PROGRAM UPDATE
DECEMBER 2024
I really enjoy supporting VicWater programs and as we come to the end of 2024, it is wonderful to reflect on 2024 and what has been achieved. I am grateful to the people who are involved in our programs who exemplify the better together ethos. Stay safe and well across the Christmas period and enjoy one too many mince pies!
Cyber Governance Steering Committee
The CGSC continue to progress actions that arose from the cyber exercise earlier this year. Our recent meeting discussed the pros and cons of various frameworks and the changes to Commonwealth Legislation.
Diversity and Inclusion Steering Committee (DISC) and Practitioners networks
The Practitioners network continue to work collaboratively and are currently planning for an International Women’s Day celebration to be held in March 2025. Data collection for the first annual report of the 2024–28 E, D and I Strategy is underway. The final piece of the puzzle will be a self-assessment on E, D and I maturity by MDs in early 2025.
Safety Executive Group
The Safety Executive Group are winding up for the year but are planning a ‘safety sprint’ to be held in early 2025. This will involve a short, concentrated weeklong ‘sprint’ on a single area to support delivery and action around Life Saving Rules for the sector. The OHS network continue to be active sharing information to support each other.
WaterAble
WaterAble held their celebration for International Day for People with Disability on 3 December 2024. The celebration was attended by over 150 people from across Australia and highlights from attendees were around the openness and authenticity of the presenters. Keep an eye out in 2025 for more information from WaterAble and their activities.
NOVEMBER 2024
Cyber Governance Steering Committee
The CGSC continue to progress actions that arose from the cyber exercise earlier this year. I also had the pleasure of presenting on the exercise to the DEECA Sector Resilience Network earlier this week, where cyber was a key focus.
Diversity and Inclusion Steering Committee (DISC) and Practitioners networks
The DISC recently met and discussed the structure for the first Annual Report for the 2024 – 28 Equity Diversity and Inclusion strategy. The Practitioners Network continue to focus on Equity Impact Assessments and are looking at a whole of sector approach to the ownership of these.
Safety Executive Group
Earlier this week the OHS Network held their Annual Forum. This was a hybrid event hosted by Wannon Water. The line-up of speakers was excellent and covered a range of topics relating to change management. One of the core takeaways for me was to assume nothing!
WaterAble
WaterAble are in preparation for their celebration of International Day for People with Disability. This year they are looking to showcase the talent within the water sector. The Event will be held online on 3 December from 11:00 – 12:00pm. For more information and to register click here.
OCTOBER 2024
One of the great parts of my job is supporting WaterAble as a program of VicWater. They recently held their fourth AGM which celebrated a very successful year. Their annual achievements report can be found on the WaterAble website. The AGM welcomed the incoming committee of Anita McKenzie (South East Water), Clare Gibson (South Gippsland Water), Kimberlee Pithers (SEQ Water), Llewellyn Prain (Greater Western Water) and Tania Beer (Coliban Water). This also proved an opportune time to acknowledge outgoing committee member Matt Iverson (Greater Western Water) and award our inaugural life membership to Donald Hughan (Goulburn Murray Water).
A highlight of the 2024 year was the graduation of the second cohort from the WaterAble Leadership program which was facilitated by Emma Olivier (Wannon Water) and Llewellyn Prain (Greater Western Water). This year 8 people showed courage and commitment to their careers by challenging themselves and their peers to develop into transparent and authentic leaders. It was amazing to watch their growth over the program and it will be great to hear from some of them at our upcoming International Day of People with Disability (IDPwD).
The International Day of People with Disability WaterAble event will be held online on 3 December 2024 at 11am and will give our leadership graduates a chance to showcase their skills and share their journeys through the water sector. The event will also be an opportunity to share and update on the actions that recently came from the Day of Action workshop held earlier this year. Each participating organisation was challenged to undertake two actions which were:
1. to review your reasonable adjustments policy based on our workshop, and;
2. to share stories of individuals with disabilities thriving in your organisation.
