AGENDA
10:00am
Welcome to Country
10:05am
Welcome to HRFest Australia 2026!
10:10am
Blow the Blues Away
Grab a harmonica and dive headfirst into this high-energy collective reset. We’re turning a room full of beginners from bungled notes into a coordinated blues band in record time. It’s loud, it’s vibrant, and it’s the ultimate proof of what happens when an entire crowd genuinely finds their rhythm together.
Robert Arcari
Facilitator, Be Challenged
11:00am
Keynote Panel: Under Pressure – How Australia’s Top People Leaders Are Holding The Line
Leadership
Wage theft legislation. Psychosocial safety obligations. AI disruption. Economic headwinds. The pressure on Australia's people leaders has never been higher and the strategic decisions you make right now will define your function for years to come. In this unmissable opening panel, CHROs and CPOs from Australia's biggest organisations get candid about how they're navigating the friction. Walk away with the strategic moves, hard-won lessons and decisive calls that separate the people functions thriving under pressure from those falling behind.
Elisa Nerone
Chief People & Sustainability Officer, REA Group
11:35am
Becoming an Employer of Choice: Building a Workplace Worth Staying For
Talent
Brand prestige and basic salary bumps are no longer enough to win the fight for top talent in today’s hyper-flexible market. This session brings together leading companies to decode what it actually takes to build a magnetic employer brand, from radical trust and non-linear internal mobility to genuine capability-building.
12:05pm
Beyond Compliance - Steering Through Australia’s New Workplace Risks
Stay ahead of workplace law developments impacting employers. This session will cover Victoria’s proposed statutory right to work from home and new Psychological Health Regulations. It will also examine how the Federal Government’s Fair Work Act reforms are playing out in practice, with a focus on key areas of exposure for employers, including underpayments, and the emerging impact of AI in the workplace, to equip you with clear, actionable strategies to manage risk in an increasingly complex regulatory landscape.
Tamsin Lawrence
Associate Director, Australian Business Lawyers & Advisors
12:40pm
The Art of Persuasion: Spark Enthusiasm!
Leadership
Ever wish you knew how you and your team could command the room and present with real impact? In this hands-on workshop, NIDA Corporate Training brings stagecraft into the workplace to help even the most analytical minds find their voice, connect with any audience, and spark genuine enthusiasm. Through creative, practical techniques, you’ll learn how to turn presentations into moments of impact—and step into the presenter you’ve always wanted to be.
Sara Grenfell
Tutor, NIDA Corporate Training
1:05pm
Panel: Strategic Capability Uplift - Bridging the Leadership Gap
L&D
What does the next generation of leaders look like, today? This session breaks down the practical steps taken to transform a stagnant talent pipeline into high-impact leaders, demonstrating how to ensure your organisation is ready for future disruption. Gain insight on designing programs that drive measurable impact, engage senior leaders, and embed transformational learning in the organisation.
Meredith Crowe
Senior VP, Global People & Culture, Telix Pharmaceuticals
1:45pm
Panel: The Agentic Shift - From AI Tools to AI That Acts
Tech
Are you ready for the next wave of AI impact? Generative AI answered your questions. Agentic AI is now making decisions, executing workflows and operating autonomously across your HR function without waiting to be asked. This session cuts through the noise to show you where the technology actually is today, what Australian organisations are already doing with it, and what the rise of autonomous AI means for your people function heading into 2027.
Pritho Saxena
Director HR - China, Australia & South East Asia, Amazon
Dean Jackson
Director, Global Digital Employee Experience, Coca-Cola Europacific Partners
2:35pm
Panel: Presenting Your Case to the C-Suite - Translating People Strategy into ROI
Leadership
The C-suite doesn't speak HR metrics, they speak revenue, risk and growth. Yet most people leaders are still walking into the boardroom with engagement scores and headcount data, and walking out without the budget or mandate they need. This practical session gives you the specific commercial framing, storytelling techniques and financial language to translate your people strategy into business outcomes that land. Delivered by CPOs who have sat on both sides of the table, leave with a repeatable approach you can apply to your very next executive conversation.
Robert Tanti
Chief People and Corporate Affairs Officer, Opal
3:05pm
Closing keynote: Horsepower for connected teams - psychosocial safety to cultivate human engagement
Wellbeing
In this completely unmissable, interactive experience, Jess brings her horse to the main stage to look at team dynamics through a completely different lens. By tuning into the horse’s real-time biofeedback and natural response to the collective energy in the room, you’ll discover an unfiltered, honest look at how your leadership presence impacts those around you.
Jessica Cody
Director, Inner Rhythm
3:50pm
Prize Draw and Rising Star Awards
4:00pm
Networking Drinks
11:00am
Panel: The Psychosocial Blueprint - Moving from Compliance to Culture
Wellbeing
Is your wellbeing strategy a genuine safety net or just a legal shield? This session breaks down how to apply psychosocial safety directly into your organisational design rather than treating it as a final audit. We’ll move past the checkbox mindset to give you a clear roadmap for identifying psychosocial hazards and embedding real safety into your team’s daily work.
