As we near the end of the year, it’s natural to look back at what we’ve achieved together and the work our members, contributors, stakeholders and staff have delivered. Throughout the year, we’ve collaborated on many projects that aim to make standards more affordable and accessible, to better service the Australian community.

We saw a number of these projects recognised in November, particularly in the construction industry where we announced two important partnerships with the Housing Industry Association (HIA) and Master Builders Association NSW (MBA).

These partnerships see HIA and MBA NSW individually host and sell relevant Standards to their aligned small businesses.

These important agreements are a testament to the work of many across a number of months. They’re also examples of how we’ve continued to focus on achieving our promise to increase the reach and relevance of Standards Australia’s content in the Australian community under our Distribution and Licensing Policy Framework.

Further detail on both partnerships can be seen below.

In another form of partnership, a number of our Nominating Organisation Members volunteered their time to support our ongoing NEXTgen project.  

The NEXTgen program recognises emerging industry and technical experts and provides them with the opportunity to become involved in national and international standard processes. We invited the NEXTgen cohort to a panel to learn about Nominating Organisations’, and how participants maximise their contribution and influence. We thank our members for volunteering their time. The panel was a great success.

Finally, this week sees Standards Australia host our Annual General Meeting. In this meeting we'll meet with our valued members to discuss the year in review, what we've achieved together and what we hope to achieve in the future. I look forward to this meeting and welcome the collaboration between our members and team. Accessibility and collaboration will continue to be key priorities for Standards Australia, driving the work we’ll deliver together over the coming months.

— Adrian O'Connell, Chief Executive

Standards Australia has entered into a partnership with the Master Builders Association of NSW (MBA).

This partnership sees MBA NSW host and provide subscriptions to Standard Sets relevant to small businesses.

Standard Sets include a collection of standards relevant to industry. Offering real value, supporting a competitive pricing model, and facilitating better discoverability. The new agreement sees Standards Australia continue to achieve its promise to provide better access to Australian Standards™ under its Distribution and Licensing Policy Framework.

You can read more about the agreement and how to access the standards here.

This month, we announced that we’d entered into a new distribution agreement with the Housing Industry Association (HIA).

HIA will now host and offer paid access to relevant Australian standards on their website as part of this agreement.

This new distribution agreement aims to help increase essential Standards Australia’s content in the building sector.

You can read more about the agreement here.

In October, Standards Australia partnered with the Australian Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade to deliver a four-day series of digital summits and masterclasses.

‘Incubating Capacity for Critical and Emerging Technology Standards' focused on critical and emerging technologies in the ASEAN region.

You can see outputs and learnings from the event in our article here.

Standards Australia Technical Committee EL-042, Renewable Energy Power Supply Systems and Equipment, has recently published revised standard AS/NZS 5033:2021, Installation and safety requirements for photovoltaic (PV) arrays to ensure safeguards are in place.

The revision aims to provide clear and relevant guidance to support safe systems and safe practices for industry professionals and consumers.

Find out more here.

During November, participants of the 2021 NEXTgen program were invited to a panel interview with key members of Nominating Organisations (Nom Orgs). Facilitated by Kim Suter, the panel provided participants with insights into what it means to be a representative, how they can be appointed by a Nom Org, and what is expected of them.  

Attendees heard from:

• Annette Hoskins, Global Standardisation Manager, Essilor International.
• James Thomson, Senior Adviser Standards and Regulation with Ai Group. 

During the session, Annette and James discussed their Nom Orgs’ recruitment process including how they attracted new representatives, skills required, desired experience and how people can put their hands up to get involved.

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Social value measurement is currently used to inform government budgets, policy development and more.

Standards Australia is now seeking consultation on the draft Handbook SA HB 204, Measuring Social Value – guidance on approach and methodologies. An Australian first, the Handbook seeks to assist decision-makers in measuring social value impact.

Standards Australia and JAS-ANZ have entered into an agreement to appoint JAS-ANZ as the Australian Member Body for the IECRE Renewable Energy Conformity Assessment System.

