A new registration scheme for professional engineers

Have your say about a proposed mandatory registration scheme for professional engineers in South Australia.

What's being decided?

We are proposing a new registration scheme to ensure that engineers:

• are suitably qualified and experienced, and
• undertake continuing professional development to maintain their registration.

The scheme would initially apply to engineers in the building and construction industry and expand to cover other areas of engineering. Your feedback will help to shape a draft Bill to be considered by the SA Parliament.

Background

There is currently no requirement for engineers in South Australia to be registered or have particular qualifications in order to deliver services. This presents a risk for people who engage engineers and the public. There have been some high-profile cases of substandard design and construction relating to engineering work, particularly involving apartment towers across Australia, which have highlighted the need for greater regulation. A national review of the building and construction industry also recommended that all states and territories implement a mandatory registration scheme for engineers in the building and construction sector.

Mandatory registration would strengthen consumer protections by providing the public with more information about engineers and giving regulators the capacity to act where conduct has not met required standards.

Consumer and Business Services (CBS) has considered matters raised during recent consultation with professional engineers’ associations in South Australia and has also considered the engineer registration schemes operating in other jurisdictions.

CBS has prepared a discussion paper to consult with the engineering industry and the public about the proposed registration scheme for South Australia.

Get involved

Find out more by reading the Discussion Paper - Registration of Engineers.

To have your say about the proposed registration scheme for professional engineers:

• take our short survey
• email a submission to: CBSReforms@sa.gov.au
• post your written submission to:

Regulatory Services - Reform
Consumer and Business Services
GPO Box 1719
ADELAIDE SA 5001

Please note that we may make submissions (including name and address details) publicly available. If you do not wish for this to happen, mark your submission ‘Confidential - Not for Publication’ and provide your reasons for this.

Please be aware that unless you make a request for confidentiality, we may refer to or publish the information contained in your submission. Any material identified as ‘confidential’ is still subject to the Freedom of Information Act 1991 and, while we will make efforts to keep the material confidential, in some circumstances we might disclose it under that Act. Where disclosure of information may identify you, we will attempt to consult with you under the Freedom of Information Act 1991 before the documents are disclosed.

What are the next steps?

We will consider your feedback and provide a report to the Minister for Consumer and Business Affairs in the last quarter of 2023. We will publish a feedback summary on this website.

We will use your feedback to prepare a draft Bill for consideration by the South Australian Parliament.