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• ALERA 2025 National Conference

  • Start
    09 October 2025
  • End
    11 October 2025

  
  

  
  

  
  

  Exciting News: ALERA 2025 National Conference Heads to Brisbane!

  ALERA is excited to announce registrations are open for the 2025 National Conference. Join your IR colleagues in Brisbane for a standout line-up of leading voices in industrial relations, ready to share their expertise, fresh perspectives, and the latest developments shaping the field. Expect engaging discussions, interactive sessions, and plenty of opportunities to connect with professionals and leaders from across the sector.

  View our list of speakers here – with more to come!

  Program details here

  When: Thursday 9^th to Saturday 11^th October

  Where: The Star, Brisbane
  

  
  

  
  

  
  

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• Newcastle Branch | Annual Conference

  • When
    24 October 2025
  •  
    8:30 AM - 4:00 PM
  • Location
    Customs House, Newcastle
  • Spaces left
    30

  Register

  
  

  
  

  IRS Newcastle Branch

  Annual Conference

  Date: Friday 24 October 2025

  Time: 8.30am - 4.00pm

  Venue: Customs House, Newcastle

  The Road to 2030: IR in the age of AI, Climate Change, and Economic Uncertainty
  

  INTRODUCING OUR KEYNOTE SPEAKERS

  Michael McQueen, Futurist

  
  

  Michael McQueen understands what it takes to thrive in a rapidly evolving world.

  Recently ranked #12 among the world’s top futurists, Michael is widely recognized for having his finger on the pulse of change, helping clients ranging from Google to Toyota and Mastercard navigate uncertainty and stay ahead of the curve.

  A bestselling author of 10 books, Michael’s latest release was named by Malcolm Gladwell and Adam Grant as one of the top five must-read new leadership books. He is a sought-after media commentator, with his insights regularly featured in Forbes, The Guardian, and CNN.

  Having presented to over 500,000 people across five continents since 2004, Michael is a familiar face on the international conference circuit, sharing the stage with Bill Gates, Mel Robbins, and Apple co-founder Steve Wozniak.

  Formerly named Australia’s Keynote Speaker of the Year, Michael has also been inducted into the Professional Speakers Hall of Fame.

  
  

  Ali Kimmorley, Director of peoplefusion

  
  

  Ali has worked within the recruitment industry since 2001. Known for her ambition and natural ability to create connections, Ali greatly contributes to the success and history of the business, standing alongside life-long friend and colleague, Sally Bartley, in bringing peoplefusion to life since its inception in 2007.

  As a well-respected and accomplished Recruiter, Ali is an Accredited Professional Recruiter, a member of the industry body RCSA, and a Graduate of the Australian Institute of Company Directors (AICD). Ali has built entire divisional teams and supported the growth of organisations through the recruitment of highly specialised roles. Her success stems from an inquisitive nature and a genuine desire to understand both the organisation and the greater impact of the role being recruited. Ali prides herself on her ability to drive progressive and contemporary practices throughout businesses across the region.

  Ali demonstrates a passion like no other when it comes to delivering for clients, candidates, and communities, showing ongoing support by actively balancing partnerships with both business and community across the Newcastle & Hunter Valley Regions.

  Ali is deeply committed to actively supporting children’s charities, notably Camp Quality and Harry’s House, both of which sit very close to her heart. Ali loves to get into nature and take on physical challenges to support these charities having conquered the Kokoda Track twice, trekking Mount Kilimanjaro in Africa, the Sandakan Death Marches in Borneo, and crossed the Simpson Desert on foot! 

  
  

  Mayor Adam Shultz, Lake Macquarie City Council

  
  

  Mayor Shultz has served as a Labor Councillor on Lake Macquarie City Council since 2016 and previously as Deputy Mayor of Lake Macquarie.

  Born and bred local, having grown up in Warners Bay, he knows firsthand the issues families are facing and what they need from their council.

  Mayor Shultz is serving in his third term on Council and will use his experience in financial services, small business, public policy, politics, and as a local father to advocate for improved opportunities for the city.

  He is well qualified to serve as Mayor, having attended public schools throughout Lake Macquarie before completing his tertiary education at the University of Newcastle with degrees in Business and Commerce and a Masters of Public Policy from the University of Sydney. Mayor Shultz has also attained a Graduate Diploma in Applied Corporate Governance and Risk Management, a Diploma of Financial Services and is a Graduate of the Australian Institute of Company Directors (AICD).

  
  

  Ian Crowhurst – Head of Future Capability & Talent, Origin Energy

   

  Ian Crowhurst is a strategic HR leader with over two decades of experience in Learning, Development, and Talent across global and Australian enterprises. As Head of Future Capability & Talent at Origin Energy, Ian leads enterprise-wide initiatives that align people capability with strategic imperatives, enabling the organisation’s transition to net zero through innovative clean energy solutions and customer-centric transformation.

