Conference Agenda

08:50 - 09:00

MC OPENS

09:00 - 09:20

Ministerial Address

The Hon. Bill Johnston, Minister for Mines and Petroleum; Energy; Industrial Relations, Member for Cannington

09:20 - 09:50

Perth City link Tower and Hotel Development 

• Development approval has been granted for Far East Consortium’s $158million Perth Hub twin tower development at Lots 2 and 3A adjacent to Perth Arena.
• The first building is a 32-storey mixed-use tower with 314 apartments supported by retail tenancies and a tavern.
• The second building will accommodate the four-star Dorsett Hotel – a 23-storey tower with 263 hotel rooms and a range of dining options and amenities.
• Project Overview and Timelines

Dan Sweet, Manager – Western Australia, Far East Consortium Australia

09:50 - 10:20

Speed networking
This speed networking session will allow delegates to introduce themselves and swap business cards with other conference attendees.

10:20 - 10:40

Establishment of Infrastructure WA

• A New Approach for Infrastructure Planning and Decision-Making for the State

Lance Glare, Director - Infrastructure Policy and Governance, Department of the Premier and Cabinet, WA

10:40 - 11:00

Planning for Perth’s Future

• Perth is set to grow to 3.5 million people by 2050. How can better land use planning meet the challenges of such growth and turn them into opportunities? 
• A Metronet Hub in Bayswater aims to address the challenges of a city’s growing pains. It combines public transport infrastructure with incentives for private investment. This provides massive opportunities both to the local community, and also WA businesses across various industries over many years as a sleepy town centre is transformed

Brent Fleeton, Managing Director, OverArch

11:30 - 12:00

Connect Joondalup Development and Bentley 360

• Some 5,000 homes would be built across four Perth suburbs under a major suburban infill plan announced by the Western Australian government.
• Dubbed The Precincts, the medium-to-high density housing developments would deliver homes in the middle to outer suburbs of Bentley, Joondalup, Beaconsfield and Cannington over the next 15 years.
• Connect Joondalup would comprise around 1,600 new dwellings.
• Connect Joondalup and Bentley 360 represent WA’s biggest ever collection of infill opportunities and they will offer developers the chance to access prime state-owned land that supports medium-to-high density development.

Greg Cash, Assistant Director General – Commercial Operations, Department of Communities, WA

12:00 - 12:30

Overview of Perth Airport’s Major Development Plans

New Runway Project

• Perth Airport's proposed new runway is an important piece of infrastructure for Western Australia.
• The new runway will occupy 293 hectares, be 3,000 metres long and will be located parallel to the existing main runway with a 2km separation so that both can be used independently.
• Construction Timelines
• Benefits of the New Runway

Kevin Brown, Chief Executive Officer, Perth Airport Pty Ltd

12:30 - 13:00

BHP South Flank Project

BHP Western Australia Iron Ore will require the development of an additional ore deposit to sustain production as the Yandi mine is exhausted over the next five to ten years.

The South Flank deposit is located approximately 130 km by road north-west of the town of Newman, and approximately 8 km to the south of the Companys existing Mining Area C operation.

Project Overview and Timelines

Simon Thomas, Project Director – South Flank, BHP

14:00 - 14:20

Westport: Port and Environs Strategy 

• Nicole Lockwood, Independent Chair of the Westport Taskforce, will provide an exclusive update on the development of the Westport: Port and Environs Strategy, which is due to be delivered to Government by the end of the year.
• The Westport Taskforce is creating a comprehensive, evidence-based strategy to deliver a sustainable and globally-responsive freight, trade and logistics network for Perth and surrounding regions for the next 50-100 years.
• Focusing on the port precincts in Fremantle, Kwinana and Bunbury, the strategy will seek to maximise economic development while minimising environmental impacts.

Nicole Lockwood, Chair of the Westport Taskforce, Westport

14:20 - 14:40

Cycling Infrastructure for Perth

The Government of Western Australia has committed an unprecedent investment of $134.5m over the forward estimates period across the state.  This boost in funding will allow for sizable strategic connections to be completed in the coming years to accelerate the growth of a safe and connected cycling network.

This presentation will provide details on the approach to planning the network across the state, innovations in approach, key projects that will be enabled via the funding, activation approaches for projects and evaluation of projects post implementation.

Craig Wooldridge, A/Executive Director – Integrated Transport Planning, Department of Transport, WA

14:40 - 15:30

Panel Discussion

Is Western Australia’s Economy Climbing out of the Doldrums?

• After years in the doldrums, WA’s economy is showing signs of life pointing to an important turnaround.
• Is WA restructuring and rebalancing and looking for non-mining related sources of growth?

With the mining and resources sector making a comeback bolstering the pipeline of infrastructure projects, this panel of experts will explore what is in store for WA’s economy for 2019 and the years beyond.

Misha White, Manager – Research and Urban Economics, Colliers International (WA)
Josh Martin, Manager, Deloitte Access Economics
Rick Newnham, Chief Economist, Chamber of Commerce and Industry WA
Tanya Steinbeck, Chief Executive Officer, UDIA WA

16:00 - 16:20

Infrastructure requirements for Lithium Valley

• Special Economic Zones
• Trade in the Indian Ocean and the New Port in Kwinana.

