ANZSCO recognition another step in the CPPA journey

Since the Closure Planning Practitioners Association (CPPA) was established in 2017, one of our long-term aims has been to have our profession listed under the Australian and New Zealand Standard Classification of Occupations (ANZSCO).

As some of you may be aware, this now looks likely to take place later this year. Under proposed changes to ANZSCO – published in June and set to be ratified in December - closure planner would be listed as a specialisation under the environmental consultant category.

This is a significant milestone for the CPPA, one that involved a large amount of work behind the scenes and of which we should be rightly proud. Our Committee is incredibly grateful to the members who have supported us and lent their time, knowledge and experience to achieving the ANZSCO listing.

However, it should also be noted that this listing is only one step along the pathway to something bigger.

The longer-term goal remains for closure planning to be listed as a standalone occupation, in line with the breadth of skills required to perform one of the mining industry’s most important roles.

While some aspects of closure planning fit under environmental consultancy, our profession is clearly much broader than that and we will continue to strive to see it recognised as such.

With this in mind, I encourage all CPPA members to consider listing closure planner as their occupation in the 2026 Census and following editions. We should all also get into the practice of nominating closure planner as our occupation whenever asked, remembering that your job title and occupation are different concepts. Please also consider spreading the word: while our membership is strong and increasing all the time, I am sure there are closure planners working in industry who are not currently members of the CPPA.

The more that official Australian government data reflects an established cohort of closure planners and growth in our ranks, the better the chances of standalone recognition.

The ANZSCO listing offers a good opportunity to reflect on the CPPA’s progress on its stated purpose of raising the level of proficiency and competency of closure planning practitioners through building a professional development framework.

Over the past year, we have implemented the first iteration of our mentoring program, which has met with pleasing support from the membership. The “speed” mentoring trialled late last year was highly successful and has clear scope for expansion to include more members (as both mentors and mentees) and longer-term and specialised arrangements.

Meanwhile, the 2024 AGM saw the endorsement of the CPPA’s first Code of Ethics. This is a key part of the establishment of our profession and will help guide professional and behavioural standards among the CPPA membership.

We also continue groundwork towards the development of a pathway of clearly identified processes for people to be certified as closure planners – potentially even one day as a post-graduate course at universities. This is a long-term goal but one on which we are currently collaborating closely on with a range of stakeholders.

There are no shortcuts in building awareness and understanding of closure planning. Somewhat like our profession, it requires a strategic, detailed, well-documented and patient approach, along with an ability to work well with a variety of other parties.

The CPPA Committee is fully committed to this task and we hope the ANSZCO listing provides further evidence of that.