Fostering reconciliation on the Bruce Highway Upgrade C2SIW project
The jointly funded $662.5 million ($530 million Australian Government: $132.5 million Queensland Government) Bruce Highway Upgrade: Caboolture-Bribie Island Road to Steve Irwin Way (Exit 163) project (C2SIW) involved widening 11 kilometres of the Bruce Highway from four to six lanes between Caboolture and Elimbah, north of Brisbane.
The Department of Transport and Main Roads (TMR) delivered the project, with Aurecon Australia Pty Ltd (Aurecon) acting as Contract Administrator.
Split into two construction contracts, ACCIONA Infrastructure Projects Australia Pty Ltd (ACCIONA) was the principal contractor for Contract 1 between Caboolture-Bribie Island Road and Pumicestone Road.
Under the Queensland Government Building and Construction Training Policy, the project was subject to minimum compliance requirements for engaging Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander businesses and workforce to generate positive economic opportunities and outcomes for Indigenous Australians.
Through careful planning and deliberate commitment from inception, the project not only met its minimum compliance requirements but exceeded them at every opportunity, while fostering a culturally appropriate and safe environment that was genuinely focused on reconciliation.
The project’s outstanding Indigenous participation outcomes included:
- 960% achievement of Indigenous employment hours (4,519 required, 43,407 achieved)
- 23 Indigenous personnel engaged in varying roles including as engineers, foremen, labourers, plant operators, traffic controllers, landscapers and site administrators
- 10 Indigenous trainees employed full-time on the project
- 207% achievement of Indigenous-owned business supplier spend ($3,012,912.46 required, $6,238,800.61 achieved)
- 9 majority Indigenous-owned businesses engaged on the project.
The project team took the time to identify genuine opportunities to participate, educate, upskill and engage with Indigenous Australians, including employees, trainees, subcontractors and suppliers.
Through this process, the following opportunities were identified to appoint majority Indigenous-owned businesses to undertake more than $6 million of the project’s significant work, including:
- Multhana Property Services – $2.4m landscaping works
- Maunder Civil Contracting Pty Ltd – $2.5m drainage works and wet plant hire (with ACCIONA assisting them to become Supply Nation certified)
- McKay Water Carts and Street Sweepers – +$300k plant hire
- Dreampath Recruitment – +$200k trainee and labour hire solutions
- Danda Property Pty Ltd – $800k FRP concrete works.
Delving deeper into the supply chain, the team identified other opportunities for majority Indigenous-owned businesses to become involved with the project, including:
- switching the project’s office supplies account to an Indigenous-owned supplier
- purchasing commercial and industrial supplies such as PPE, signage and safety supplies from an Indigenous-owned supplier
- engaging Indigenous catering for project functions
- engaging an Indigenous-owned legal services provider
- engaging the services of the Kabi Kabi Peoples Aboriginal Corporation.
Further expanding reconciliation efforts, the team nurtured a positive relationship with Traditional Owners, the Kabi Kabi First Nation People, undertaking Cultural Heritage and Awareness Training, engaging 15 Cultural Heritage Monitors and commissioning a unique Indigenous artwork, created by Kabi Kabi Elder, Melissa Bond, to display on project uniforms.
ACCIONA’s Indigenous participation achievements on the C2SIW project were recognised in 2022 at the Premier’s Queensland Reconciliation Awards, where the project was named one of four finalists across the State in the Partnerships category.
