2022 was a big year for Standards Australia, while there were many highlights, chief amongst them was the celebration of our Centenary, critical improvements to our processes and systems, and implementing better offerings for our customers.

In 2023, Standards Australia will continue to execute against its strategic plan, building on strong foundations. Our transformation journey will continue at pace, with our contributors and users of standards remaining the primary focus.
While there is still some post-pandemic uncertainty in Australian and global markets, Standards Australia is determined to remain ambitious in the coming year.

We will continue to find new pathways and solutions to meet the needs of different sectors. We will roll out new models to improve access to standards. And we will build greater awareness about our purpose and value in the wider community.
One of the highlights for 2023 will be the ISO Annual Meeting in Brisbane in September, which Standards Australia is hosting. This event is an opportunity to showcase our expertise and leadership in standards development and should attract leading thinkers in the field.

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Undoubtedly, there will be challenges in the coming year. In meeting those challenges we must adapt and innovate, but never lose sight of our vision - to be a global leader in trusted solutions that improve life, today and tomorrow.
To do that, we must continue to be responsive to the needs of our stakeholders, contributors and the wider Australian community, continuing to develop standards that meet national and global needs.

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To our members, contributors, stakeholders and staff, thank you for your enduring commitment over 2022. I look forward to working with you to achieve great things in 2023.

— Adrian O'Connell, Chief Executive

Are you a committee member and want to improve your knowledge of standards development? Then make sure to join us at our in-person drafting workshop in your state.This workshop is an excellent opportunity to expand your standards knowledge, develop skills and connect with other members of the Australian standards community. Limited spots are available so get in quick.

• Melbourne: 22nd March | Barclay, QT Melbourne, 101 Collins Street
• Brisbane 23rd March | Cliftons Brisbane, 24/288 Edward Street
• Sydney: 9th May | Standards Australia HQ, 20 Bridge Street

Click here to register for upcoming sessions.

Can't attend in person? Register for a virtual session instead: Principles of Drafting and Drafting Rules via Academy!

Bootcamp is back! We’re running our Bootcamp program on 14 March. It is a free 2.5-hour course to run beginners through essential knowledge on standards. Places are strictly limited. Level up your knowledge today - learn more and register here.

We’re looking to expand our development models to allow new and emerging industries to work within the standards environment, as well as helping us work better in cross-sectoral areas of activity. To make this happen, we’re proposing changes to various Standardisation Guides. Click here to learn more.

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Standards Australia committee members - Murray Teale and Jan Begg - have been recognised for their long-standing service, as they retire from their various technical committees. Learn more about their contributions here.

Standards Australia committee members - Murray Teale and Jan Begg - have been recognised for their long-standing service, as they retire from their various technical committees. Learn more about their contributions here.

Standards Australia has released the recently revised AS5732:2022 standard designed to improve safety and efficiency for technicians maintaining Australia’s existing electric vehicle fleet. Read more in our web release.

AS 27701 specifies the requirements for and provides guidance to establishing, implementing, maintaining and continually improving a privacy information management system (PIMS). Read this article, originally published in LexisNexis Privacy Law Bulletin Vol 19 No 05, to find out more.

Standards Australia represents Australia on the two major international standards development bodies, the International Organization for Standardization (ISO) and the International Electrotechnical Commission (IEC). Our activities are reported on our International Updates page.

Click here to view our highlights from February (PDF):

• Preparations for 2023 Governance Meetings underway
• Opportunity to review ISO Guide 82:2019 (Ed 2) Guidelines for addressing sustainability in standards
• IEC publishes implementation guidelines for city service continuity

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Access the latest standards development news in your industry sector via our Sectors page.

Peter Ryan chairs Standards Australia committee IT-031, Modelling and Simulation, and is a member of several Smart Cities committees. He is the Australian delegate for ISO/IEC JTC 1/SC24 (Computer graphics, image processing and environmental data representation) and leads the Working Group. With his colleague, Richard Watson, the co-founder of Ryan Watson Consulting, he helps clients make better use of new technologies and the transition to ‘smart cities’.

‍When did you first become involved in standards development?

‍I first became involved in standards while working in Defence on Navy projects in the 1990s. I was a Research Scientist with the Defence Science and Technology Group for over 30 years. My education was in Maths and Physics at Melbourne University. I have also lived and worked in the US, UK, and also Japan during my academic and Defence careers. I am now a consultant with a small company working in Big Data and Smart Cities.

It was critical that new Australian Navy simulation systems be designed to be interoperable with Allied systems, in particular the US systems to enable joint training in synthetic environments. In 2004, Standards Australia created a new committee, IT-031, Modelling and Simulation, and I was invited to join because of my interest in standards. I became Chair of IT-031 several years later.

The IT-031 committee has developed a Modelling and Simulation Handbook that is now in its third edition. The first edition focussed on defence / engineering standards, the second edition included the role of simulation in education and training, while the third edition incorporates healthcare simulation.

IT-031 is mirror to SC 24 within the international ISO/IEC JTC1 committee. SC 24 focusses on environmental representation, graphics, and image processing. Standards developed by SC 24 include X3D web graphics and the underlying principles for Mixed and Augmented Reality.

SC 24 has expanded in recent years to create new working groups and I am now Convenor for WG 10 Representation and Visualization of Information for Systems Integration.

I am also a member of the  JT-001 and IT-268 committees.

‍How do standards impact and interact with your industry?

‍Standards are critical for defence.

Australia needs defence operational and training systems that are compliant with international standards so that the Australian Defence Force can train and operate with other defence forces. This includes compliance at the material level (e.g. common fuel for aircraft), information level (common communication protocols for equipment), and procedural level (common understanding of behaviours and tactics).

The alternative would be to have systems and practices that do not interoperate, and this would be unworkable in a military operation where there is no time for learning new approaches. Our aircraft, ships and land forces are most likely to operate with allies in any conceivable conflict. For example, if common platforms are used, our forces can easily use equipment such as aircraft and tanks that are owned and operated by our allies.

‍Why is access to standards important?

‍Without standards the world would be in chaos. This would particularly apply to defence. These standards must also be readily accessible. Whereas previously Defence used its own standards or those established by close allies (such as the US Mil-Spec series, UK DefStans, or NATO STANAGs), the trend in militaries is to use readily available open standards from organisations such as ISO. This facilitates industry involvement in defence projects.

‍What is the future of standardisation in your area of work?

‍WG 10 in SC 24 addresses areas that combine standards from all the working groups. This group has developed a guidance document for representing and visualising smart cities.

Currently WG 10 is developing a foundational standard for the Metaverse, an evolution of the Internet that will provide an immersive virtual world facilitated by virtual and augmented reality. The Metaverse is attracting considerable interest from industry and standards will be essential to enable its vision to become a reality. I suspect the Metaverse standards will be a major component of SC 24’s work program over the next few years.

Standards Australia represents Australia on the two major international standards development bodies, the International Organization for Standardization (ISO) and the International Electrotechnical Commission (IEC). Our activities are reported on our International Updates page.

Click here to view our highlights from February (PDF):

• Preparations for 2023 Governance Meetings underway

• Opportunity to review ISO Guide 82:2019 (Ed 2) Guidelines for addressing sustainability in standards

• IEC publishes implementation guidelines for city service continuity

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Access the latest standards development news in your industry sector via our Sectors page.

The public comment process provides an opportunity for stakeholders and members of the public to make valuable contributions. With the launch of our new public comment platform, draft standards currently open for comment are now available via Connect.

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