If you have anything you wish to share or would like to know more about contact us (contact@waterable.com.au)
SEPTEMBER 2024
Cyber Governance Steering Committee
The CGSC have been progressing and workshopping the June cyber exercise outcomes and we now have a nicely bundled project which we will be delivering in partnership with DEECA.
Diversity and Inclusion Steering Committee (DISC) and Practitioners networks
The DISC has developed a maturity model that will allow water corporations to self-assess their Equity, Diversity and Inclusion maturity. This is in the testing phase and will be used to identify areas that we can share information to enhance our collective knowledge.
The Practitioners network have been working to standardise Equity Impact Assessments across the sector to simplify the process. This template has been finalised and is now being used and tested by water corporations.
Safety Executive Group
The SEG recently reflected on their collective journey from where they have come and where they are going. It was a great conversation with a lot of reflection on how we can work together to create a safe and thriving environment. They will be holding a joint meeting in October with the DISC to discuss their alignment and joint focus areas.
Women in Water Directors Network
The WWDN are excited to hold a special event at the VicWater annual conference focusing on Women in Operations. There are some fantastic speakers coming together on this panel to talk about how we can shift the dial in engaging and retaining young women in these traditionally male roles.
WaterAble
The second cohort of Leadership Program participants will finish their program in two weeks. Their graduation will coincide with the AGM on 18 September (11am – 12:30pm), which will be a celebration of their journey and WaterAble’s fourth year! The organising committee have also put out a call for nominations, if you are interested, please contact contact@waterable.org.au.
AUGUST 2024
Cyber Governance Steering Committee
The great problem with running a cyber exercise is the amount of information and data that comes out of it. The CGSC are working through these and prioritising which to progress first.
Diversity and Inclusion Steering Committee (DISC) and Practitioners networks
The DISC are developing a maturity model that will allow water corporations to self-assess their Equity, Diversity and Inclusion maturity and use data to shift the dial on E, D and I practices across the sector. It will also allow benchmarking and sharing of best practice across all organisations. It is currently in testing phase and will be ready to be used towards the end of the year.
The Practitioners network have been working to standardise Equity Impact Assessments across the sector to simplify the process and make it easier to support each other. There may even be a sneaky app in discussions!
Safety Executive Group
The SEG has used its collective benefit to partnership with SafetyCare to support water corporations with safety and compliance training. Over the course of the year the participating water corporations will be working with SafetyCare to identify any water sector specific training needs. This, along with the Workforce Readiness Project, really demonstrates the benefits to a collective approach to supporting our people to be safe and thriving.
WaterAble
The second cohort of Leadership Program participants are more than half way through this program. Their graduation will coincide with the AGM on 18 September (11am – 12:30pm), which will be a celebration of their journey and WaterAble’s fourth year! The organising committee are also gearing up for the International Day of People with Disability celebrations, which will be held as an online event on 3 December (11am – 12pm).
JULY 2024
Last week saw the inaugural joint Safety Executive Group and OHS Network Committee meeting. It was great to bring these two key groups together to agree on some alignment to really enhance leadership and culture across the sector. The conversation around the table was energetic, and where we spent 2023/24 setting up our plans to support making the safety and wellbeing commitment a part of the sector, 2024/25 looks to really build on those foundations to drive some action. The Safety and Wellbeing Commitment was developed through a co-design process in 2022 to build on the work that already exists by individual water corporations and WSAA and bring it to a sectoral level to build safety leadership and enhance the culture to support our people, their families, our delivery partners and our communities to be safe and thriving. The joint vision that was developed was;
We are a united water sector working together to improve the physical health, mental health, and social health of our people, our partners and the wider community. We will be the leading Australian sector in providing a safe and thriving working environment.
