One of the many highlights of the conference was the panel debate which was designed to stimulate thought and discussion, provoke debate and to get participants thinking about the top challenges facing industry today, and tomorrow. Following is an edited transcript.
The panel moderator was CCN editor, Sandra Van Dijk, and panellists included:
• Simon Bradwell of the Fan Manufacturers Association (FMA);
• David Eynon of the Air Conditioning and Mechanical Contractors Association of Australia (AMCA); Glenn Evans of the Australian Refrigeration Council(ARC);
• David Hood of the Sustainable Engineering Society(SEA); and Kevin Lee of the Air Conditioning and Refrigeration Equipment Manufacturers of Australia (AREMA).
To start the debate the panel moderator invited each panellist to nominate the top two issues currently facing industry.
Kevin Lee (AREMA) nominated energy efficiency as a core issue for AREMA members as well as the regulatory environment.
David Hood (SEA) says the biggest issue facing everybody is global warming and climate change.
“This is one area where politicians are doing very little it will be up to us to make a difference,”
Hood says adding that engineers need to be educated in sustainability.
Glenn Evans (ARC) said a priority for the council is ensuring all refrigerants are licensed and to ensure technicians are properly trained so that a lack of skills don’t inhibit the takeup of new and innovative approaches to HVAC&R.
David Eynon (AMCA) was quick to nominate the economy. “Industry are doing it very tough, and its having an adverse impact on their business,” he says.
The second issue was productivity. “The Australian economy has stalled. Drivers of change that will play an important role in improving productivity for the building and construction industry will be virtual construction techniques and regulation,” Eynon says.
Simon Bradwell (FMA) says a major issue is the poor state of local manufacturing. “In the last three years I have seen contractors, builders and refrigeration businesses go bust,” he says.
The other issue, he says, is a regulatory regime that doesn’t recognise excellence.
“We’ve been trying to negotiate with government to introduce regulations in our industry, we even have a code of practice and it has driven me around the bend. I have never seen such a bunch of laggards in all my life,” he adds.
Panellists and the audience were then invited to nominate the top issues likely to emerge in the year 2025. After panellists joked about whether they would actually be here in the year 2025 it was time to get down to business.
Kevin Lee (AREMA) - “In 2025 we will still be in this room trying to deal with regulation and we still won’t have national licensing,” Lee jokes.
He hopes that by 2025 there will be a system in place for technicians to keep their competencies up to date. “Its a rapidly changing world as we move to low GWP refrigerants, which means techie’s that were trained 20 years ago will need up-skilling.
Skills need to be upgraded every few years,” he says. With Australia’s poor record of trying to implement regulations with so many states and territories, Lee suggestsabolishing the states and just having a federal government.
David Hood (SEA) - Hood says that a decade from now everyone will still be grappling with climate change issues especially rising temperatures.
Glenn Evans (ARC) - Training reforms will be a priority by 2025 as steps are taken to change the current modular-based training regime.
David Eynon (AMCA) - Eynon reminded participants that federal/state relations is “an endless piece of string” but says he is a believer in local government and wouldn’t like to see the states abolished.
“Public servants in Canberra are not equipped to make decisions on service delivery in local areas,” he says adding that there needs to be an open debate about what’s good and bad regulation.
“About 90 per cent of the building stock we will have in 2030 is already here now; stock is increasing by about two per cent per year. So all the stock sitting there now is low grade, old buildings that will need a massive amount of recommissioning.
As a result service and maintenance will grow in importance. These skills and how we deliver service and maintenance will become much more important leading up to 2025.”
Simon Bradwell (FMA) - In 2025, Bradwell says the world will still need lots of fans. But on a more serious note he says the future world will face issues to do with power consumption, population growth and urban planning. “I agree we need a debate about regulations,” he says.
By this stage in the debate there was plenty of audience participation with a number of issues nominated.
Australian Refrigeration Association president Tim Edwards called on the industry to come together and to just say yes. “As an industry we could reduce national emissions by five to six per cent over the next 15 years if we just came together and did it,” he says.
Kevin Lee (AREMA) - Lee raised the issue of Australia having a department for climate change, another for sustainability and another for the building code.
“That’s three different departments looking after energy efficiency, we should be looking holistically at how we can reduce emissions,” Lee says.
Glenn Evans (ARC) - “It would be great to have one Minister to oversee all of this,” Evans says.
David Eynon (AMCA) - “The AMCA has been asking for a Minister that is responsible for the construction industry for many years,” Eynon adds.
Panellists were then asked to nominate the biggest barriers to industry growth.
Kevin Lee (AREMA) - Lee says an ongoing problem is ignorance and complacency.
He cannot understand why governments are stalling the rollout of smart meters.
“If consumers could see the power they use it would change behaviour; knowledge is power,” he says.
David Hood (SEA) - Hood says there is still a great deal of consumer ignorance when it comes to energy efficiency. “We need to build awareness,” he says.
The audience were very active during this part of the debate with NSW TAFE’s Steve Smith pointing out that the need to raise the skill level of technicians could seriously hinder the industry’s future.
“We can build the best machines in the world but it all comes undone if the technicians don’t know what they are doing. Many of the young people undertaking trades today need to learn basic writing and adding skills before focusing on their trade, we are teaching them what they should have learnt in high school.
Companies spend nine months advertising for an apprentice and are so desperate they are willing to employ someone with a heart beat.”
Glenn Evans (ARC) - Evans says consumers want to support energy efficiency but not at a high financial cost which is why costs need to come down for energy efficient products.
Simon Bradwell (FMA) - Bradwell says consumers have been cash rich over the last 10 years but this will change, interest rates are too low. “I don’t think people will have as much cash in their pocket,” he says.
Today, consumers can by an air conditioning unit for a quarter of what they paid in 1984 and the unit is significantly more efficient, he says.
With time running out, panellists were given the option to either comment on one of the CCN Live conference sessions or, nominate what they would change if they became Prime Minister tomorrow.
Kevin Lee (AREMA) - Lee says Australia needs to be a part of the global economy and to avoid developing standards in isolation.
“For a local manufacturer to survive its important to export but if we have an Australian standard that isn’t recognised anywhere else in the world then what’s the point?” he says. “The process for standards in Australia is fairly robust but we need to be involved on a global scale.”
David Hood (SEA) - Hood believes all standards should go through a sustainability check.
“If I was Prime Minister I would work to phase out the fossil fuel industry in Australia as fast as possible,” he says adding that there is a lot of rubbish said about renewables but they can meet everyone’s requirements.
“We also need to be more innovative, we should value add, not just dig it up out of the ground and flog it. We need to build an innovative culture within our universities,” Hood says.
Glenn Evans (ARC) - As Prime Minister, Evans says he would regulate for a more innovative environment and create the right business environment for manufacturers.
David Eynon (AMCA) - Eynon says he would grab hold of the NOLS system and fix it and appoint a Minister for Construction.
Simon Bradwell (FMA) - After turning down the job of Prime Minister because it’s “too hard”, Bradwell chose to make a comment for his final contribution to the debate.
“It was really nice to see everyone here today, especially Greg Hunt. I’d like to thank CCN for bringing him here so we could hear what he had to say.”