONS INQUIRY - THE SHORTAGE OF ENGINEERING AND RELATED EMPLOYMENT SKILLS

On 07 November 2011 the Senate referred the following matter to the Senate Education, Employment and Workplace Relations Committees for inquiry and report.

The Senate referred to the Committee an inquiry into the nexus between the demand for infrastructure delivery and the shortage of appropriate engineering and related employment skills in Australia.

The committee has been asked to consider the implications of the shortage for infrastructure delivery and the impact on economic development, cost, efficiency, safety and disputation, and the long term outsourcing of engineering activities by government on skills development and retention in both the private and public sectors.

The committee will consider options to address the skill shortage for engineers and related trades, for infrastructure delivery using alternative procurement models, and to consider effective strategies to develop and retain engineering talent in the private and public sectors through industry training and development, at enterprise, project and whole-of-sector levels. Incentives to the private sector through the procurement process to undertake skills development, and the consequences of skills shortage in the construction sector to the public sectors’ capacity to effectively procure and manage infrastructure projects will also be explored.

The reporting date is 30 June 2012. For more details, go to: http://www.aph.gov.au/Senate/committee/eet_ctte/engineering/index.htm