Engineering Sector Critical to Australia Essential Services
Engineering Sector Critical to Australia Essential Services
by: Gem Siocon
In the face of the current pandemic, the engineering sector is taking a proactive stance in managing the challenges and coming out as an essential sector in the economy and employment.
Let’s take a look at how the different segments of the engineering industry are handling the COVID-19 situation:
Manufacturing
The growing demand for medical supplies created an opportunity for the engineering and manufacturing industries to contribute to fighting COVID-19.
Engineers Australia Chief Executive Officer, Dr Bronwyn Evans said that engineers will be crucial in many immediate aspects of the COVID-19 response, including innovating solutions to supply chain challenges and facilitating greater domestic manufacturing.
Mask /Respirator
South Australian company DetMold switched gears from packaging production to mask and respirator manufacturing. To meet growing demand, Victoria-based Med-Con was assisted by several Australian Defence Force (ADF) engineers to boost production of surgical masks, goggles, gowns and sanitiser. Erebus Motorsports team has also developed two prototypes of face masks and Perspex patient cover.
Ventilator
ResMed accelerated its ventilator production and delivered more than 3000 ventilators to the government. Victoria-based Grey Innovation worked with the government and industry partners to make 2000 medically certified ventilators. Brisbane company Triple Eight Race Engineering created a low-cost ventilator prototype.
Emergency Hospital Bed
Four Australian manufacturers collaborated with an international medical technology company to form Stryker Project. The project’s goal is to produce emergency hospitals beds using local supply chains.
Sanitiser
Ego Pharmaceuticals and Manilda Group increased production of hand sanitisers
Gowns
Clets Linen produced thousands of medical-grade surgical gowns for frontline workers and provided 3750 disposable gowns to national medical stockpile in their first production run
Mining
In 2019, the country’s mining sector contributed $AUS290 billion worth of exports. Since the coronavirus outbreak, it remained relatively strong, due to higher iron ore prices, continued demand from China and mine shutdowns from competing countries like Canada and South Africa and a huge drop in the Australian dollar.
KPMG Global and Australian Head of Mining Trevor Hart said, “We are seeing continued profitability, underpinning about 250,000 thousand jobs directly and indirectly, through critical supply.”
Strict safety measures were enforced such as staggered mealtimes, retaining workers at remote sites for longer periods, physical distancing, temperature checks and banning staff from visiting local towns.
Federal Resources Minister Keith Pitt noted that the pandemic is likely to change the way mining operations work in the long term and reduce dependence on fly-in-fly-out staff, saying there’ll be more residential workers in the future.
In addition, the Australian government invested AU $2 billion JobTrainer skills package to help minerals employers in a bid to boost the economy from the COVID-19 pandemic.
In an article by the Global Mining Review, the package will train 100,000 extra apprentices and 340,000 school leavers and unemployed people to work in mine sites and minerals supply chain.
The JobTrainer will complement the Minerals Council of Australia-led Mining Skills Organisation Pilot, which aims to deliver vocational education and training needs of the industry and the future minerals workforce. The pilot retrains and reskills workers for deployment in regional and remote Australia and from other industries affected by COVID-19, including new and innovative skills connected to technology practices in the mining sector.
Construction
Australian Prime Minister Scott Morrison pointed he wants construction to be categorized as essential service and consider it vital to the economy and jobs.
“The social distancing can be practice on construction sites, whether they’re residential or commercial,” he said.
A coalition of Industry Associations and Trade Unions have joined together to create a guideline for managing COVID-19 risks on WA construction sites. It addresses hygiene, social distancing on-site, mental health and management of potential COVID-19 related scenarios that could occur on a construction site. The guide will be regularly updated and distributed within the Building and Construction sector.
The Federal and state governments have also made joint investments to create construction jobs to deliver infrastructure projects and road safety upgrades.
The additional investments play a major part in the Commonwealth’s JobMaker plan to boost the local economy as it recovers from the pandemic:
WA
$223 million - the combined investment of commonwealth and West Australian government
The investment will go to Regional State Road Safety Improvement Program to improve roads (1) dualling of Great Eastern and Bussell Highways, (2) upgrades to key tourism roads like Exmouth Road and key freight roads like Toodyay Road. These infrastructure works will create more than 1000 construction jobs. To reduce run-off-road crashes, the program will also widen, seal or install audio-tactile line markings on more than 20 regional routes.
