Plumbing Connection Spring 2016

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8 PLUMBING CONNECTION SPRING 2016
EDITORIAL
THE REGULATORY
PUZZLE
‘It’s like a jungle sometimes; it
makes me wonder how I keep from
goin’ under...’
For those unaware, these lyrics
were penned by Grandmaster Flash
for his song The Message.
It was released in 1982; three years
before I was born (don’t hate me). And
it perfectly explains how I feel when I
think about the regulatory framework,
divisions, codes, standards and
regulations that govern this great
industry.
I admit that I’m still new to it
all, having only been immersed in
plumbing for three years; however,
it remains a mine field that I hastily
traverse my way through each
time I am confronted by a question
pertaining to regulation.
It seems I’m not the only one
though, which, while it should, doesn’t
exactly comfort me. In fact, it makes
me feel worse about it all. Some of the
people who yearn for clarity and share
in my pain have been in the plumbing
game for decades. And that speaks
volumes in my opinion.
Our cover story aims to unravel the
mess that is the regulatory framework
of this industry and while my name is
on the story, I can assure you, it took
a lot of collaboration and answers to
questions to try and simplify it all for
you.
With that in mind, I’d like to thank
those who helped with the story and
I hope it provides some clarification
for you.
In my humble opinion, the easier
rules are to understand, and the more
accessible standards and the like
become, the better off we will all be.
PLUMBING SUPPLY FORUM
An initiative of Plumbing Connection
Magazine, in conjunction with
Plumbing Products Industry Group
(PPIG), the 2016 Plumbing Supply
Forum was the biggest yet with close
to 150 delegates in attendance.
Attendees ranged from local ‘on the
tool’ plumbers to key decision makers
and the reoccurring message that
came out of the forum, in my opinion,
was the need to further clarify the
rules and regulations that govern this
industry, and to make things easier to
access and understand. That explains
the decision to run this edition’s cover
story.
Speakers were carefully selected
based on their knowledge and
expertise and one of the highlights of
the day was the open panel discussion
whereby the audience could ask
decision makers some of the
‘hard’ questions pertaining to their
businesses and industry as a whole.
We would like to thank those who
attended and encourage more readers
to jump on board at the next event in
2018.
FEEDBACK
Being stuck behind a computer
most of the week doesn’t allow me to
get out in the field as much as I’d like
so if you have any ideas or think we
need to explore any issues further,
please send an email to
and we’ll
see what we can do.
Enjoy the read
MANAGING DIRECTOR
Jeff Patchell
GENERAL MANAGER
Jeremy Sweet
EDITOR
Justin Felix
EDITOR – ACROSS THE TRADES
Jacob Harris
STAFF WRITERS
Jacob Harris, Joe Young
GRAPHIC DESIGNER
Sam Elliott
PRODUCTION
Gail Dwyer, Liz Todorova
CONTRIBUTORS
John Fennell, Jon Palfrey, Russ Dunne,
Cecelia Haddad, Peter Jackson, Dr Terry Lucke
ADVERTISING 1800 063 371
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Published by:
Connection Magazines Pty Ltd
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Mulgrave, VIC 3170
AUSTRALIA
ISSN 1839-2237
Disclaimer: The opinions expressed in this magazine
do not necessarily reflect those of the publisher.
Although all materials are checked for accuracy, no
liability is assumed by the publisher for any losses
due to the use of material in this magazine. Copyright
2016 by Connection Magazines. All rights reserved.
No part of this publication may be reproduced, stored
in a retrieval system or transmitted in any form or by
any means (electronic, mechanical, photocopying,
recording or otherwise) without the prior permission of
Connection Magazines. Justin Felix