Parliamentary Library Webinar: Building Australia’s mega-engineering – how do we stack up globally?

On Wednesday 3 April, our Director, Professor Jennifer Whyte sat on a online panel titled: ‘Building Australia’s mega-engineering – how do we stack up globally?’ alongside Professor Brian Uy. This discussion was part of a series of topical webinars organised by the Australian Parliamentary Library and the Australian Council of Learned Academies.

The panel delved into major projects in Australia and the intricate challenges that they encounter. Professor Whyte and Professor Uy discussed the factors leading to delays, design challenges, and unforeseen costs in the country’s infrastructure initiatives and suggested reforms to mitigate and address these issues in the future.

Professor Whyte’s recommendations for future megaprojects included:

1. For there to be incentivised target costs to align parties to deliver together.
2. The need for program delivery organisations to be established in order to make timely decisions and take accountability.
3. Reduce complexity where possible: Megaprojects are best understood as a program of smaller projects, fostering flexibility and learning across the projects within an overall program.
4. Manage systems integration: within complex projects that have multiple interdependencies, the public sector cannot transfer the interface risk.
5. Take a systems approach: Understanding megaprojects in relation to wider systems including the natural environment.

Click here to watch the online panel