Registration of Engineers in Manufacturing – EIDA Response

The SA Government has proposed the implementation of a scheme that would require that engineering services are only provided by registered engineers or those closely supervised by them. For those engineers that are able to register the costs can be very high. The requirements include 5 years of experience.  For those who are unable to register there is unemployment. The scheme would

1. Make South Australia less competitive due to increased costs based on compliance and the time required to complete compliance matters. Registration costs for those without an accelerated pathway is typically thousands of dollars (essentially the same process as getting skill recognition for migration).
2. Make South Australia less competitive due to companies not being able to manage competency and quality in ways that are optimal for their circumstances.
3. Make South Australia less innovative due to reducing diversity and specialist skills in the workforce.
4. Damage investment in South Australia due to the increased challenges to recruit specialist skills and the requirement that staff in the investing country will need registration in South Australia.
5. Cause older staff to leave the workforce as many competent, especially older employees would be forced from the industry by the difficulty in registering.
6. Reduce employment opportunities for graduates due to the requirement that they must be supervised for 5 years even if they are not undertaking work of particular risk.
7. Make the skills shortage worse for the reasons given above.
8. Not Necessarily improve competency in the broader engineering sector.

You can see the full submission EIDA submission. You can help by sending a version of the following letter – instructions are included. The letter is Registration of Engineers Letter. The deadline for submissions on the scheme is September 8. However ministers are free to receive letters at any time.

EIDA will be working to get personal representation with Minister for Industry, Innovation and Science Susan Close on this matter.