  A Fellow of both the Australian HR Institute and the Institute for Learning & Performance, Ian is known for his ability to drive measurable outcomes in complex, fast-paced environments. His leadership has been instrumental in delivering award-winning upskilling and re-skilling programs, transforming early careers and cultural learning initiatives, and enhancing learning systems and engagement across Origin’s workforce.

  Ian’s career spans senior roles at Coca-Cola Europacific Partners and Marks & Spencer PLC, where he led large-scale learning transformations across Europe and the UK. His expertise in digital, agile, and data-informed learning ecosystems has consistently delivered scalable, future-ready solutions that support commercial growth and competitive advantage.

  Recognised with multiple industry awards—including Learning Solution of the Year (2024) and Best Diversity & Inclusion Learning Initiative (2021)—Ian is a certified psychometrician and a trusted advisor to boards and executive teams. He holds advanced qualifications in HR, leadership, governance, and psychometrics, and continues to shape the future of workforce capability.

  
  

  Brent Ferguson - Head of National Workplace Relations Policy, Australian Industry Group and Legal Practitioner Director with Ai Group Workplace Lawyers

  

  Brent leads the Australian Industry Group’s advocacy the workplace relations sphere, which encompasses representations to governments, participation in inquiries, major cases, and various tripartite processes, and engagement with the media. 
   
  With over two decades of experience in advising and representing employers, Brent has been deeply involved in a raft of prominent workplace relations developments and reforms, including various changes to the Fair Work Act 2009 and other workplace relations laws, as well as significant test cases and major proceedings dealing with the setting and varying of modern award terms.  

  
  

  Stuart Richardson - General Manager, Net Zero Economy Authority

  
  

  Stuart Richardson is General Manager of the Worker Transition Branch at the Net Zero Economy Authority (NZEA). He is responsible for the Energy Industry Jobs Plan (EIJP),  a regulatory framework that can apply to closing coal-fired and gas-fired power stations and their supply chain businesses. It requires companies specified in a Fair Work Commission determination to provide transition supports to their employees to help them prepare for and transition to new employment. Prior to joining the NZEA he worked in a range of energy policy areas at the Department of Climate Change, Energy, the Environment and Water (DCCEEW) including gas, electricity and energy efficiency policy.

  
  

  More to be announced...

  
  

  BRONZE SPONSOR

  University of Newcastle - Newcastle Business School

  
  

  Newcastle Business School is the University of Newcastle’s centre for undergraduate, postgraduate, and community business education. Through student-centred, research-driven teaching, the School equips graduates with the skills and attributes to build sustainable, successful careers grounded in life-long learning.

  With a curriculum that is international in focus, Newcastle Business School prepares students to critically engage with the global economy and the societies in which they live and work.

  
  

  For any enquiries, please email newcastle@irsnsw.org.au

  *Booking terms and conditions apply

  

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• ALERA Unfair Dismissal Webinar - Termination of Employment: Why Choose Unfair Dismissal Over Other Options

  • When
    30 October 2025
  •  
    1:00 PM
  • Location
    Webinar

  Register

  
  

  ALERA, together with our State and Territory societies, is pleased to present the final National professional development masterclass in our Unfair Dismissal series.

  Join us for the fourth and final session: Termination of Employment: Why Choose Unfair Dismissal Over Other Options

  Speakers:

  Deputy President Bernadette O’Neill, Fair Work Commission

  
  

  Bernadette O’Neill was appointed a Deputy President of the Fair Work Commission (FWC) in October 2022, having been a Commissioner since April 2021. Prior to her appointment as a Member of the FWC, Bernadette had been the FWC General Manager since 2012. She has also held senior executive positions in the Commission and the Victorian Government in workplace relations along with extensive experience in private legal practice and the trade union movement. Bernadette holds a Bachelor of Laws degree, ANZSOG Executive Master in Public Administration and has been a Graduate of the Australian Institute of Company Directors. She was also appointed as the President of the Defence Force Remuneration Tribunal for a five year period commencing 20 July 2023. 

  Joel Zyngier, Gilchrist Connell

  
  

  Joel is the national head of Gilchrist Connell’s Workplace practice. He has extensive experience in workplace relations and safety law, and in 2012 was certified by the Law Institute of Victoria as an Accredited Specialist in Workplace Relations. Joel advises and represents employers and senior executives across all types of employment law matters. He also acts for employers and individuals in response to investigations and prosecutions by work health and safety regulators. However, notwithstanding his extensive experience as a Workplace lawyer, Joel’s most vigorous negotiation opponents to date remain his teenage daughters.

  Nick Wilson as MC

  
  

  Nick has significant workplace relations and compliance experience, having been a Commissioner in the Fair Work Commission for 12 years until May 2025, working across all types of Fair Work Act matters, collective and individual, private and public sector.  Before appointment to the Fair Work Commission he was a Commonwealth Agency Head for a decade, including as the first Fair Work Ombudsman, forming and leading Australia’s ground-breaking workplace information and compliance agency.  

