Engineers Australia eNews contains the latest news from Engineers Australia and
a calendar of events.

2008 – Year of the Engineering Team

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Daily engineering news

Federal support needed for engineering mobility

Engineers Australia is calling for the federal government to support mutual recognition agreements (MRA) negotiated between engineering organisations in different countries.
The agreements make it easier for engineers to obtain recognition for their qualifications when applying for work overseas.
This was the main focus of a recent submission by Engineers Australia to the Joint Standing Committee on Foreign Affairs, Defence and Trade called "Australia's relationship with ASEAN". The ten member countries of ASEAN, of which Australia is not a member, have already signed agreements allowing their accountants, dentists and doctors to work in each other's countries.
For engineers, the MRAs serve a similar role by establishing international standards of competence. Examples include the Washington Accord, the International Professional Engineers Register and the APEC Engineer agreement.
These agreements tend to be negotiated between independent organisations with no federal support. This is a situation Engineers Australia wishes to change, to improve the international mobility of engineers.
"The Australian government now needs to support existing international agreements within free trade agreements as well as the negotiation of new mutual recognition agreements," the submission said.
The preference would be for existing MRAs such as the Washington Accord to be recognised within free trade agreements. For example, governments of respective countries could agree that the Washington Accord be used by their licensing/registration boards.
Engineers Australia has signed an MRA with Engineers Canada and is planning to sign one with the Texas Board of Professional Engineers this month.

Seeking work outside of Australia often "too hard"

According to a survey cited in Engineers Australia's submission to the Joint Standing Committee on Foreign Affairs, Defence and Trade, 27% of companies said they avoided undertaking work in overseas areas where they would need to obtain in-country registration for their staff.
One company said: "For a small company like mine, doing business overseas has often appeared too hard, hence the priority has been to focus on local business."�
Of the individual engineer respondents in the survey, only 197 out of 1006 had managed to gain registration in a foreign country.
According to the survey, the most commonly traded engineering service is project management followed by design and documentation for concept work and documentation work.
For the Australian companies that responded to the survey, most of their work came from clients in North America and Southeast Asia. For trade in the other direction, more than one fifth of the respondents said they outsourced 60% to 100% of their design work to overseas companies. The main reasons given for outsourcing were skill shortages in Australia and lower costs.
Other reasons were to access expert centres of excellence, proximity to manufacturing facilities and to avoid competition over intellectual property. Of the respondents, 40% used 24-hour design teams using staff across the globe to meet project deadlines.

Have your say on the federal tax review

Members are invited to provide comment on tax issues that affect them as part of Engineers Australia's submission to the federal government's tax review. 
Members are invited to comment on problems with the current system, reforms needed to address these problems, and whether new features need to be included in the tax system to overcome future issues. 
Please provide comment to policy@engineersaustralia.org.au by 26 September.
To read the review's terms of reference and the background paper, click here.

Committee reviews things bursting into flames

Reports of plastic-bodied electric fan heaters catching fire have baffled the Standards Australia EL-002 committee, which met recently in Sydney.
According to William Curry, Engineers Australia's representative on EL-002, a subcommittee has been formed to investigate the problem and will report back at the next meeting.
A high number of fires have also been reported in tumble dryers in Australia and New Zealand. The cause appears to be the spontaneous ignition of clothing which contain organic oils. As adequate warnings are contained in the user instructions of the dryers, the committee decided educating users was the best option.
The problem of cockroaches, ants and rats entering appliances and causing failures was also discussed. It is difficult to close off vermin access because most appliances require ventilation apertures for cables and water connections. The vermin problem appeared to be related to a functional issue than a safety issue, so the committee decided to take no action at this stage.

Nominate inspiring and influential women

Nominations are invited for the next edition of the publication Who's Who of Australian Women to be released March 2009.
The theme of the edition is "Lessons we learn"�. Entrants are encouraged to share their experiences on education and who may have inspired them. The idea behind the publication is to recognise modest, quiet achievers in society alongside more high profile women.
For more information, click here.

Notices

Notice of annual general meeting 2008

Peter Godfrey will be installed as national president at the 88th annual general meeting of Engineers Australia which will be held in the Members Dining Room 2 of the Old Parliament House in Parkes on 20 November. The Peter Nicol Russell Memorial Medal will also be presented.

Fee changes from October onwards

Engineers Australia has announced changes to the services and fees for chartered status assessment and membership admission which come into effect 1 October. All prices listed exclude GST.
The fee for a chartered status assessment has increased from $400 to $500. This is the first fee increase since 2001 and reflects increased administration and support costs.
The membership admission fee will increase from $40 to $50. First year graduates are exempt from this fee.
Members seeking readmission after a lapse in membership must pay a readmission fee of $50.
A member seeking chartered status reinstatement after a period of more than six months but less than five years, will require a desk-top assessment of competency, equivalent to a CPD audit which will cost $200.
For a full list of conditions, visit the Engineers Australia website.

Witness an ancient ship's last voyage

The College of Mechanical Engineers will run a technical presentation and tour of the ship MV Doulos.
The ship is coming to Australia for the last time before its retirement. At 94 years old, only two years younger than the Titantic, the US-built ship is one of the world's oldest ocean-going passenger vessels. 
It also contains one of the world's largest floating bookshops and the chief engineer is an Australian. 
Engineers Australia will hold technical tours when the ship visits Australian ports on the following dates:

• Geelong – 16 September
• Albany – early October to be confirmed
• Fremantle – 16 October
• Sydney – sold out for 4 September
  

Publications

Calendar

Engineering Education Australia will run the following short courses:

• Writing winning technical documents (2 days) Brisbane 10 Sep
• Project management (2 days) Sydney 11 Sep, Melbourne 18 Sep
• Fundamentals of project management (1 day) Adelaide 11 Sep
• Earthworks (2 days) Perth 11 Sep
• Stormwater management (2 days) Melbourne 11 Sep
• Contract management (2 days) Melbourne 15 Sep
• Negotiation skills (2 days) Perth 16 Sep
• Risk and liability management (2 days) Perth 17 Sep
• Managing self and others (2 days) Hobart 22 Sep
• Electrical engineering practice module 3 – protection systems, motor starters and power quality (2 days) Sydney 25 Sep
• International trends in managing power quality and voltage dips (2 days) Sydney 24 Sep
• Design and fabrication of presure vessels (3 days) Melbourne 6 Oct, Perth 13 Oct
• Managing self and others (2 days) Townsville 7 Oct, Adelaide 16 Oct, Sydney 30 Oct
• Negotiation skills (2 days) Melbourne 7 Oct, Brisbane 21 Oct
• Asset management and maintenance (2 days) Brisbane 8 Oct, Sydney 21 Oct
• Inspection, repairs and alterations of pressure vessels (2 days) Melbourne 9 Oct, Perth 16 Oct
• Contract management (2 days) Brisbane 13 Oct, Perth 20 Oct, Darwin 27 Oct
• Managing cultural differences (1 day) Perth 13 Oct, Brisbane 27 Oct
• Relate to Aussies (1 day) Sydney 14 Oct, Melbourne 20 Oct
• Earthworks (2 days) Melbourne 16 Oct
• Creating and managing networks for successful business relationships (2 days) Sydney 16 Oct, Melbourne 21 Oct
• Project management (2 days) Brisbane 16 Oct, Darwin 30 Oct, Perth 23 Oct

• Newcastle 9 September
• Brisbane 11 September

• Adelaide 16 September
• Perth 19 September
• Launceston 2-3 October
• Melbourne 9-10 October
• Mt Druitt, Sydney 20-21 October
• Brisbane 23-24 October
• Canberra 30-31 October