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Our support team have each shown their enthusiasm to assist with a successful result with this initiative. Each individual has taken time out of their own business and contributed enormous time and effort to champion this project. We commend them for their effort and express sincere gratitude for thier contribution to outstanding results.
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Senator Kate Lundy has represented the Autralian Capital Territory in the Senate in the Australian Federal Parliment as a member of the Australian Labour Party since 1996.
"When I was 16, I left college to enter the workforce as a labourer in the building and construction industry. My job was removing asbestos from buildings. This established my continuing concern for workplace health and safety. My political awareness grew on the job and I became a workplace delegate for the Building Workers Industrial Union (later to become the Construction, Forestry, Mining and Energy Union; CFMEU)."
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Written by Senator Kate Lundy 28th Arpil 2010.
Last Friday I had the privilege of participating in the launch of the Buildmore Women into Building Housing Showcase at the Sunshine Coast in Queensland. This groundbreaking construction project boasted an all female work force on the site from start to finish, a fantastic achievement. |
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| Qld Labor Senator Claire Moore, a renowned campaigner for equality for women was also there to celebrate the success of the project.
First of all I want to congratulate Sam Sheppard, director of Buildmore for her initiative: as a successful builder in her own right, Sam provided the leadership and resources to see the project through to completion. Supported by a fantastic team at Buildmore, the energy efficient house in Sippy Downs is a beautiful design that captures breezes and maximises natural light.
At the launch, just about everyone who worked on the site came along to share in the celebration for the housing project that has made history. For a number of the ladies, it was a reunion as much as a celebration and it made me realise just how important the opportunity to participate in the project had been for many of them.
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| Having come from the construction industry, I know how rare the opportunity to work with other women is, so to have a showcase project firmly places every participant in the history books of construction in Australia. It was fitting that the Executive Director of the Masters Builders Graham Cuthbert was there to begin the formal proceedings. The MBA were strong supporters of the project and I would like to see them take up the initiative in other states and territories.
There is still an ongoing skills shortage across building trades so encouraging girls and women to make the construction industry their career will build capacity in the sector. This is an important economic issue for Australia: the capacity constraint as a result of the skills shortage limits growth at a time when we need a steady stream of activity to stabilise our economy.
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| With the number of women in the building trades sitting at a single digit percentile in the trades, the National Association of Women in Construction (NAWIC) have an ongoing important role to advocate for women in the industry and promote the career for girls. http://www.nawic.com.au/.
Radmila Desic, a national director of NAWIC was at the launch to acknowledge the significance of the project too. NAWIC have been behind it from the start and Rad herself was the recipient of the International Women’s Day inaugural National Advancement for Women in the Workplace Award in 2010, an achievement that recognises her personal commitment to the cause.
http://www.leadershipforwomen.com.au/Press%20Releases/2010%20AWWA.htm |
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| Rudi Schneider from Construction and Property Services Industry Skills Council (CPSISC) http://www.cpsisc.com.au/ explained the significance of the project to the future of the construction industry: the photo and video documentary created from start to finish will provide inspirational images to the next generation of girls through their education and career counselling while still at school.
It was bluntly acknowledged that it was hard to promote construction careers to girls if all the images were of males! Well, that problem is now solved and from concreters to painters, from fencers to brickies, there images are there to be shared.
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| To help spread the word, the Buildmore group also have a website and blog to promote a first-hand conversation about the experience. The website has everything you need to know abut the project including the array of supporting organisations who all played a role along the way. It was great to see the local members of parliament at federal and state level support the launch as well!
In Sam’s address at the launch, she particularly acknowledged the support received from the local and national media. It was wonderful and A Current Affair made sure the project had nation-wide coverage. I have no doubt that Sam’s charisma and persistence was a key factor in garnering the wonderful publicity the project received, not to mention the enthusiastic goodwill by the workforce to cope with the media attention!
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| Finally to Sam and all the ladies, thank you for the opportunity to be Patron of your wonderful project. I am extremely proud to be associated with it and believe that through your efforts, many more women will find the inspiration and challenges of a career in building and construction. |
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