National Inquiry Into Planning Education and Employment

The first National Inquiry into Planning Education and Employment, completed in 2004 by the Planning Institute of Australia with support from all state and territory planning departments, responded to serious concerns about the shortage of planners, their workplace environments and their professional training.  The Inquiry found serious labour-market deficiencies, concerns that planners were not always able to access appropriate training, and widespread acknowledgement that most planners experience unacceptable stress in the workplace.

The Inquiry proposed a range of recommendations to address the full range of employment, workplace and professional development issues.

The implementation of the Inquiry’s findings is being undertaken by a PIA established National Planning Education and Employment Committee with input and support from state and territory planning departments, local governments, universities, private sector employers and the Planning Institute of Australia.

In October 2005, the PIA National Planning Education and Employment finalized its work, with most of the Inquiry recommendations either well underway or completed.  The Inquiry recommendations will now be normalized into PIA core business and overseen by relevant national committees.

This Inquiry is supported by the following organisations:

Department of Infrastructure, Planning and Natural Resources – New South Wales
Department of Sustainability and Environment – Victoria
Department of Transport and Urban Planning – South Australia
Western Australian Planning Commission
ACT Planning and Land Authority
Department of Local Government, Planning, Sport and Recreation – Queensland
Curtin University of Technology
University of New South Wales
The University of Sydney

Report

• Click here for a copy of the final report  
• Click here for a summary of the report 
• Click here for a copy of the national questionnaire of planning employers 

Presentations/Media

• Shortage of planners and planning education – articles from the Australian Financial Review 31st October 2005
  Variety for Young Achievers
  Going begging - good jobs well paid
  Uni's & Industry share blame for shortage
• Report to Australian and New Zealand Association of Planning Schools  presented by Liz de Chastel, Policy Co-ordinator, Adelaide, October 2005
• Submission to the House of Representatives Joint Standing Committee on Migration, Canberra, 24 June 2005
• ‘Planning Professionals.  Are they Certifiable?’ - Di Jay outlines Certified Practising Planner (CPP). Melbourne, 20 April 2005
• ‘Planners for Tomorrow’ - Sue Holliday launches CPP at PIA National Congress , Melbourne 19 April 2005
• ‘Certification for Planners Launched at Congress’ – CPP Media Release, Melbourne 19 April 2005
• 'Balancing Work and Family'. Submission to the House of Representatives Inquiry, Canberra, 26 April 2005
• "Employment: Increasing Participation in Paid Work". Submission to the House of Representatives Inquiry- presented by Hon. Kevin Andrews, Canberra, 6 April 2005
• “Planners for the Future – Issues for Local Governments“ – presentation by Sue Holliday, Chair of the Inquiry, to the National Local Government Assembly, Canberra November 2004

• “The Challenge of being a Planner Today” – presentation by Sue Holliday, Chair of the Inquiry, to the Qld State Planning Conference, Cairns July 2004
  

Key Initiatives

• Terms of Reference and Membership - National Planning Education and Employment Committee established to oversee the Implementation 
• General Progress Report, May 2005
• Proposed Mentoring Program
• Planning Assistants - training opportunities 
• Certified Practicing Planner (CPP)
• Innovative Employment Practices - Case studies of innovative employment practices to address planner shortages
• Information for Overseas Planners wishing to work in Australia

What’s happening in other States/Territories of relevance to the Inquiry’s findings

Victoria

• “Survey of Planners in Local Government in Rural and Regional Victoria” PIA Victorian Division, June 2004
• Information on Planning Assistant Traineeships in Local Government  - (Department of Victorian Communities in association with PIA and others) - an initative to find jobs for young people and to assist the skill shortage of urban and regional planners.
• Workforce Planning in Local Government (2006) – Discussion Paper prepared by Municipal Association of Victoria.  This paper canvasses workforce issues, including the shortage of planners and refers to the work undertaken by PIA Victoria Division to address the shortage.
• Rural Council offering planning scholarship (2006) – Mildura Rural City Council is providing $5000/year to train a local resident in town planning with guaranteed employment.
• “Planning Bank” – an initiative of the Municipal Association of Victoria in association with the Victorian Government (2006) – This service will link up councils with contractors willing to provide urban and regional town planning and statutory planning skills, particularly to regional and rural municipalities.
• Cadetships and Traineeships Project Report
  The Planning Assistant Training Program and the Provincial Victoria Local Government Internship program are two strategies under the Managing Growth in Regional Communities Government Initiative that sets out to address a regional planning skills shortage.   The Planning Institute of Australia Victoria Division has administered these projects in conjunction with LaTrobe University Bendigo and with the support of the State Government.   This is a report of the project.  (March 2008)

South Australia

• Helping the Planning Profession in South Australia, Addressing Workplace problems in Planning. (April 2005) - report prepared by PIA South Australia Division
• Report on Planning Skills Retention and Development in Local Government, Local Government Association of South Australia (Feb 2003)

New South Wales

• The NSW Planning Profession: Looking forward (Nov 2006) – Report to the Minister for Planning
• Local Government Skills Shortages Scholarship Program (Oct 2006) – the NSW Government is offering scholarships for councils to apply for financial support for students studying to become qualified town planners
• Survey of Skill Shortages in NSW Local Government (August 2005) – report prepared for Department of Local Government – The survey of Local Governments found that “Planning” experiences the greatest skills shortages in NSW Local Government.  The report includes strategies to overcome the shortages.
• NSW Standing Committee on State Development - Inquiry into Skills Shortages in Rural and Regional NSW - submission by the NSW PIA Division (August 2005).

Australian Capital Territory

• Observations by the ACT Government on the impact of planner shortages and overseas migration issues (September 2005) - Page 8 and 14 are the most relevant pages.

Western Australia

• Survey by the Western Australian Local Government Association  found that planners were the most difficult occupation to recruit in WA Local Government and also the occupation that had the highest level of use of consultants because of the inability to recruit staff.

Queensland

• Urban and Regional Planners – Skill shortages in Qld (2006) – Article in the Courier Mail which identifies Urban and Regional Planners as one of the occupations with a skill shortage
• What is Planning? (2006) – information about a career in planning; prepared by Griffith University and PIA Qld Division

Tasmania

• New resource to help in campaign to alleviate council staff shortages (2006) - An information kit prepared for prospective council employees by the Local Government Association of Tasmania to help relieve the widespread shortage of skilled municipal staff.

General

• National Skills Shortage Strategy for Local Government (May 2007) – report prepared by the Local Government Managers Association which recommends strategies for addressing skill shortages in Local Government
• General labour market information for urban and regional planners is available from the Australian Government’s Careers site