Carl Philips
Chief People Officer, Costa Group
Jo Cairns
Chief People Officer, Team Global Express
11:35am
Panel: Workforce Intelligence - Stop Guessing, Start Predicting
Tech
Most organisations are making workforce planning decisions based on last year's data and gut instinct. This session shows you how Australia's most forward-thinking HR functions are using AI and predictive analytics to map future skill gaps, build smarter succession pipelines and get ahead of talent risk before it becomes a crisis. Practical, specific and built around the data privacy and compliance guardrails that matter in the Australian context.
Seemali Shukla
People Leader - ANZ, HP
Sarah Novelli
Executive Director - People and Culture, BGIS
12:10pm
Panel: Wired Differently - The Neuroscience of Inclusive Leadership
Leadership
This session dives into the biological drivers of bias and belonging to show you what high performance really looks like when you stop guessing. We’re delivering the science-backed frameworks senior leaders need to lead neurodivergent talent and diverse squads by aligning your leadership style with how the human brain is actually wired.
1:15pm
Panel: The L&D Evolution - Stop Buying Talent. Start Building It.
L&D
With Australia's tight labour market, the "build vs. buy" equation has shifted to build, turning L&D into a critical business strategy pressured to deliver real capability uplift. Moving past passive, algorithm-driven e-learning, this session uses real-world examples to show you how to architect capability frameworks that stick.
1:50pm
Burnout to Balance - Identification, Recovery, Prevention
Wellbeing
Over 70% of Australian workers are currently experiencing burnout or burnout symptoms, and 40% of the increase in workplace psychological injury claims are directly linked to it. Everything we thought we knew about burnout is outdated. Not anymore. This session will cover the latest science, accurate measurement, and real strategies for recovery and prevention.
Mel Neil
CEO / Founder, The Institute of EI
2:15pm
Panel: The Overlooked Talent Pool - The Competitive Edge of Untapped Potential
Talent
In a talent-starved market, the best candidates are often the ones whose potential is hidden behind traditional credentials. This session explores how forward-thinking Australian companies are shifting toward skills-based hiring and promotion, prioritising actual capability over degrees. We will look at how this shift is driving the massive rise of "returnships" for professionals re-entering the workforce, and how you can rewire your recruitment strategy to turn these untapped, non-traditional talent pools into a distinct commercial advantage.
Louise Hope
Chief People Officer, Campbell Property Group
3:05pm
Panel: HR in the Driver’s Seat – Owning Your Career Progression
Emerging Leaders
HR leaders spend all their time architecting everyone else’s career paths—but who is piloting yours? As we rewrite the rules of HR, it’s time to step out of the passenger seat and strategically accelerate your own trajectory to the C-suite. We’re discussing how to build your commercial acumen, crush the "back-office" stigma, and unapologetically own your future.
11:00am
Panel: Influencing Up - How to Build a Business Case for CHRO Buy-In
Emerging Leaders
You know the idea is good. The challenge is making the budget-holder agree. For emerging HR leaders, the ability to build and present a compelling business case is one of the fastest ways to accelerate your career. This practical, hands-on session walks you through exactly how to structure your argument, speak the language of the decision-maker in the room, anticipate the objections before they're raised, and land the yes. Leave with a repeatable framework you can apply to your very next proposal.
11:35am
Empathy Lab - A Hands-On Journey into Accessible Design
DEI
Step out of your comfort zone and into someone else's digital reality. In this high-impact, hands-on workshop, we’re stripping away the theory to experience firsthand what happens when platforms aren't built for everyone. You’ll navigate the digital world through the lens of diverse abilities, walking away with a raw, unfiltered understanding of the barriers we need to break to build a truly inclusive future.
12:10pm
LIVE DEBATE: Generalist vs. Specialist: Structuring HR for a High-Risk Era
Leadership
With recent high-profile underpayment scandals at major employers shining a harsh spotlight on compliance failures, the stakes for how you structure your people function have never been higher. Has the HR generalist model worn too thin and is a return to deep, functional expertise the only way to manage today's high-stakes regulatory landscape?
In this rapid-fire Speed Debating session, two teams face off to argue both sides of this organisational divide. Each team gets just 10 minutes—three speakers, two minutes each, and one closing statement. Then it’s over to the audience to decide the winner using our clapometer. No roving mics, no lengthy talk, just bold ideas, fast opinions, and festival-style fun.
1:10pm
Colour Your Way Back to Clarity through Soul Pattern
Wellbeing
Join us for this one-of-a-kind session with Soul Pattern, part science, part creative reset, entirely unlike anything else on the programme. Using colour and creative flow, you'll learn how to regulate your nervous system, shake off the flat-out feeling and walk away with a practical tool you can use the moment things get overwhelming.
Alejandra Sieder
Founder, Soul Pattern
1:55pm
From Stability to Performance: Building Future‑Ready Leaders and Workforce Mobility That Delivers
Many organisations are entering a period of leadership stability, creating a rare opportunity to shift from short-term reaction to sustained performance. Yet execution is still falling short and workforce capability isn’t keeping pace with change.In this practical session, explore what’s driving the gap between strategy and delivery, and how to strengthen leadership capability, unlock career mobility through reskilling and redeployment, and build the mindset needed for a more agile, future-ready workforce.
