QLD/NT President's Report

Robert Wesener , 12 June 2019

As the end of the financial year approaches, QLD/NT Branch President Robert Wesener provides an update on the Committee’s goals for the coming year.

Back in January our Committee conducted a planning meeting to consider what our goals should be in order to provide a high level of service to our members. As part of this review we also conducted a member survey regarding our events program as well as analysing the makeup of our membership.

Key goals and progress to date include:

Membership growth

Our goal was to grow to 120 members this calendar year. We currently sit at 94 and with renewals being sent as we speak, we hope we retain all of your support as members and provide a program of events and services to encourage more practices to take advantage of being a member of the ACA. We are also keen to increase membership in regional areas and our next couple of goals were developed to focus on this aspect.

Regional events

We plan to develop three regional events this year (Northern Territory, Gold Coast and Sunshine Coast). We successfully held an event in Darwin late last month in conjunction with the Australian Institute of Architects and our national sponsor Planned Cover. Between 30 and 40 attendees were given a comprehensive overview of Managing Your Risk – Common Triggers for Claims.

We attempted an event on the Gold Coast, but did not get sufficient numbers to make it worthwhile and will try again in the coming months. We will also investigate taking an event to the Sunshine Coast prior to the end of this year.

Podcasts

To provide extra services to regional members, we are also investigating the use of podcasts.

ACA Toolbox

We continue to work on documents and make them available to members via the ACA Toolbox. We have recently developed a secondment agreement for when members wish to second staff for a period of time. We are also continuing to develop a Safety in Design template specific for use in QLD/NT and hope to have this available within the next couple of months.

Education

We have recently conducted a survey of graduates of architecture to gauge their views on the quality and relevance of their education in relation to their job readiness in the workplace. We plan to conduct a similar survey of employers and plan to use this information to liaise with our Universities to consider how to ensure graduates have the skills necessary to be workplace ready.

Salary Survey

We have also surveyed members nationally to determine the value of our salary survey that has been conducted for the past five years. Key results are that a majority of members see the survey to be of value and want it to continue and they also see value in expanding it to non-ACA members. We are currently having discussions with the developers of the survey to improve the interface and the methods by which the results are gathered and interpreted. At this stage we plan to run the current salary survey early in the new year and have the new and improved version available for the same time next year.

Advocacy

A major goal is to develop strategies to raise the standing of the profession within the construction industry. We are currently planning an event to address this topic. However, the last few months have also seen the ACA at a national level present a variety of discussion pieces around the Shergold Weir Report, The Building Ministers Forum Implementation Plan and the recent Lacrosse Tower judgement.

Locally we have been working with the Institute to respond to a review by the DPWH regarding professional indemnity insurance in the wake of the Lacrosse judgement and the Government’s combustible cladding legislation. We have also been in discussions with the BOAQ regarding their review of the Architects Regulations 2003 and in particular the use of prohibited terms.

We are keen to receive feedback and suggestions for our event program and we look forward to working with our members as we start this new financial year.

Robert Wesener
QLD/NT Branch President