Engineers Australia recently convened a roundtable at New South Wales Parliament advocating for a nationally consistent engineering registration scheme in the state.
The forum highlighted the public safety, economic and professional benefits of aligning NSW with national best practices.
The peak industry body, which is reported to represent more than 115,000 professionals across the country, said the roundtable highlighted the productivity, administrative and economic costs of NSW’s current fragmented approach.
“As it stands, we currently have inconsistent laws around registration across states and territories. This regulatory misalignment acts as a barrier for individuals and employers and puts a break on the New South Wales economy,” Engineers Australia chief executive officer Romilly Madew AO says.
“While we know most engineers provide their services competently, ethically and with diligence, in the absence of registration for engineering, the risk remains that simply anyone can claim to be an engineer on any project or work site [outside buildings] in NSW.”
Steps towards meaningful reforms
The proposal made at the roundtable included introducing a stand-alone Professional Engineers Act that covered all engineering disciplines and sectors.
Engineers Australia representatives used the roundtable to highlight ways it could support professional accountability.
It also said that steps should be taken towards ensuring the scheme supports automatic mutual recognition with other jurisdictions.
It called for establishing a dedicated state regulator to oversee implementation and aligning practice requirements and assessments with national and international standards.
Engineers Australia group executive for Professional Standards and Engineering Practice Bernadette Foley says that NSW doesn’t have to look far to establish a nationally consistent registration scheme.
“We’re not starting from scratch. We know what the essential elements are, and we can work with the NSW Government to support a design that meets minimum standards and achieves consistency,” Foley says.
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