James Mcilvena
SVP, Managing Director Australia, New Zealand + Singapore, LHH
Nithya Ramaswamy
Solutions Director, LHH
2:25pm
Is your focus on KPIs killing your culture?
Talent
A provocative rethink of performance: why KPIs are quietly failing your people and your culture. This workshop challenges the obsession with outputs and introduces a more human, strategic model—one that prioritises strengths, behaviours, and capability growth to unlock real performance, deeper engagement, and sustainable impact beyond the numbers.
Lisa Kelliher
CEO, BeChallenged
2:50pm
The Science of Sound: Regulating the Post-AI Nervous System
Wellbeing
This live, participatory session strips the mysticism away from sound meditation to look at the hard science of stress. Experience a collective nervous system reset while discovering exactly how contemplative sound practices rewrite the brain.
Dr Gemma Perry
Psychological Scientist and Yoga Teacher
3:20pm
Panel: Own the Room - Building the Reputation and Presence to Get Noticed
Emerging Leaders
Looking to build your presence and reputation? This practical session breaks down what genuine executive presence looks like in action, how to own your point of view in high-stakes conversations, and how to build the kind of internal reputation that opens doors. Leave with a clear strategy on how to be seen, heard and taken seriously at every level.
11:00am
Panel: The Human Cost of Moving Fast - When Tech Transformation Leaves People Behind
Tech
The upskilling programs are running and the change management playbooks are out and yet a significant chunk of the Australian workforce are anxious that their role won’t exist in five years. This session moves past "bringing people on the journey" to ask the harder question: what do you actually owe your workforce when transformation genuinely threatens their livelihood? Hear how Australia's most honest people leaders are navigating the gap between the pace of change and the human capacity to keep up.
Kate Hickman
Chief People Officer, InfoExchange
11:30am
Panel: Breaking Point – Managing the Surge of Workplace Mental Health Claims
Wellbeing
Psychological injury claims are skyrocketing across Australia, pushing team resilience and corporate safety nets to an absolute tipping point. We’re bringing together a leading insurer, HR leader, and a medical professional for a deep dive into this issue and how to tackle this crisis head-on. Walk away with a clear understanding of where your organisation's exposure actually lies, what early intervention looks like in practice, and the specific steps you can take to get ahead of claims before they escalate.
12:35pm
Keynote: AI-Powered Productivity for HR - Mastering AI to 10x Your Impact
Tech
We’ve been sold the dream: AI will save us time, boost productivity, maybe even think for us. In reality, most of us are still flailing, typing vague prompts and hoping for brilliance. For HR leaders, the stakes are higher. You’re juggling requests, emotional labour, compliance, and constant “quick favour” messages. AI shouldn’t be another thing on your plate – it should give you time, focus, and energy back, helping you work wisely and protect yourself and your teams from burnout. Dr Amantha Imber (organisational psychologist, founder of Inventium.ai, and 2025 AI Consultant of the Year) isn’t here to talk at you about technology. She’s here to talk about you: how your brain works, where you’re stuck, and how to partner with AI to design better workflows, reduce overload, and free you up for the deep, human HR work that matters.
Dr Amantha Imber
Organisational Psychologist and Founder, Inventium
1:15pm
Real-World Lessons in Wage Compliance: From Payroll Risk to Workforce Trust
With the stakes higher than ever under Australia’s new wage theft legislation, this session draws on real-world case studies and emerging industry trends to reveal how leading organisations are proactively managing wage compliance risk to strengthen governance, protect their reputation, and build workforce trust.
Rob Dryden
COO, Wagesafe
1:35pm
Fireside Chat: Real Talk – What Actually Drives Engagement?
Talent
Let’s be honest – traditional engagement strategies are failing. Join this unfiltered deep dive into what it actually takes to build a culture that sticks when half your team isn't in the office. With disengagement at an all-time high and connection fracturing by the day, keeping pace with an evolving workforce requires a radical shift in strategy.
2:35pm
Spotlight: The Benefits Reset - How Digital-First Perks Are Redefining Your EVP
It's time to change how we approach our benefits strategy. This session looks at how to leverage digital-first solutions to attract and retain digital-native talent. We'll cover the latest innovations in AI-powered car benefit technology and real-world case studies quantifying the impact of digital-first transformation on cost-of-living relief and workforce engagement, plus a clear blueprint for using modernised benefits to build a distinct, long-term competitive advantage.
Greg Parkes
CEO, Auto-UX
2:55pm
Fireside Chat: Leading with Conviction When There’s No Right Answer
Leadership
Leadership is most difficult when there is no clear answer. This candid session focuses on leadership presence, earning trust, and managing the psychological safety of a team through geopolitical and technological disruption. Hear from an executive trailblazer on how to anchor your decision-making when the ground is constantly shifting, balance commercial pressure with empathy, and navigate challenges with greater clarity.