Members of Engineers Australia’s Policy and Public Affairs team have travelled to Canberra to meet with policy makers and advocate for a stronger engineering skills pipeline, with the profession pivotal to addressing the challenges of climate change and the transition to a clean energy economy. Over two days formal meetings were held with: 

• Defence Industry Minister Pat Conroy  
• The National Resilience Taskforce, under the Department of Home Affairs
• The Diversity in Stem Review and the National Science and Research Priorities Review Taskforce, within the Department of Industry, Science and Resources
• The Commonwealth Scientific and Industrial Research Organisation (CSIRO) 
• The Department of Climate Change, Energy, the Environment and Water  
• The Australian Space Agency 

The policy team tabled research from our Barriers to employment for migrant engineers and our Women in Engineering reports which outline solutions to increasing the numbers of women and migrants in the Australian engineering profession to help address the nation’s skills crisis.  

Engineers Australia Group Executive Policy and Public Affairs, Damian Ogden said a recent report by Jobs and Skills Australia highlighted the need for Australia to prepare for a demand of nearly two million workers in engineering and building trades by 2050.  

“We need diverse pathways into the engineering profession to reach these numbers and we made this clear in our meetings with senior government officials.” 

“Australia also needs engineers to meet our clean energy targets set for 2030, 2040 and 2050. These meetings were a great platform for us to stress the urgency of solving both domestic skills supply challenges and engineering migration barriers,” Mr. Ogden said. 

As the voice for the engineering profession through government, Engineers Australia aims to provide leadership on behalf of the profession for societal benefit. These productive meetings allow us to take members ideas and advocacy directly to decision makers in government. 

“These discussions have set up opportunities for Engineers Australia to continue to engage with government. We will keep bringing the voice of our members and research to the table on all topics where engineering expertise is vital,” Mr. Ogden said. 

Image from left to right shows: Damian Ogden - Group Executive Policy and Public Affairs Engineers Australia, Enrico Palermo - Head of the Australian Space Agency, George Freney - Co-Founder and Chief Development Officer Space Machines Company, Dr Megan Clark AC - Independent Non-Executive Director at Rio Tinto and Jenny Mitchell – General Manager, Policy and Advocacy Engineers Australia.