Throughout the meeting, people were sharing their success stories and the big things they are looking to tackle in the next twelve months. Not surprisingly, there were a lot of common themes, including the proposed psychosocial regulations, contractor management, metrics and benchmarking. The last item warms my heart as a data nerd and to just generally to hear the appetite to align and use data to really understand what is happening in the sector and using this information to do what we can to make sure we are the leading sector for safety and wellbeing in Australia.
JUNE 2024
Roughly twelve months ago, conversations commenced between DEECA and VicWater about the potential to run a sector wide cyber security exercise and late last year we engaged Cythera to help wrangle this together. On Tuesday (4/6/24) all the planning, workshopping and discussions came to fruition with an in-person event held at Melbourne Water, which was expertly facilitated by Craig Joyce from Cythera. The day was set up as two x two-hour discussion exercises, one looking at a major outage of our productivity suites and the other an interruption to our wastewater networks. The highlight for me was at each inject point, DGS and DEECA were invited to explain what would be happening in their control rooms during these periods. For me this completed the whole picture and provided clarity on some of the questions and activities that they undertake in an emergency scenario. It was also great to be able to align the activities with the newly released State Emergency Management Plan – Cyber Sub-Plan.
It was also great to meet many people in 3D for the first time with over 60 people in attendance. We had an excellent mix of technical IT and OT subject matter experts, Emergency Management experts and executives from the 18 water corporations participating, as well as representation from DEECA, DGS and the Department of Home Affairs. This meant that the conversations were robust and meaningful with all participants taking away something new or something to consider further.
It would be remis to talk about the exercise without thanking the key people involved in making this happen. It takes a lot of work, and it certainly would not have happened without the guidance of Craig Joyce at Cythera. It made the experience a lot more manageable and less stressful than it probably could have been.
In addition to his experience and resilience I would like to thank:
- The project team of Richard Marshall from Goulburn Murray Water, Vaughn Brandenberg from the Metro Water Corporations (MW, YVW, SEW, GWW), Nick Madden and Pradeepa Adihetty from DEECA. As well as Andrew Marshall and Barry Smith from Goulburn Valley Water for helping to shape the scenarios.
- Rob Considine and Dawn Hertog from DEECA and Rohan Davies from DGS for their guidance and participation on the day around their roles and responsibilities.
- The Cythera team who expertly facilitated the day including Craig Joyce, Joh McPhee, Ben Cuthbert, Jarrod Loidl, Mark Terrill and Alistair Longley. As well as EJ Wise from Wise Law
- Richard Morris and the reception team from Melbourne Water for hosting us on the day.
It was a really excellent day and I have been asked if it will be run again….the answer is….maybe? Let’s wait until I am over this one before committing!
MAY 2024
I was fortunate to attend the annual OzWater conference last week in Melbourne, along with a high contingent of the Victorian water sector, given the hometown advantage. I thought I would share a couple of the key highlights from my week:
- Shae Abel talking about Melbourne Water’s belonging framework and then hearing from Naveen Maram and Andrew Mellor about their experiences with it. This is an incredible piece of work that really gets to the heart of why we support equity, diversity, and inclusion initiatives so that all employees in the Victorian water sector feel a sense of belonging to ensure that they thrive.
- Seeing WaterAble Leadership Program graduate, Sylvia Campbell’s big idea for a panel session around ‘Build it and they will come’. This was a wonderful initiative sharing how organisations can support people with a disability from the application process through to career progression. I really love seeing WaterAble challenge us to think differently about inclusion as it benefits all of us to have diversity in the room.
- Chris Philpot from the Water Conservancy presenting on benchmarking for non-residential water. VicWater has been working with the Water Conservancy to develop and run a water efficiency workshop for our members on the 16th May 2024, which will include non-residential water use, residential behaviour change, and educational initiatives. It has been great working with Chris on this and I am excited to see some of the ideas and outcomes from this session.
I really enjoy going to these national conferences as it is great to catch up with people I haven’t seen for years. It always makes me appreciate the collaborative nature of our sector for ‘Accelerating Action’ against our common goals. Well done to all involved for a fantastic event!
