First Nations business acquires Lendlease plant yard operations
All his life, Trevor Walker has been told to aim high. And you don’t get much higher than providing multimillion-dollar cranes to a number of Australia’s biggest developers for some of their most ambitious projects.
But there’s something very special about the cranes Indigenous leader Walker puts on the horizons of Sydney and Melbourne. Each one is a monument to his efforts to raise the skill levels of young Aboriginal people and provide them with a pathway into the high-earning opportunities of the commercial construction industry.
“We’ve often been absent from a number of industries in Australia and we think Aboriginal people should have a presence in each of those industries and sometimes be front and centre in them,” says Walker, managing director of The Murrina Group.
“So we set up our company with that in mind, and we’ve got so much work now. We have 14 big cranes, eight hoists and lots of ‘rats and mice’ that go with them, and we’re going absolutely gangbusters.”
The Murrina Group, headed by Walker, who’s worked for 30 years in social welfare, construction industry veteran Bernard Kelly and construction lawyer Kelvin Liew, has made history by acquiring Lendlease’s plant yard operations – cranes, yards, hoists and auxiliary equipment – across sites in Sydney and Melbourne.
As part of the deal, financed by NAB with what’s thought to be the biggest loan ever to a First Nations organisation, Murrina also inherited Lendlease’s contracts for two years, working mostly on commercial projects like hospitals, schools and infrastructure, with some residential too.
Lendlease Building managing director David Paterson says it’s been a very successful exercise. “We’ve achieved the best possible outcome on the divestment of our plant yard operation, completing a significant deal with a mature First Nations business,” he said.
“As an Elevate RAP [Reconciliation Action Plan] organisation, we have a very clear commitment to align our operational performance with providing social and economic growth and opportunity for Australia’s First Nations people.
“This really is an industry milestone that demonstrates market confidence in First Nations businesses and their breadth of capabilities, and represents an important step in supporting companies like The Murrina Group so they can continue to expand and diversify their service offerings.”
The Murrina Group, 60 per cent Aboriginal-owned, is now working on a vast portfolio of projects, including buildings at Barangaroo in Sydney and in the Melbourne CBD, as well as Nepean Hospital, the Alexandria Park Community School, and an arts centre in South Australia.
As well as the work itself, a major focus is on bringing Aboriginal young people on site to show them what work is like in the industry and train them in the skills needed – with one now training as a crane driver and another going to university to study architecture. Part of the revenue also goes to funding community and sporting projects for the Aboriginal community.
“We want to make a change on two levels – helping those in need with support programs and providing opportunities for the younger generation,” said Liew.
“When we were working on Nepean Hospital, we put in place a program where kids came onto the site and helped us and we provided them with a wage for the day. It helped them, but it also showed them what the possibilities are.”
Murrina Group general manager Kelly says he wanted to do something extra before he retired from the industry, and this was a great experience.
“We’re getting so much work because of companies’ social governance programs but, if we weren’t any good, we wouldn’t be getting that work,” he said. “It’s working out so well for everyone.”
