The role of professional associations in influencing standards in the Australian building industry

This chapter examines the ethical and professional standards frameworks of three peak associations that represent various building industry professions in Australia: the Royal Institution of Chartered Surveyors (RICS), Engineers Australia (EA), and the Australian Institute of Landscape Architects (AILA). The chapter begins with a synthesis of the roles and responsibilities of RICS, EA, and AILA before discussing the various challenges they face, including competing regulatory and governance approaches, voluntary approaches to membership and accreditation, and balancing the interests of members, clients, consumers, and the public while fulfilling their stated functions. Professional associations play an important role in driving professionalism by fulfilling a range of self-regulatory and co-regulatory functions, including professional standard-setting via codes of conduct/ethics, providing education, training/accreditation, and membership benefits, engaging in advocacy and lobbying governments, and establishing disciplinary processes. However, the extent to which they can do this effectively depends on a range of interrelated factors, including the association's ability to enforce professional standards and promote ethical behaviour, the robustness of their regulatory, governance, and accountability frameworks, and how they manage to balance member, client, and industry interests with the broader commitment to protect the ‘public good’.