Cameron Edwards, Director, InfraNomics

16:20 - 16:50

METRONET and What it Means for WA’s Future Transport Needs 

Populations of Australia’s big cities are growing at substantial rates while road congestion limits the reliance on car traffic for peak hour commuting. The heavy lifting of commuter traffic is provided by the city rail networks which rapidly reach their present capacity limits.

Maybe just in time to avoid future traffic gridlock, Australian governments have committed to an unprecedented investment in rail infrastructure and rolling stock. The keynote outlines and compares the approaches between Australia’s four biggest cities before looking in more detail at the METRONET transport programme in Greater Perth.

While METRONET may seem just a common branding for rail network extensions in Perth, the objective and potential impact of METRONET is much wider and more visionary. With the desirable bipartisan political support, METRONET could shape the future of transport in and around Western Australia’s capital for decades to come.

Dr Frank Heibel, Founder and Director, Doc Frank Rail Services

16:50 - 16:55

MC CLOSES

08:55 - 09:00

MC OPENS

09:00 - 09:30

The Future of Construction in a Connected Environment

This session will discuss the evolution and challenges of the construction industry and why connecting all stakeholders to project data will transform the construction industry.

Andrew Hill, MTWO Business Unit Lead, Cloud A2K

09:30 - 10:00

CCIWA’s WA’s Future in the Lithium Battery Value Chain Report

• What is WA's place in the value chain?
• Where are we best-placed to compete internationally?
• What does the global battery value chain look like and where's it heading?
• How can we ensure WA remains an attractive investment destination?

Chris Rodwell, Chief Executive Officer, Chamber of Commerce and Industry WA

10:00 - 10:30

Speed Networking Session

10:30 - 11:00

Regional Freight Planning for WA Agricultural Lands

• The Western Australian Regional Freight Transport Network Plan is a comprehensive and integrated strategic plan for all modes of freight transport across regional Western Australia.
• Focus on partnering with the private sector to deliver infrastructure
• Strategic infrastructure needs and investment priorities.

Catherine Wallace, Executive Director - Freight and Ports, Department of Transport WA

11:30 - 12:00

Importance of Design to Perth’s Built Environment

Achieving good design in infrastructure is a major policy challenge for governments around the world. While the benefits of good design are well documented – improving our sense of collective identity, quality of life and long-term prosperity – there is a common suspicion that it adds to cost and complexity. Improving the design quality of our infrastructure is not so much about how it looks but how it is coordinated with our broader needs and objectives – whether in urban planning, community development and responsible environmental management.  As our State continues to rapidly grow it is more important than ever to develop a clear, collective understanding of the value of good design and the contribution that ‘design thinking’ can make in creating the integrated and intelligent infrastructure of the future.

Geoff Warn, WA, Government Architect

12:00 - 12:20

Lithium Valley: How to Capitalize on the Battery Boom

• Why the world’s need for battery metals is growing exponentially
• How we can be the world centre for ‘ethically mined battery metals’
• What needs to be done to create Lithium Valley through more value added jobs.

Peter Newman AO, Professor of Sustainability, CUSP, Curtin University

12:20 - 12:50

Future Investment Opportunities in the Energy Sector in WA: The Importance of Good Policy 

In WA, energy policy is closely linked to the development of our resources sector, so getting the policy settings right in the energy area at both State and Federal levels to encourage new investment in power generation, is vital for our continued economic wellbeing. In the grid-connected south west, new sources of generation will be needed sooner rather than later as older fossil-fuel power plants are gradually retired. Newer and cleaner technologies using solar, wind and large-scale battery storage will play a role in meeting power capacity requirements, but flexible gas-fired generation in particular will continue to be important for some time to come. Governments at the State and Federal level must get the policy framework right to enable this transition, and as much as possible the policy should be bipartisan.

Richard Harris, Chairman, WA Independent Power Association

13:50 - 14:20

Pilbara Ports Authority 

Pilbara Ports Authority (PPA) is the world’s largest bulk export port authority. In 2017/18 PPA annual throughput was 699.3 million tonnes. This was achieved with 15,894 safe vessels movements.

In 2017/18 trade through PPA ports accounted for 50% of global seaborne iron ore exports and 7.5% of Global LNG exports.

Today’s presentation will cover:

1. Lumsden Point overview and status
2. Overview of other key PPA projects

Mark Kuzminski, Director - Finance, Pilbara Ports Authority

14:20 - 14:50

Social Licence to Operate in the Mining Sector

Social licence to Operate (SLO) refers to the ongoing acceptance and approval of a project, company or industry by its stakeholders. SLO is a significant issue for the mining industry, as a lack of community acceptance can cause delays to secure funding and government approvals and extra costs to projects.

• Exploring the origins of social licence to operate in the mining sector
• Regulatory Framework in Australia

William Witham, Chief Executive Officer, Australia – Africa Minerals & Energy Group

14:50 - 15:20

Demand And Supply of Construction Labour and Engineering Resources for WA Major Projects

• Presentation of demand, and supply analysis of construction labour and engineering resources for WA major projects
• 5 year look-ahead on skills demand and supply in Western Australia  
• Identification of which skills will be in short supply, where, when and by how many
• Labour dynamics and competition from projects in other states
• The impact of skills shortages on productivity, cost and schedule
• Potential strategies to address current, medium and longer term skills shortages

Peter Dyball, Principal & Founder, Pit Crew Management Consulting Services Pty Ltd