Young IPWEA

Afternoon all, I've just got back to the office following our SW IPWEA Group Meeting where we had a presentation by Justine McCarthy from Local Government Engineers Australia (a division of Professionals Australia, the old APESMA). What I found most interesting - and what I think would interest this group - was that they now offer an alternative to CPEng (from EA): a Registered Professional Engineer (RPEng) registration/certification. While the annual costs between EA and LGEA are much the same, the benefit as I see it is that the costs for registration are far less. The process through EA is about $1700 up-front and $200p.a. whereas LGEA is $300 every third year as I understand it. More info here: http://rpeng.org.au/ And out of interest, who's pursuing registration? I've had the long term goal of achieving it but it hasn't really got a guernsey on my radar with other things going on. The way I see it is eventually all of Australia will follow in the footsteps of Queensland in the requirement to register with RPEQ. Also, with the changing face of LG in NSW there's a slight chance in the future that each council will be required to have a 'Chief Engineer' in the same vein as requiring a Chief Financial Officer. No doubt if this were to ever get up they would use CPEng or RPEng as the benchmark. Cheers, ------------------------------------------- Will Barton Deputy Engineer Junee Shire Council JUNEE NSW -------------------------------------------

Will,

As discussed at the meeting, I'll certainly be chasing this avenue for my own registration. Following with Queensland's RPEQ, which has in turn followed the general international trend that Registered/Chartered Engineers are a requirement beyond lower levels of responsibility, New South Wales will no doubt be going down this path in the next few years (as Justine hinted toward).

Beyond the financial differences, which will impact the wallet a fair bit less, there's also the fact that this will be targeted toward Local Government Engineering, as opposed to EA's broad scope across all Engineering disciplines & sectors. That this will be better suited to us, and tailored toward our own unique challenges within LG, it will make the registration that much easier. Personally, I'm all for it and can't wait to finally get the 'RPEng' after my name.

Neil

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Neil Ogilvie
Director Engineering Services
Temora Shire Council
TEMORA NSW
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Neil, It is a very valid point you raise about LGEA being more in-tune with the nuances and needs of public works engineers when compared with what EA offer. By way of an example, I had reason to sit before an interview panel made up of EA reps who were all of the opinion that in LG we were only capable of farming out design work to the private sector. They honestly had no idea what we were capable of and what we did virtually every day. It took a great deal of questions and evidence to convince them otherwise. Regards, ------------------------------------------- Will Barton Deputy Engineer Junee Shire Council JUNEE NSW -------------------------------------------
Original Message: Sent: 14-08-2014 21:12 From: Neil Ogilvie Subject: Alternative to CPEng Will, As discussed at the meeting, I'll certainly be chasing this avenue for my own registration. Following with Queensland's RPEQ, which has in turn followed the general international trend that Registered/Chartered Engineers are a requirement beyond lower levels of responsibility, New South Wales will no doubt be going down this path in the next few years (as Justine hinted toward). Beyond the financial differences, which will impact the wallet a fair bit less, there's also the fact that this will be targeted toward Local Government Engineering, as opposed to EA's broad scope across all Engineering disciplines & sectors. That this will be better suited to us, and tailored toward our own unique challenges within LG, it will make the registration that much easier. Personally, I'm all for it and can't wait to finally get the 'RPEng' after my name. Neil ------------------------------------------- Neil Ogilvie Director Engineering Services Temora Shire Council TEMORA NSW -------------------------------------------
Original Message: Sent: 13-08-2014 02:51 From: William Barton Subject: Alternative to CPEng Afternoon all, I've just got back to the office following our SW IPWEA Group Meeting where we had a presentation by Justine McCarthy from Local Government Engineers Australia (a division of Professionals Australia, the old APESMA). What I found most interesting - and what I think would interest this group - was that they now offer an alternative to CPEng (from EA): a Registered Professional Engineer (RPEng) registration/certification. While the annual costs between EA and LGEA are much the same, the benefit as I see it is that the costs for registration are far less. The process through EA is about $1700 up-front and $200p.a. whereas LGEA is $300 every third year as I understand it. More info here: http://rpeng.org.au/ And out of interest, who's pursuing registration? I've had the long term goal of achieving it but it hasn't really got a guernsey on my radar with other things going on. The way I see it is eventually all of Australia will follow in the footsteps of Queensland in the requirement to register with RPEQ. Also, with the changing face of LG in NSW there's a slight chance in the future that each council will be required to have a 'Chief Engineer' in the same vein as requiring a Chief Financial Officer. No doubt if this were to ever get up they would use CPEng or RPEng as the benchmark. Cheers, ------------------------------------------- Will Barton Deputy Engineer Junee Shire Council JUNEE NSW -------------------------------------------

