Professionals Australia welcomes engineer registration in Western Australia

Professionals Australia (PA), the union representing the industrial and professional interests of engineers across Australia, has welcomed the McGowan Government’s announcement that new regulations will be prepared to enable the registration of engineers who carry out building engineering work in Western Australia (WA).

PA’s CEO Jill McCabe said that statutory engineer registration was essential to improve the quality and safety of building and construction projects, to strengthen consumer protection and to enhance the professional standing of engineers who provide critical engineering services to the community.

“Having advocated for statutory engineering registration for many years, PA is pleased to learn the Western Australian Government has agreed to introduce registration for several categories of engineers who deliver engineering work in WA’s building and construction sector.

“The registration of engineers in WA’s building and construction sector will ensure that engineers have the qualifications, experience and competencies necessary to undertake critical building and construction projects, which in turn will protect the safety and quality of these projects.

“We are of course keen to see the detail in the draft regulations underpinning engineering registration in WA and how the scheme will work in practise.

“Given that engineers in Australia work across different state and territory jurisdictions, it is vital that WA’s engineer registration scheme aligns with engineering registration schemes in Queensland and Victoria.

Ms McCabe said it was important that the WA Government start to consider the expansion of engineering registration to cover other areas of engineering in utilities, roads, rail, mining, and infrastructure which also face similar challenges in terms of public safety, quality, and waste.

“While we welcome the introduction of a registration scheme for engineers in the building and construction sector in WA as an important first step, we believe that the extension of registration into other areas of engineering requires urgent attention.

We look forward to working with the McGowan Government to deliver a nationally consistent engineer registration scheme that protects Western Australians across all engineering sectors.”