The Director Technical Services (Peter See) and Manager Works attended the IPWEA (Institute of Public Works Engineering Australia) conference in Cairns from 27 to 29 August 2007.

The conference was attended by approximately 600 delegates from Australia and across the western world.

Highlights:

The conference highlighted a chronic shortage of engineers within Australia. It also highlighted the significantly different expectations of young engineers in relation to work experience, recognition and remuneration.

The conference also highlighted the need for trees to be considered as assets and treated accordingly. Council may need to employ an arborists to assist with operations and to help mitigate liability issues.

General asset management of all Council infrastructure continues to gain importance. Council's current lack of focus on asset management will need to be addressed in the structure of the new Southern Downs Regional Council

In the area of street and park trees, some interesting trends were discussed. Many southern State Councils have an asset register for all street and park trees. Some Councils have asset replacement programs in place. The Victorian and Western Australian Governments have given responsibility for vegetation control for power lines to Councils.

In Victoria and New South Wales, most Councils have employed or are training arborists to assist with identification of at risk trees in order to control liability issues. Council's also are required to strictly observe the Australian Standard for pruning and lopping.

The control of trees would appear to be a major emerging requirement for local government. There were six (6) streams running concurrently. Of these, two (2) were devoted to asset management. Asset management is a major driver of reform in local government in New South Wales and Victoria. The priority infrastructure plans required by the Queensland Government indicate the growing importance in our State. At present, Warwick Shire has only basic asset management in place. This requires more priority and staffing for the future Southern Downs Regional Council.