Australia Business Forum

1. Peter Robinson, Industry Director (Water), AECOM, and President, Australian Water Association
2. Dan McCarthy, President & CEO, B&V Water
3. Minoru Kikuoka, Global Head (Membranes), Nitto Denko, and Chairman & CEO, Hydranautics
4. Dr John Messenger, Global Sector Leader (Water), Sinclair Knight Merz
5. Tim O’Hearn, Executive General Manager (Water), UGL Infrastructure

Ross is the Chair of the Global Water Research Coalition Board and a Board Member of WaterAid Australia. He has a Diploma of Horticultural Science, a Bachelor of Applied Science, an MBA and a Graduate Diploma in Natural Resources Law from the University of Melbourne

Melbourne Water is owned by the Victorian Government. It manages Melbourne's water supply catchments, removes and treats most of Melbourne's sewage, and manages rivers and creeks and major drainage systems throughout the Port Phillip and Westernport region.

Melbourne’s Water Future
In response to a dramatic drop in reservoir inflows over the past 12 years combined with a significant population growth, Melbourne has had to invest heavily in major water supply and sewerage augmentations. Melbourne Water’s capital program increased from $227M in 2006/07 to $1087M in 2008/09. However, this “bow wave” of major capital works will reduce to less than $500M next year and in future years there will be a range of smaller less capital intensive projects as the planning for Melbourne leans more towards “water sensitive” city development.

As Chief Operating Officer he is responsible for the day to day operations of the Corporation and provides high level strategic advice and support to the Chief Executive Officer and is responsible for an operating budget in the order of $800M, with annual capital expenditure projected to be $1B in 2008 and annual reviews in the order of $1.5B.

Business Opportunities in Western Australia
Western Australia is resource rich and is a key driver of Australia’s thriving economy. Oil, gas, iron ore and gold deposits are in abundance across the State. There is currently more than A$100 Billion worth of resource projects being considered over the next few years. These projects will lead to numerous opportunities for infrastructure developers. Outside of these developments the Water Corporation provides water and wastewater services across Western Australia. The Corporation has a very large capital investment program (A$1 Billion per year) to develop infrastructure for its growing cities and industrial developments over the next 10 years. There are numerous opportunities for companies to work with the Corporation to deliver future infrastructure projects.

Professor Doepel holds degrees from Murdoch University, The Melbourne College of Divinity and Boston University.

Peter is an experienced Project Director and Project Manager having worked within numerous alternative project delivery mechanisms including D&C, EPCM, DBFO or PPP, and Alliance contracts within the Australian water and wastewater sectors. Peter has been at the forefront of commercial negotiations as Company representative leading multidisciplinary teams across legal, regulatory, technical, financial and commercial aspects of contract considerations. Peter is also National President of the Australian Water Association (AWA) which is Australia’s preeminent member based not for profit professional water industry body in Australia. He has held many positions in AWA ranging from various committee positions including Victorian State Branch President through to Company Director and current President. His two year role as AWA National President completes in May 2011.

AECOM
AECOM is a global provider of technical services which operates in all infrastructure sectors including Water, Transport, Environment, Buildings, Power and Mining. With greater than 46,000 employees globally, Gross Revenues beyond US$6.1B, and operations in more than 100 Countries AECOM is ranked by ENR as No 2 in its Top 500 Engineering Design Firms list. In Australia, AECOM has over 3500 employees and has provided key design services on major water and wastewater infrastructure such as Goldfields Superpipe in Victoria, Sydney and Melbourne Desalination plants, and the Toowoomba Pipeline in Queensland.

In 2006 McCarthy led Black & Veatch’s re-entry into the Australian water market. The team there worked on the Bundamba Advanced Water Treatment Plant, which formed an integral part of the AUS$2.5 billion Western Corridor Recycled Water Project. The project relied heavily on the Integrated Global Workforce and received wide global and regional acclaim. Other Australian projects include major upgrades of three wastewater treatment plants as part of the W2W Alliance in Perth and the tertiary upgrade of the Eastern Treatment Plant in Melbourne. McCarthy is an adviser for the Singapore International Water Week, serves on the WateReuse Association Board of Directors and chairs the Water Environment Federation’s Global Water Strategies Council.

Black & Veatch
Since 1915 Black & Veatch has been a leading global engineering, consulting and construction company specializing in infrastructure development in energy, water, telecommunications, management consulting, federal and environmental markets. The company’s history of working in Australia began in the early 1900’s. Recent major undertakings include the design and construction of the Bundamba Advanced Water Treatment Plant, a component of the Queensland Government’s Western Corridor Recycled Water Project, the largest recycled water scheme in the Southern Hemisphere; a major upgrade of three wastewater treatment plants as part of the W2W Alliance in Perth; and the tertiary upgrade of the Eastern Treatment Plant in Melbourne.

www.awa.asn.au/