Steve Verity: Overcoming the Skills Shortage

Hello, and welcome to a special episode of transforming AM coming to you live from the Public Works Conference in Melbourne. My name's Rory Gibbons, and today I'm delighted to have Steve Steve Verity joining me from IPWA. Steve's the principal advisor for the asset management program at IPWA. And, it's great to have you on the show, mate. Absolutely. It's an absolute pleasure to be here today. Yeah. Well, thanks for joining us. And it's great that we have, forums like this conference to come together and share knowledge because it's challenging times out there for our infrastructure and and public works professionals. We've got aging infrastructure. Latest reports suggest it's up to about fifty five billion for community infrastructure. Obviously with climate change and net zero emission targets to remaining that rapid change that's placing impacts on them. And you've got to also balance population growth and the demand for new infrastructure. And we're gonna deliver all that in the context of a skill shortage. So, Steve, I wanted to get your take on how as an industry do we approach this skill shortage and and still deliver for our communities? Sure. Thanks for the question, Rory. Look, IPWA, IPWA and I'll point to the IPWA white paper on best practice asset management of public works infrastructure. And and you're right. There's many challenges. And one of the main ones, and it's the first point I'll make, is that there is a school shortage, and it it is holding us back. So here in Australia, the federal government has has a hundred and twenty billion dollar pipeline of infrastructure build, which is great. However, the missing link, is in our capacity and capability to actually deliver on that hundred and twenty billion dollars and also its ongoing operations and maintenance once it is delivered. We do have a severe shortage in the engineering sector as well as asset managers, and and also it's absolutely acute in the rural, regional, remote areas of the nation as as we know. That's limiting our ability to manage and maintain essential infrastructure that our communities at times take for granted. Without targeted and education and training programs, even the best funded projects risk underperformance over the long term. My second point I'd like to make is that the people are our most valuable asset. Infrastructure asset managers aren't just managing physical assets, they are critical assets in themselves. That's why it's essential that they, along with CEOs, executive leaders, and elected members, commit to ongoing training and development. When we invest in people, we improve service delivery, enhance decision making, and deliver better outcomes for our communities that we serve. And my third and final point is education is the solution. With the IPWEA asset management education pathway program, it's a a comprehensive but scalable, offering from foundational learning through to advanced certification. It's built on practical learning and decades of best practice and aligns to the World Partners and Asset Management Global Certification Scheme. But to give attraction, governments need to act by embedding world world leading training into infrastructure build budgets and project planning. It's a simple idea, but has a big impact. Train the people who manage our infrastructure, and we'll all reap the rewards. Yeah. Yeah. It's a good point. I like that phrase, treat our people as assets, just like we say, treat our data as an asset. Absolutely. So it's great points, mate. And I know the the white paper that IPWA references a successful, model in Canada. Are you able to just summarize what that Canadian model entails? Yeah. Look. Canada has, really thought this through and provides a really great example. So the federal government in Canada invested a hundred and ten million Canadian dollars into the municipal asset management program, specifically targeting small and medium sized councils, that often lack resources and expertise. Delivered by the Federation of Canadian Municipalities, the program gave local governments the tools, the training, and funding to improve how they manage infrastructure. They measured progress using the asset management readiness scale and eighty four percent of projects showed real improvement. Most notably, two thirds of participating councils significantly improved their data and information practices. This means they now can make better investment decisions and are more likely to secure funding for priority infrastructure projects. So that's a clear case of how targeted investment in capability and capacity building leads to better outcomes for our communities. Yeah. Yeah. It's great we can take that example from our our Canadian friends. Thanks so much for joining me today, Steve, on Transforming AM, and thanks everyone for tuning in. And, if you wanna check out more details, jump on the IPWA's website and have a look at the white paper for best asset management practices. And we'll see you here for the next episode of Transforming AM, coming soon.