eFlash #643

eFlash #643 New

Date: 21-Jan-2026

Essentials Webinar: Human-Centred System Design

Join us at 10am on Thursday, 12 February for an important conversation about safety, trust and customer outcomes in the water sector.

The webinar is hosted in partnership with Thriving Communities Australia (TCA), a cross sector organisation dedicated to ensuring everyone has safe and equitable access to essential services. TCA’s work, including the Safety by Design partnership, has highlighted how water systems can unintentionally cause harm or even be deliberately misused. From billing and debt practices to privacy breaches and account controls, these risks are real, and emerging expectations are shifting fast.

This webinar will provide a high level overview of:

Key risks water organisations need to understand
How systems can be unintentionally harmful or weaponised
Evolving expectations across sectors
How human centred, preventative design can strengthen safety, trust and customer experiences

If you work in the water sector, customer service, digital systems, billing, policy or community engagement, this is a conversation you won’t want to miss.

More info and register here.

qldwater Environment Forum

The program for the upcoming Environment Forum on 26 February 2026 at Redlands IndigiScapes Centre, Capalaba is now available on the qldwater website.

We’re pleased to welcome Dr Goslick Schepers, CEO of Ecomarkets, as a presenter at the Forum. Dr Schepers works at the intersection of finance, innovation and the natural environment, bringing investment and commercial thinking into the emerging field of natural capital.

His presentation, titled From Outcomes to Markets: Quantifying Water Quality Offsets Using ENVOMARK Assured Credits, will explore how water quality outcomes can be supported and enabled through credible, assured market mechanisms. This will be a timely conversation as interest in offsets and environmental markets continues to grow across the water sector.

Secure your ticket today.

AWA QLD Industry Breakfast

On Tuesday, 17 February our Water Skills Partnership Manager, Sarah Henry, will make the case for a three-year water industry apprenticeship and other projects to strengthen the capability and recognition of water industry operators at the AWA QLD Industry Breakfast.

Sarah will be joined by the Deputy-Director-General Water Resource Management, Jarrod Cowley-Grimmond, and Major Contractors Association CEO Andrew Chapman in a panel discussion facilitated by Mal Shepherd, Chief Development Officer Infrastructure Development and Delivery at Sunwater.

With a topic of Fix the Mix: People, Pipes and Possibilities, the expert panellists will discuss ways to align workforce development, infrastructure renewal and economic sustainability to deliver outcomes that communities trust and the economy benefits from.

More info and register here.

Other news and updates

New guidance for health and safety representatives on asbestos

Safe Work Australia, in collaboration with the Asbestos and Silica Safety and Eradication Agency, have released a new guide and checklist specifically for Health and safety representatives (HSRs).

Asbestos consists of many tiny fibres, which can get into the air when disturbed. When asbestos fibres are inhaled, they can lodge in the lungs and cause serious diseases like lung cancer, mesothelioma, and asbestosis.

(HSRs can play an important role in representing members of their work group and bringing issues, such as the risks from exposure to asbestos, to the attention of the person conducting a business or undertaking (PCBU; e.g. employers).

Queensland Biosecurity Boost Grants Now Open

Grant funding is available to improve biosecurity knowledge and practices.

Applications for round 2 of the program are now open across 2 grant categories: education and innovation, and will close at midday, Monday 16 February 2026.

Productivity Report into Construction

Queensland's productivity commission last week handed down a final report into the state's under-pressure construction sector. It detailed numerous concerns around the industry's ability to meet housing targets and demand for major projects, particularly ahead of the 2032 Olympic and Paralympic Games.

Fifty-one of the 64 recommendations made by the productivity commission have been accepted by the state government.

The commission had recommended additional changes to zoning and the planning system, including prescribing statewide overlays for flooding and bushfires and removing character zoning. However, this was only noted by the government. In its response, it said elements of that were "contrary" to its commitment to restoring planning partnerships with local governments.

The report does investigate infrastructure planning, funding and provision, and utility connections. However, the PC did not represent the ongoing funding issues and cross-subsidisation of new developments as a result of the Maximum Allowable Charge (MAC) for trunk infrastructure which has not kept pace with increasing construction costs.

South East Queensland (SEQ) Regional Plan under review

The Queensland Government is working to develop new regional plans that cover all of Queensland. They will work with infrastructure plans appropriately cater for growth and improve planning partnerships.

These regional plans will also work with the 'Securing our Housing Foundations' plan to deliver one million new homes, including 53,500 social and community housing, by 2044. The key to achieving this outcome is integrated land use and infrastructure planning.

Currently, the state is reviewing the SEQ Regional Plan to respond to changes in legislation and policy as well as significant population growth and development in the SEQ region.

While formal submissions are not yet open, they are inviting people to share your thoughts and ideas as part of the early stages of the SEQ Regional Plan review.

WIOA call for papers and posters

Have you worked on a tricky job and solved a problem, or do you have a lesson worth sharing?

Whether you're in boots and hi-vis, in a lab, behind a desk, a Water Industry Operations Association of Australia (WIOA) event is your chance to step up, share your experience, and help others in the water operations industry learn from it.

WIOA are looking for practical case studies, wins, challenges, and anything in between to be presented at their QLD Conference and Exhibition on 24 -25 June 2026 on the Gold Coast.

Share an experience or lesson with a paper or poster and be in the run for an all expenses paid opportunity to present at an interstate WIOA Conference.

More info here.