To meet the needs of Queensland’s infrastructure in coming decades, all parts of the process need to be running efficiently
Improving outcomes in some things is as simple as practice. If you want to get better at push ups, you can devote time each day to doing some and try and increase the number you do every time. Losing weight might be a matter of eating less and moving more. But the more complicated a pursuit, the more elements you have to control to get something right.
To be a great footballer requires skills, fitness and a healthy diet. For a successful outcome, you need all the necessary elements.
Queensland is growing at a massive rate and needs a huge amount of new infrastructure to keep up. But building infrastructure is no simple task, and it is certainly more complex than becoming a great footballer.
Building a large-scale infrastructure project requires hundreds of healthy, skilled, well-trained people, overseeing an extensive compliance burden and the sourcing and processing of a diverse set of raw materials, all of which are not available in the same place, all the while meeting cost and time constraints. A big, complex job to say the least.
As we grapple with all these challenges, all at once in the civil construction sector, it’s important to remember that no one element of the factors affecting our projects is going to make all the difference.
- Subscribe to our free weekly newsletter to receive the latest news in the earthmoving industry
- Never miss a great deal and subscribe to our monthly magazine
- Download a free copy of our latest digital magazine to catch up on the biggest news and developments in the earthmoving industry
It is not just a matter of simply getting your EA right or getting the right people on the job. For the state to build all the infrastructure we are going to need over the next 20 years, we need every single moving part of the civil construction sector to have the settings just right.
In terms of raw materials, a secure supply of quarry products, facilities to process them and other important minerals is a must. Securing this supply through sensible approval processes and exploration is a must for government. I am yet to see a bridge or road built out of thin air.
At the workplace relations level, ensuring that productivity is at the core of everything we do is critical. Productivity drives wage increases, higher profits and value for taxpayers – it is a win, win, win.
Training and skills, and the supply of labour with training and skills, remains a key focus. Civil construction is highly labour and capital intensive. You need lots of people to build big things. I am yet to see ChatGPT out on a jobsite. Making sure we have the high-quality people who can do the work on site is critical.
Procurement, finally, must also align with the scale of the various contractors in the industry to ensure we get the maximum bang for government dollar. To build everything we need, contractors from tier 1 level right down to individuals with an ABN and an earthmover need to be putting their shoulder to the wheels. This means breaking projects up into sensible sizes, so the maximum number of contractors can tender for work. Only by using every single bit of capacity in the sector can we succeed.
These key issues, as well as a few others that should also help move the needle, will be our outward facing focus in 2026. As the combined voice of industry, representing its full width and depth, we will be as active as possible in ensuring that everything that can be done to ensure all contractors have the best possible chance to thrive in coming years is our top priority.