Australia is now delivering the largest pipeline of transport infrastructure projects in its history – which means there are more job opportunities in our industry than ever.
Despite this, our sector’s workforce remains one of the least diverse in the economy, and we continue to lag behind others on key metrics around mental health and worker satisfaction.
These factors impede our industry’s ability to find the workers it needs to deliver projects today. But perhaps more worryingly, poor outcomes are setting us up for even more acute challenges in the future, as the talented workers we will need to ensure the sector remains viable are instead drawn other industries.
We can all do better.
During 2022, RA helped establish and actively supported National Women in Transport, hosted our first International Women’s Day event with 550 attendees, and introduced a gender diversity statement at all RA events which highlights our commitment in this space and seeks support from the industry to drive change. We also actively contributed to the development of a Culture Standard for the industry through the Construction Industry Culture Taskforce, and proudly hosted its Chair Gabrielle Trainor AO at a National Women in Transport dinner in October.
To build on these commitments and to help highlight the achievements of leading women across our industry and encourage the sharing of insights that can lift the pace of change, this year RA is hosting a national series of networking lunches in support of International Women’s Day.
This is an opportunity for you and your team to come together with other RA members to share your own perspectives of how we can best overcome barriers, challenge bias and drive the meaningful cultural change our industry must embrace to secure its long-term sustainability.
I encourage you to register to be part of this important conversation.
Michael Kilgariff
Chief Executive Officer