APRIL 2024
Earlier this year, Central Highlands Water (CHW) got in touch, to ask if Jo or I would be willing to have a chat to their four female trainees. Of course we jumped at the chance and before we knew it, Jo and I were on a train hurtling towards Ballarat for a really quite excellent day. I started my career working in Operations and a benefit of getting older is seeing how the culture has shifted to make operations a great place for females to work and also the evolution of programs and opportunities to encourage females to enter the area. Our day consisted of a site tour and morning tea at Ballarat South Waste Treatment Plant (BSWWTP), courtesy of the trainees (Lilian, Lourdes, Tania and Tanika). Lilian showed us around and shared her knowledge of the processes and also reminded us of how much there is to know!
From the BSWWTP we went on a driving tour of some of the larger reservoirs of the area, I cannot verify if we were lost or not, but we made it to the CHW head office in time for lunch and a (not long enough) session with the executives. It was great to spend some time with them and spend a little bit of time discussing our priorities and things that are keeping us busy, which is a lot!
After lunch, Jo and I were ‘interviewed’ about our experiences and covered topics such as self-care, our career journeys and backgrounds, and our motivations. It is always a bit daunting talking about yourself but hopefully some pearls of wisdom were shared! It was also nice to have some friendly faces from my past life from water quality in the crowd.
The trainee program happened organically with a single trainee position being advertised and growing to four. The interview process sounded to be more experiential and a lot more fun than a traditional interview, and the four females that have come were an unintended, but positive outcome of the process with all four trainees planning to stay long term at CHW. I would like to give a massive kudos to Kim Pappaluca and the CHW team for this program, it is exceptional and it is fantastic to see more women in operations and the cultural shift to see it succeed.
Thank you to Lilian, Lourdes, Tania, Tanika, and the whole CHW team for having us. I would also like to say a very special thank you to Kim for putting the day together, being our chauffeur and showing us to the best coffee place in Ballarat. Jo and I had a great day and would love to come back!
L – R: Kim Pappaluca, Jo and Tara
L – R: Tanika, Tara, Lourdes, Jo, Tania and Lilian
MARCH 2024
International Women’s Day 2024
8 March marks International Women’s Day, which is an annual event to raise awareness and celebrate progress of the women’s rights movement. As a sector, we are fortunate to have unified commitment to gender equity, and there are a number of different programs that exist to support women to succeed.
In 2019 VicWater released the first water industry Equity, Diversity, and Inclusion Strategy 2019-2023, which has had an annual performance report produced each year. The final report under the current Strategy is due to be released in March 2024 and has comparative year on year data from the five years of the Strategy. The gender results show progress in senior roles but it is important to note that due to the size of these teams, even a single change can impact the data.
Programs such as the Insight: Executive Leadership for Women in Water Program are important in elevating women into leadership roles through self development and learning from other women in the sector and helping them to building connections with other women at similar points in their careers. To date this program has been run twice and the third cohort is due to commence at the end of March, of which I am hugely excited to be a part of.
At a board level, the Women in Water Directors Network (WWDN) provide a place and space for women directors of water corporations and CMAs to network, collaborate, mentor and support each other. Since it was established in 2018, the network has expanded to include all directors to champion gender equity. In 2024 the WWDN will be running a ‘Next Generation’ program for women at the executive and board level, and aims to build relationships across the sector based on respect and mutual benefit. Expressions of interest for this program will open in March.
Finally, it would be remiss of me to not mention the huge amount of work that has been completed by our Diversity and Inclusion (D&I) subject matter experts over the last few months to complete progress reports against their organisations Gender Equality Action Plans.
Under the Gender Equality Act, they are required to report every two years and this was the first progress report. This was a huge undertaking and I congratulate all who were involved in the process for completing it.
More broadly, we should be grateful that we work in a sector that is committed to putting in place structures and supporting programs to support a diverse, informed and engaged water sector that embodies a sense of pride and inclusiveness.
Caption for this table for context.