This membership allows Australian businesses to gain acceptance as testing laboratories, certification bodies and inspection bodies in renewable energy and will position Australia on the global stage for skills and technology development.

Membership also allows Australia the opportunity to have full ownership of conformity assessment services that can be exported globally.

James is the chair of the Standards Australia IT-269 committee responsible for IEC Electrotechnical and Electrotechnology Smart City Systems.  He is also the IEC Smart City Systems Head of Delegation for Australia and convenor of a recently established international global advisory group that scans, tracks and maps the impact of technology and megatrends on cities as they transform to become smarter more sustainable cities.  

James has more than two decades of experience successfully leading service transformations in the UK, Europe and Australia. Examples include a secure guest Wi-Fi global service (eduroam), unified collaboration platforms, collaborative storage, cyber security and professional services.  In 2020, James founded Smart Footprints a carbon neutral consulting, advisory and managed services company bringing together Internet and Data expertise and applying this to Smart Sustainable Cities.

The aim being to develop and adopt “smart” standards that can meaningfully progress a much-needed transition in the way we work, rest and play in a sustainable way. James is an active volunteer with interests in extending smart city practices to be inclusive, especially to support the vulnerable such as the poor, homeless and refugees and in the use of technology and systems to accelerate the recovery of our natural environment for all living creatures for future generations.

‍When and why did you become involved in standards development?

‍I attended the first Smart Cities Committee meeting at Standards Australia’s offices in Sydney in 2019.  I was curious to know more about Smart cities because Australia is one of the most urbanised populations globally and had the opportunity to utilise smart technology and sustainability in new and innovative ways.  

The development of smart cities is complex one that started in the mid 2010’s. It involves multiple process and technology-based standards and requires considerable coordination.  The market is a moving target and involves three tiers of government, including many LGAs in a single city.  My involvement was to support the opportunity to make a positive difference to support community wellbeing, economic prosperity and corporate social responsibility outcomes and impacts.

‍How do standards impact and interact with your industry?

‍Smart Campuses in Higher Education are great examples of how universities transform to create a sustainable personalised student experience.  Unfortunately, when students step off campus, that experience is often degraded.  Cities and Universities can work together to accelerate efficient procurement practices with best practice governance, planning and implementation to secure expected benefits for the short and long term.  

‍Why is access to standards important?

‍Standards provide industry and start-up investment with certainty to scale new solutions and for consumers to have confidence in purchasing.  Standards also reduce duplication of effort and waste.  Smart Cities standards development is unique in bringing an ecosystem of representative experts to solve significant issues and exploit new opportunities nationally and globally.  Whether it is standardising digital twin, IoT and geospatial planning to sustainable building development and integrated building and digital service systems to interoperable privacy-controlled data to improve our lives, work and play.

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

‍Smart city standards need even greater coordination across standards bodies from the IEC, ISO, ITU and UN. They are growing in working group size and effort, leading to degrees of overlap.  Standards need a visionary narrative at the national level that goes beyond a technology or data niche.  Standards need to be more modular so that cities can plug practices together to be fit for purpose to their unique context, wants, needs and capabilities.  Standards will be less of an aspirational one size fits all, more so a playbook of practice built on an open, interoperable, secure and trusted data platform.  I hope that standards be less tech and more sustainable and human and community-centric as cities are defined ultimately by their people, security, needs, and wants.

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 November (PDF).

Upcoming info sessions include:

• Attending and Hosting International Meetings in 2022
• Heat Supply Network (HSN): New Field of Technical Activity
• Australia joins IEC Conformity Assessment Scheme for Renewable Energy

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To keep our catalogue contemporary and relevant, we are seeking feedback on a number of Aged Standards (documents over ten years old), belonging to inactive Technical Committees. Let us know if these standards are still used by your industry or community by Friday 17 December 2021.

Learn more on our Aged Standards Review 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 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.