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ACA launches first-ever national construction industry charter to spearhead reform

construction industry charter

The Australian Constructors Association (ACA) has launched a ground-breaking Australian Construction Industry Charter to spearhead much-needed industry reform to help ensure stimulus projects are delivered efficiently and their benefits shared and maximised.

The Charter’s ten commitments to reform embraced by Australia’s leading construction and infrastructure contracting companies include improving industry culture by addressing matters such as worker health and well-being, working more closely with clients to improve project outcomes, nurturing the supply chain and increasing female participation.

ACA Chief Executive Officer Jon Davies said, “Recognising the reliance being placed on it by Government to lead the economy out of recession, our industry has stepped up to the plate.

“We need to be transparent and accountable to our clients while maximising the social and economic benefits of our sector which employs 10 per cent of the total workforce.

“In an industry first, we have clearly identified the key elements required to improve the poor sustainability of our sector and effectively deliver the pipeline of stimulus projects. We have also developed our own Charter to ensure we are able to achieve lasting positive change and set the industry up for future success.

“We are launching this Charter on the second anniversary of the NSW Government’s 10 Point Commitment to the Construction Sector, an important step that we now match and raise the bar on.”

All ACA members have pledged to conduct their operations in a manner that adheres to the 10 commitments outlined in the Charter.

“Definitive targets to achieve these commitments will be set over the next few months with progress openly and transparently monitored and reported on a regular basis,” Mr Davies said.

A Framework for a More Sustainable Construction Industry

The Charter has been developed alongside a Framework for a More Sustainable Construction Industry which sets out the ACA’s recommended focus areas for industry reform. The Framework identifies three key pillars for a sustainable construction industry:

  1. Positive industry culture
  2. Equitable and aligned commercial frameworks
  3. Sufficient capability, capacity and skills.

“We see these pillars as being intrinsically linked, with the ability to achieve improved outcomes for any of these pillars reliant on improvements in the other two. For example, it is widely understood that adversarial commercial frameworks negatively impact on the culture of the industry and industry culture is a key factor in attracting people into the industry.

“With the additional investment in new infrastructure outlined in the Federal Budget being conditional on ‘using it or losing it’ there is a real opportunity for industry and governments to adopt a more collaborative approach to project procurement and delivery to address the lack of truly ‘shovel ready’ projects across Australia,” Mr Davies said.

The complete Charter of commitments is available here.

Source: ACA