AHRI ACT State Conference
On 22 October 2025, nearly 250 HR professionals gathered in Canberra for the Australian HR Institute (AHRI) ACT State Conference under the theme Back to the Future for HR: Stewards of Trust, Respect and Belonging. The day offered a dynamic mix of insights, practical strategies and opportunities to connect.
The event commenced with a Welcome to Country from Bradley Bell, followed by opening remarks from AHRI ACT State President Paula Goodwin, AHRI Chief Executive Officer (CEO) Sarah McCann-Bartlett, and AHRI Board Member Jacqui Curtis PSM. Their messages encouraged attendees to embrace networking, share experiences and prepare for the evolving future of HR - an approach that resonated strongly, with one attendee sharing they thoroughly enjoyed networking and meeting new HR peers.
Carrie Leeson, CEO of Lifeline Canberra, set the tone with a keynote on psychosocial safety and wellbeing. She explored the distinction between psychological safety and psychosocial hazards, offering practical ways to identify risks and build clarity, connection, control and competence in workplaces. Her message reinforced the importance of early intervention and protecting HR professionals’ own wellbeing.
Mark Puncher followed with an engaging presentation on storytelling and authentic employer branding. He demonstrated how real conversations, and meaningful recognition can drive pride, connection and cultural change, and provided actionable steps for embedding storytelling into recruitment and onboarding.
The program also celebrated Warwick Graco’s remarkable achievement of 50 years of AHRI membership, a testament to lifelong commitment to the profession.
A Chief People Officer panel, hosted by Sarah Queenan, featured Alison Stott, Benjamin Morris, Professor Deborah Blackman and Mark Puncher. The panel explored integrity in practice, balancing compliance with curiosity, uplifting capability, and navigating complex integrity challenges within systems and leadership.
Dr Judy Lundy encouraged attendees to rethink diversity, equity and inclusion (DEI) in a shifting global context. Her session introduced a DEI Maturity Model, emphasising that inclusion is not a checklist, but a systemic, strategic approach informed by evidence and co-design principles.
Networking was another highlight, with a structured activity creating energy across the room as attendees shared experiences and built new connections.
Later in the day, Cecilia Jones facilitated a powerful panel on attracting, recruiting and retaining people with disability, featuring Wayne Herbert, Christina Ryan and Raffy Sgroi. The discussion addressed unconscious bias, invisible disability, and the importance of moving beyond policy to practice. Practical examples showed how changing organisational DNA and saying ‘yes’ to inclusion can unlock talent and innovation. One attendee shared that this session provided amazing insights on DEI through the lens of people with a disability.
The conference concluded with an inspiring keynote from Elizabeth Broderick AO on inclusive gender equality. She shared the Seven Switches Framework for designing workplaces that redistribute power and normalise flexibility, while warning of the fragility of progress and the rise of the ’manosphere.’ Her call to action was clear: deliberately design inclusivity and use data to drive change.
Professionally delivered and rich with insights, the conference reinforced HR’s role as a steward of trust, respect and belonging – moving beyond compliance to culture, and beyond policy to practice, with one attendee sharing that they gained inspiration from each speaker in different ways.
Paula Goodwin, AHRI ACT State President