CCF Regional Chapter Forum - Geelong

Event Host: Annie Kessell
Client Services Officer – West, CCF Victoria

Guest Speakers:

Peter Gillham
Senior Contestestable Work Advisor – Contestable Works Team
VEDN Committee Representative Citipower Pty Ltd & Powercor Australia Ltd

Peter Gillham has more than 40 years’ experience in the electrical distribution industry in both the corporate and private sectors. For the last 30 years he has been involved in asset inspection together with technical standards procedures involving all aspects of electrical safety and project compliance to meet legislative requirements.

Peter remains passionate about ensuring safety and reliability on the electrical distribution network.  He is keen to share his perspective in his current role of Senior Contestable Works Advisor on the Powercor Contestable Works Team.

His presentation will aim to increase the understanding of the importance of protecting yourself and your employees from incidents on the electrical distribution network by practicable examples… some which may shock you.

You will get a chance to reminisce about love, discuss your favourite thing to do in morning (although some prefer to do this in the evening) and think about what would happen if you were hit fifty times a second by a force far greater than Muhammad Ali in this sometimes graphic presentation which may not be what you expect.

Chris Walker
Acting Regional Director – West Operations & Emergency Management
WorkSafe Victoria

Chris has been with WorkSafe Victoria for 6+ years originally starting as an Inspector in Geelong office which at the time was located in Yarra Street prior to the current Head Office moving to Geelong.  Chris is currently the Acting Regional Director Operations for the West Region overseeing Inspector operations in offices Geelong, Ballarat, Bendigo. Mildura and Warrnambool.  Chris’s substantive role is the Group Leader for the Geelong inspectorate.

Prior to WorkSafe Chris has a background within the construction sector and held roles including civil supervisor and structural, mechanical and piping supervisor (SMP) with a major focus in industrial construction working both EPC and EPCM for various contractors in both Victoria and Western Australia. He has worked fly in fly out for 7 years during his career.  Chris also has experience working within hazardous industries shutdown work in the oil and gas sector including Major Hazard Facilities Shell, Woodside Energy, Viva and the Maersk drilling jack up platform Kan Tan IV.

Chris is local to the Geelong area having grown up in Lara and continues to resides locally.  He is passionate about engaging with local community and business providing practical advice and guidance on best practice and compliance to employers to assist with meeting their occupational health and safety obligations.

Eddy Kontelj
Managing Director – William Adams Pty Ltd

Employing greater than 600 people, William Adams supplies CAT products and services to the Construction, Mining, Quarrying, Agricultural, On-Highway Trucks and Marine industries in Victoria and Tasmania. It also services and supports operations and efforts in Antarctica.

Eddy Kontelj commenced his career with William Adams in 1999 as a Service Technician and has held numerous positions since then. He has been employed as a Service Coordinator, Service Supervisor, Product Sales Support Representative, Territory Manager (Sales) – Western Victoria, Branch Manager – Savage River Mine, Business Improvement Manager, Operations Manager – Laverton and Western Victoria and General Manager – Product Support.

Since 2010 Eddy has served the Geelong community as an elected Councillor with the City of Greater Geelong Council. During this time, he held the portfolios for Aboriginal Affairs, Multicultural Affairs, Finance, Transport & Connections, Environment and Veteran Affairs, and most recent Osborne House and the Arts, Live Entertainment & Hospitality portfolio. Eddy is currently a member of the Geelong Major Events Committee.

Scott Cavanagh
Enterprise Project Delivery Manager – Barwon Water

Prior to joining Barwon Water, Scott has held senior management and executive roles in Local Government at 6 municipalities over a 20 year period, interspersed with private consulting roles. Throughout his career Scott has had a strong focus on infrastructure development, project management, environmental management, waste management, planning and in regulatory control. With a strong focus on values based leadership he is known for leading teams with a strong cultural alignment, diversity and a next practice focus.

Since joining Barwon Water, Scott and his team have led the successful delivery of more than $50 million capital works projects including the region-wide sewer and water mains replacement program, West Gellibrand Reservoir Upgrade and the Bellbrae Primary School water and sewerage upgrade.

Throughout his career he has also successfully managed large capital works programs and his project highlights include the delivery of the Geelong Library & Heritage Centre, Geelong’s Floating Christmas Tree, Warrnambool’s Smarter Parking System, and it’s City Centre Renewal and Pedestrianisation Project. He was also the coordinator and spokesperson for the Princes Highway West Action Alliance in 2018.

Barwon Water’s priority is to strengthen the economic, social, cultural and environmental prosperity of its region through the delivery of sustainable, affordable, innovative and reliable water and sewerage services.

Using this customer feedback we have developed our draft 2023 Price Submission for the coming five years (starting in July 2023). Key highlights of the proposed five-year plan include:

• Average residential homeowners and business customer bills will not increase, other than annual adjustments made in relation to Consumer Price Index (CPI)
• Increasing our customer support program to $4.8 million to help customers in need
• Investing more than $400 million to repair and upgrade infrastructure, cater for our growing region and support greater use of recycled water
• Investing more than $27 million to improve the environment and waterway health, deliver emission-reduction and renewable electricity projects, and implementation of smart networks and digital metering at key locations
• Pursuing improvement initiatives such as our Regional Renewable Organics Network, which will help reduce the amount of waste sent to landfill and create clean renewable energy
• Unlocking recreational, social and environmental opportunities through our Bellarine Basin and Porronggitj Karrong projects

We look forward to sharing more information on our proposed five year plan!

COVID19 – EVENT ATTENDANCE DISCLAIMER

In light of the current global pandemic situation, CCF Victoria has taken preventative measures in order to ensure the safety of our delegates, partners and members of staff thus reducing the risk of spreading the virus. As such, and to be able to attend our event, we will require for you to adhere to the following measures:

• Do not attend if you are displaying signs/symptoms of COVID-19 (these typically include fever, cough, and shortness of breath).
• Upon arrival you will need to present a confirmation of your vaccination status.
• You are required to wear a mask in confined areas (e.g. lifts).
• There are hand sanitising stations around the building. Please use these regularly.
• You are certain that you have not been exposed to someone with a suspected and/or confirmed case of COVID-19.

We will continue to monitor the situation and official updates on government guidance with respect to Covid-19 and as a result, please bear in mind that our event may be affected by this and could be postponed or cancelled.