VIC
The Victorian government invested 1 billion dollars to fast track 7 construction projects that would uplift the economy and create jobs. The projects were spearheaded by the state-sponsored Building Victoria’s Recovery Taskforce.
The projects include building commercial and residential buildings, affordable housing, supermarket, retail and office space and solar farms.
NSW
$1 billion - the combined investment of commonwealth and New South Wales government.
The funding will be allocated to repair 11 congestion hotspots around Sydney, road upgrades and safety projects across regional NSW, supporting a total of 5,450 direct and indirect jobs.
It will also help in accelerating the NSW’s Fixing Local Roads program, which will help fix, maintain and seal priority council roads and other road construction projects in the next 12 months, which also meant creating thousand of jobs.
Other projects include Pinch Point Program that aims to decongest freight and bus services across Sydney’s metropolitan road network.
QLD
$415 million - the combined investment of commonwealth and Queensland government.
The funding will go to several infrastructure projects like Burke and Gregory Developmental road improvements and Gateway Motorway Flyover while also providing creating 700 construction jobs and supporting local businesses and contractors.
SA
$145 million - the combined investment of commonwealth and South Australian government.
The investment includes the (1) Regional Road Network Package to treat pavements, seal shoulders and enhance road safety that will benefit the freight industry and regional communities (2) development of routes in the North-South Freight and between Murray Bridge and Sturt Highway and (3) transformation and modernisation of Heysen Tunnels below the South Eastern Freeway. The projects will also support more than 200 construction jobs that will benefit locals and communities in the state.
NT
$53 million - combined investment of commonwealth and North Territory government.
The financing will go to (1) upgrading of major routes like Stuart, Barkly, Carpentaria and Victoria Highways like sealing shoulders and improving guardrails, truck stops and audio-tactile line markings (2) improving safety around remote intersections and roadhouses and (3) widening and sealing shoulders at critical points along Litchfield Park Road.
TAS
$46 million - the combined investment of commonwealth and Queensland government.
The funding will be used for (1) road enhancements like widening, surface work and bridge strengthening) for Railton Main Road and Richmond Road (2) electronic signages in school zones (3) construction of a pedestrian underpass, with disability access, on the Midland Highway at Campbell Town.
ACT
$35 million - the combined investment of commonwealth and Queensland government.
The investment will be used to improve and develop the following infrastructures: Monaro Highway, Northbourne Avenue, Mitchell light rail stop, Tuggeranong Parkway and four key intersections in Belconnen and Woden. ACT Senator Zed Seselja, said the investment brings total Commonwealth funding of $770 million for transport infrastructure in the ACT
Energy and Resources
The Department of Industry, Science, Energy and Resources is working with state and territory governments, industry and stakeholders to ensure Australia remains well prepared to respond to disruptions to energy supply in the face of COVID-19.
The Australian Government has announced a wide range of measures to help businesses:
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Access to JobKeeper Payment scheme for impacted businesses
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A tax-free cash flow boost of between $20,000 and $100,000 to eligible businesses through Australian Taxation Office (ATO)
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Increase in the Instant Asset Write-Off threshold for businesses to immediately deduct purchases of eligible assets each costing less than $150,000
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Investment of up to $15 billion for smaller lenders to continue supporting Australian consumers and small businesses
In June, Prime Minister Scott Morrison approved the country’s largest-ever renewable energy project, Snowy Hydro 2.0.
The initiative will create 4,000 direct and indirect new jobs, benefit over 100 local businesses and put downward pressure on electricity prices.
Snowy Hydro will invest almost $100 million in environmental and biodiversity improvements, including up to $73.8 million funds to protect threatened species and deliver long-term conservation outcomes via NSW National Parks and Wildlife Service.
Minister for Energy and Emissions Reduction Angus Taylor said Snowy 2.0 will deliver extra 2,000 megawatts of fast-start, dispatchable energy and provide 350,000 megawatt-hours of large-scale storage. He said that the project aims to reduce volatility in the market, support reliability and reduce power prices.
Under the government’s flagship $640 million defence innovation program, Minister for Defence Industry, Melissa Price announced new contracts worth more than $21 million to develop cutting edge space, cyber and maritime technologies.
To date, the federal government has supported more than $200 million worth of innovative projects and more than 80 per cent of this investment has been with MSMEs. Price said that the investments will create hundreds of new jobs.
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