Attendees arriving in Sydney the night before the conference are welcome to join a shared pre-conference dinner.

Join us for the official opening of the First Annual Local Government Payroll Professionals Community Conference. Traditional acknowledgement, welcome remarks.

What might local government payroll look like in the future? What should we be thinking about now? How can we ensure we meet the needs of our future employees and legal obligations and what is the role of payroll anyway?

Presented by:

Gareth Moore-Jones, Community Futures Consultant has been involved in community development, recreation, open-space, and public health sectors for 40 years and has been CEO of NZ Recreation Assn, National Sport & Recreation Manager for NZ YMCA, interim CEO of Outdoors NZ, and as public health planner in the health sector which provided Gareth with evidence and passion for open-space and recreation as a core plank of community wellbeing.

Gareth brings significant futures and trends analysis expertise with a focus on how emerging trends and issues will impact the ways community recreates, congregates and communicates – where community happens.

Gareth has spoken nationally and internationally on recreation related topics including spontaneous urban activity spaces for youth, the future of the recreation industry and the opportunities provided by new technology and disruptive innovations. Gareth was a recipient of the ‘Mark Mitchell Memorial Award’ for ‘excellence and outstanding personal contribution to the wider industry’. Gareth is also an Accredited Recreation Professional (ARPro) and was recently inducted as a Fellow of Recreation Aotearoa. Gareth is also an inducted member of the Association of Professional Futurists.

Leave is a huge noise generator for any council, from ensuring obligations are met to managing policies and processes, to ensuring leave entitlements are understood and transparent. Learn what those obligations are and ways councils have simplified their management to make staff happier.

Presented by:

Toni Minovski – NSW Industrial Relations

Toni Minovski has 20-plus years of experience working at NSW Industrial Relations (NSW IR). With a strong background in communications, industrial relations and compliance, Toni plays a crucial role in ensuring that the agency works hard to ensure employers stay in line with the NSW Long Service Leave Act 1955.

As the Stakeholder Engagement Manager at NSW Industrial Relations, Toni is a trusted expert in the field of industrial relations and compliance, having presented to thousands of employers, employees and payroll specialists. Attendees of the conference can look forward to an enlightening session led by Toni, leaving them better equipped to meet their payroll obligations in accordance with relevant awards and legislation.

Payroll legal obligations and what they mean for your council – keep your managers and yourself off the naughty step

What will you and managers be responsible for around payroll under changes to legalisation and what systems and controls do you need in place to ensure your council obligations are met? Jake’s session will cover the legal and practical consequences of payroll non-compliance, and why establishing a wage compliance governance framework is the key to minimising the risk of this in 2024. 

Presented by

Jake Reddie – Senior Associate in the Sydney Office at global law firm HFW, who regularly advises on all aspects of the employment lifecycle and is an experienced litigator and advocate in industrial tribunals. Jake’s particular area of interest and expertise is payroll compliance, including the interpretation of and compliance with industrial legislation and industrial instruments. Jake has extensive experience in advising clients on payroll reconciliation projects and in assisting clients with liaising with the Fair Work Ombudsman in relation to investigations, and self-reported underpayments.

Another true-life story from a council about how they shifted to ensure managers and team leaders have accountability for records of work and the lessons they learned.

Presented by

Shireen Donaldson – Director Economic & Organisational Development from Griffith City Council will talk about how her council introduced accountability and transparency into different levels of her organisation.

As they say, the only things you can be sure of in life are payroll and single-touch payroll. Learn about local government tax and reporting requirements, where things often go wrong, and what you can put in place to stop issues before they start. Including an opportunity to ask a real-life auditor everything you ever wanted.

Presented by:

Prosperity

Alex Hardy is an award-winning auditor and Director at the Prosperity Advisers Group, a “Top 40” Australian advisory firm approaching 200 professionals and experience working with over 50 local government entities.

With 18 years of experience auditing and advising the local government sector across NSW, QLD, and Europe, Alex has been recognised as an IIA Global Emerging Leader and ‘Auditor of the Year’ at the inaugural Young Leaders in Finance Awards. As a Certified Internal Auditor, he is passionate about helping clients manage risk and improve performance. Alex also acts as an Audit Service Provider to the Audit Office of NSW conducting external audit engagements in the local government sector.

Charles Yuan has over 12 years of experience in public practice, specialising in business and tax advisory for both Australian and international clients across a wide range of industries.

Prior to joining Prosperity, Charles was a manager in the tax division of a big 4 firm working closely with multinational corporations and large private clients. His recent experience in the local government sector includes specialist advisory assignments on fringe benefits tax resulting in optimised tax outcomes and establishing internal processes to manage employer tax obligations.

The gaps between finance, payroll, and HR and how to bridge them

Do you have processes that don’t really have an owner but everyone thinks do? From sensitive leave to costing to plant to workforce reporting. A big issue with gaps is that things fall through them, and when they fall they create noise. Council staff are awesome at dealing with issues, so sometimes the extent of the gaps can be hidden. What frameworks exist to help identify and bridge the gaps, and how much more awesome can life be when processes have owners?

Presented by:

James Ross, a process management expert and CEO of ProcessPro with over 15 years of process management experience. James spent years helping organisations around the world use software to develop fit for purpose processes to add value. Eventually he got so inspired by his desire to drive improvement that he went and created his own process software company.

What blurred lines are and lessons on how to remove them

It is easy to talk about process gaps but how do you actually address them? Join a panel on real-life view points and challenges from people that actually know working in HR, finance, payroll and project management.

Presented by:

Carina Congdon – Acting Manager People, Culture & Safety from Yorke Peninsula Council, Rachel Satara –
Payroll & HR Support Officer from Wollondilly Shire Council and Julie Papalia – Payroll Manager from Griffith City Council. 

Empowering your council to succeed through change

Building blocks to change, how to implement and empower your organisation to change without specialist resources, tips and tricks to evolving your council using payroll as a foundation for change. This session will expand your knowledge of change management and give you some practical ways to kick start changes in your workplace. Through five simple steps, you will experience how change starts and what it takes to make it stick.

Presented by:

Jacqui Burford, Manager – KPMG Enterprise is a change management enthusiast who has learned from experience the importance and power of communicating and engaging with others to achieve successful outcomes.

Jacqui’s experience involves working with local government, water utilities, not-for-profits and health organisations. She has developed strategies, roadmaps and toolkits to help those organisations put people first when implementing large and small changes. Jacqui takes a practical approach to managing change and uses her understanding of psychology to strengthen her work. 

Attendees travelling back on Friday can join for a breakfast with community members to review the conference and outline community plans for the coming six months. Users of elementTIME can attend a user session on recent functionality and new services and offers. .