  
  

  Hosted by:  Industrial Relations Society of Victoria (IRSV)

  This webinar will feature a live Q&A, giving members the chance to engage directly with leading experts in industrial relations.

  When: Thursday, 30 October 2025

  Where: Zoom Webinar (Online)

  Time: 1:00 – 2:00 PM (AEST)

  Cost: Complimentary for all IRS members nationally

            Non-members $40.00

  Secure your spot today!

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• IRSNSW 2025 AGM and Patron's Lunch

  • When
    06 November 2025
  •  
    12:00 PM - 3:00 PM
  • Location
    Members Dining Room NSW Parliament House
  • Spaces left
    62

  Register

  
  

  

  
  

  
  

  2025 AGM & Patron's Lunch THURSDAY 6 NOVEMBER 2025

  Members Dining Room Parliament House

  
  

  Program

  11.45am  IRSNSW AGM registration commences

  12.00pm  IRSNSW AGM commences

  12.45pm  Patron's Lunch commences

  3.00pm    Patron's Lunch concludes

  
  

  
  

  AGM

  Information for members about the AGM is available on the website at IRSNSW committee reports. We invite members to consider nominating for a committee position using the nomination form in the link by 4pm Thursday 30 October 2025. Please note, as this is a members only page, members will need to login to access this material.

  Attendance at the AGM only has no cost, a cost only applies if you are attending lunch.
  

  
  

  PATRON'S LUNCH  

  The AGM and Patron’s Lunch will feature a panel discussion with our Patron, Anna Booth (Australia’s Fair Work Ombudsman) and Justice Adam Hatcher (President of the Fair Work Commission), facilitated by IRSNSW President, Christa Lenard. 

  The panel will discuss the more inclusive, often tripartite, approaches being taken by the two Fair Work entities in carrying out their respective functions.

  
  

  SPEAKERS

  Anna Booth, Fair Work Ombudsman, and IRSNSW Patron

  

  Anna Booth was appointed as Fair Work Ombudsman in September 2023 for a 5-year term.

  She has extensive and diverse experience in industrial relations spanning more than 45 years, working with unions, private, and public sectors. Anna was most recently Director of CoSolve Pty Ltd. She returned to CoSolve in 2020 after serving as a Deputy President of the Fair Work Commission for 8 years. Before her appointment to the Fair Work Commission, Anna combined her CoSolve directorship with non-executive directorships of ME Bank and IFM and was the non-executive chair of Slater & Gordon Ltd.

  Anna spent much of her early career in the union movement. She was the National Secretary of the Textile, Clothing and Footwear Union of Australia and a Vice President of the Australian Council of Trade Unions.

  Anna has also been Vice President Corporate Affairs at Sydney Harbour Casino and a lecturer at the Macquarie Graduate School of Management and the Australian Institute of Management. She has served on the boards of Commonwealth Bank of Australia, the Sydney Organising Committee for the Olympic Games and NRMA Ltd.

  She is an accredited mediator under the National Mediator Accreditation System, and holds a Bachelor of Economics (Hons) from the University of Sydney.

  Anna is the current Patron of the Industrial Relations Society of NSW.

  
  

  The Hon Justice Adam Hatcher

  
  

  Justice Hatcher was appointed a Judge of the Federal Court of Australia on 9 February 2023 and President of the Fair Work Commission on 19 February 2023. Prior to this appointment, he was Vice President of the Commission from April 2013.

  He was admitted to the bar in 1997 and was appointed Senior Counsel in 2010, and was a member of HB Higgins Chambers in Sydney until his appointment to the Fair Work Commission.  As a barrister he specialised in industrial relations and employment law, occupational health and safety law, anti-discrimination law and administrative law.

  Prior to that, Justice Hatcher was Chief Legal Advisor with the NSW Branch of the Transport Workers’ Union.

  He graduated from the University of Sydney with degrees in Arts and Law and was admitted as a solicitor in 1987.

  He was employed as Legal Officer, then Chief Legal Advisor to the NSW Branch of the Transport Workers’ Union from 1988 until 1996.

  
  

  ENTRY TO PARLIAMENT HOUSE

  Entry to Parliament House is via the security gatehouse on Macquarie Street. Upon entry to security gatehouse, in addition to usual security screening processes, all visitors will need to check in via a QR Code via Service NSW app.

  
  

  
  

  • If you are not able to pay online at the time of booking and need to pay by EFT, your reservation cannot be confirmed until a copy of your payment receipt has been sent to membership@irsnsw.org.au.

  • Places are limited so please book early.  Bookings will close 30 October.

  • Members who book for the AGM only should note that lunch is not included in this option.

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• Meet the Commission and End of Year Member Drinks - Save the date

  • When
    13 November 2025
  • Location
    NSW IRC

  
  

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