I fully support a registration system that acknowledges that LG Engineers are not just paper pushers. But caution needs to be had not to lean too far towards our little section of the world. I recall in Queensland about 4 years ago there was a push from IPWEAQ for its members to become registered, as the majority of RPEQ's were in the private sector, undertaking works for Local Government. Ironically, all Council's required the designs to be certified by an RPEQ, but when received from the Council were not checked and accepted by the LG by an RPEQ. I would imagine there is some liability in this. I applaud LGEA for this initiative. The LGEA for a few years has been pushing for Chief Engineers and the sticking point has been attracting CPEng to Outback and remote areas. From my knowledge I do not know too many engineers in Local Government with certification. Hopefully there will be a good uptake with the RPEng. ------------------------------------------- Matthew Christensen Manager Assets & Design Tumut Shire Council TUMUT NSW -------------------------------------------
Original Message: Sent: 18-08-2014 23:28 From: William Barton Subject: Alternative to CPEng Neil, It is a very valid point you raise about LGEA being more in-tune with the nuances and needs of public works engineers when compared with what EA offer. By way of an example, I had reason to sit before an interview panel made up of EA reps who were all of the opinion that in LG we were only capable of farming out design work to the private sector. They honestly had no idea what we were capable of and what we did virtually every day. It took a great deal of questions and evidence to convince them otherwise. Regards, ------------------------------------------- Will Barton Deputy Engineer Junee Shire Council JUNEE NSW -------------------------------------------
Original Message: Sent: 14-08-2014 21:12 From: Neil Ogilvie Subject: Alternative to CPEng Will, As discussed at the meeting, I'll certainly be chasing this avenue for my own registration. Following with Queensland's RPEQ, which has in turn followed the general international trend that Registered/Chartered Engineers are a requirement beyond lower levels of responsibility, New South Wales will no doubt be going down this path in the next few years (as Justine hinted toward). Beyond the financial differences, which will impact the wallet a fair bit less, there's also the fact that this will be targeted toward Local Government Engineering, as opposed to EA's broad scope across all Engineering disciplines & sectors. That this will be better suited to us, and tailored toward our own unique challenges within LG, it will make the registration that much easier. Personally, I'm all for it and can't wait to finally get the 'RPEng' after my name. Neil ------------------------------------------- Neil Ogilvie Director Engineering Services Temora Shire Council TEMORA NSW -------------------------------------------
Original Message: Sent: 13-08-2014 02:51 From: William Barton Subject: Alternative to CPEng Afternoon all, I've just got back to the office following our SW IPWEA Group Meeting where we had a presentation by Justine McCarthy from Local Government Engineers Australia (a division of Professionals Australia, the old APESMA). What I found most interesting - and what I think would interest this group - was that they now offer an alternative to CPEng (from EA): a Registered Professional Engineer (RPEng) registration/certification. While the annual costs between EA and LGEA are much the same, the benefit as I see it is that the costs for registration are far less. The process through EA is about $1700 up-front and $200p.a. whereas LGEA is $300 every third year as I understand it. More info here: http://rpeng.org.au/ And out of interest, who's pursuing registration? I've had the long term goal of achieving it but it hasn't really got a guernsey on my radar with other things going on. The way I see it is eventually all of Australia will follow in the footsteps of Queensland in the requirement to register with RPEQ. Also, with the changing face of LG in NSW there's a slight chance in the future that each council will be required to have a 'Chief Engineer' in the same vein as requiring a Chief Financial Officer. No doubt if this were to ever get up they would use CPEng or RPEng as the benchmark. Cheers, ------------------------------------------- Will Barton Deputy Engineer Junee Shire Council JUNEE NSW -------------------------------------------