Examples of national submissions include:

• Our Federal Pre Budget – submission paper lodged with Treasury and sent to relevant Ministers and multiple submissions to the Architects Accreditation Council of Australia Australian Building Codes Board. 2021 has been an active year for submission to both the AACA and the ABCB.
• The Institute has played a key role in shaping NSCA 2021 and delivering even stronger competencies on sustainability and the Australian construction sector’s first ever First Nations competency standard for any built environment profession or occupation.

The Institute has also responded extensively to the Australian Building Codes Board to:  

• the National Registration Framework – a central piece of national guidance to the states and territories about practitioner registration, 
• the five yearly review of the National Construction Code that will deliver NCC 2022, and  
• the ABCB’s proposed framework of CPD for all regulated practitioners

State submissions: 

State submissions are delivered often in the context of state budgets and elections. These have provided an opportunity make important requests to government in respect of relevant expenditure outlays, and also to request reviews and re-regulation that impacts architects and the built and natural environments. 

• As building reform continues at different rates across the states and territories seminal work has been carried out in the major initial submissions – especially those in Victoria and NSW and the detailed implementation such as design declarations in NSW which will likely be adopted in other states and territories.  
• In Victoria, in 2021, the Institute has partnered with universities, the Association of Architectural Schools Australasia and the Australian Deans of Built Environment and Design to protect the registration of Architects. 

The advocacy work that occurs around these submission results in the Institute meeting with politicians and public servant of government as well as having a seat at the table of government consultations, parliamentary inquiries, Royal Commissions, and advisory and reference groups and panels. While members including Chapter Presidents are the spokespersons and representatives, they are positioned to do so by the Policy and Advocacy Unit who has coordinated this with government and briefed and prepared members.  

Submissions are prepared as a partnership between the Policy and Advocacy Unit with matter experts from across the Institute’s membership. We often engaged members in submissions via one or more committees or invitation to all members. The submissions are drafted by Policy and Advocacy Unit’s staff – a multidisciplinary team of highly experienced and qualified professionals with career backgrounds in architecture, policy analysis, advocacy strategy, research and various professions’ membership organisations. Submissions are then subject to a process of peer review with invited members who often have assisted the initial draft formulation. Any member, new or longstanding is eligible to be involved in this process. 

In 2021 the Institute continued to engage on behalf of members with Federal and state governments on Covid-19. Some of this has occurred around stimulus spending. However, in more immediate risk terms, the Policy  

and Advocacy Unit have supported each of the Chapters to negotiate critical lockdown settings for architects – to enable members to keep working as far as practicable and to ensure prioritised access in some states to vaccine programs for the construction sector. We have developed a stream of continuous need-to-know information via member alerts as well as webpage updates and our social media feeds.  

The Policy and Advocacy Unit have published detailed supply chain analysis report including various lead and lag indicators at: https://www.architecture.com.au/archives/news_media_articles/supply-chain-report-september-2021 

National Committees  

Some of the lead work of the Institute’s public policy positioning – for the betterment of all Australians and the built environment – is undertaken through national committee that report to National Council.  

These include:  

• First Nations Advisory Working Group  
• Climate Action and Sustainability Taskforce (CAST)  
• National Practice Committee  
• National Heritage Committee  
• Gender Equity Committee  
• National Education Committee  

Importantly, most of these committees also connect directly to their Chapter (state or territory counterparts so that we have an aligned national approach to many issues, while allowing for local regulatory and market conditions.

Longer term strategic projects.  

• Procurement – as 2021 comes to a close the launch of the Code of Novation, the national novation survey report and a draft deed of novation is being scheduled for early 2022. In 2021 the Policy and Advocacy Unit gained additional endorsement by the NSW Architects Registration Board of the Institute’s EOI and RFT Guidelines. The Policy and Advocacy Unit have also published architect and client-side templates that accompany the EOI and RFT guidelines. 
• Housing Supply – The Policy and Advocacy Unit is working with the National Housing and Finance Investment Corporation to develop an Architectural Index as a lead indicator for future housing supply.  
• Insurance and risk – The Institute’s Policy and Advocacy Unit have been working with the Australian Construction Industry Forum to develop and conduct a nation-wide survey looking at professional indemnity insurance and disproportionate risk allocation in consultancy agreements.