Last week, we hosted our 2024 LGP Annual Conference at Doltone House, Darling Island, Pyrmont, with over 250 delegates attending to explore the theme of creating a ripple and then riding the wave.
We thank Brendan Kerin from the Metropolitan Local Aboriginal Land Council for conducting our Welcome to Country. For the first time ever, we were honoured to have the NSW Minster for Local Government, the Honourable Ron Hoenig, deliver an address. The Minister celebrated the vital role of Local Government in New South Wales and acknowledged the invaluable role played by procurement professionals in council.
Our opening keynote speaker Dr Diane McGrath had just returned to Australia after spending 11 months at sea competing in the 2023-24 Clipper Round the World Yacht Race. Her journey raised awareness for ocean conservation, and her message focused on resilience, courage, and taking small steps today to protect our oceans for tomorrow.
Across the two days the conference covered a range of important topics including change management, measuring success, Disaster Response, Modern Slavery. Delegates participated in a series of insightful case studies and mini-workshops, offering practical takeaways that can be immediately put into practice. We were also fortunate to have two of our LGP Board Members, Cr Phyllis Miller OAM and Coretta Bessi, share their knowledge and wisdom with the audience.
One of the key highlights of the conference is recognizing excellence in procurement at our Awards Dinner. We are proud to announce the 2024 award winners:
- 2024 Outstanding Procurement Professional of the Year: Lana Axford, Penrith City Council
- 2024 Procurement Project of the Year: Inner West Council
- 2024 New Procurement Professional of the Year: Anne-Marie Bird, Muswellbrook Shire Council
- 2024 LGP Approved Contractor of the Year: State Asphalt Services
At LGP, we also value our people, and at the Awards Dinner, we took the opportunity to recognize the dedication and loyalty of our staff members:
- 5 years of service: Jerram Fairclough, Candice Galvez
- 15 years of service: Ayesha Huq, Marija Nedanovski
We sincerely thank all our sponsors supporting the 2024 Annual Conference; Telstra as our Platinum Sponsor, Blackwoods as our Gold Sponsors, and then Lake Corporate and Forge Solutions as our Silver Sponsors.
While we are mentioning our Platinum Sponsor in Telstra, during their presentation at our conference we heard the news that Telstra and LGP will partner in a new initiative for 2025. The Innovation Development Fund will provide co-funding support with councils across NSW to deliver innovative projects in the digital environment and technology sector.
Another initiative we have been working on for a while, in December we will launch our new NSW Local Government Indigenous Procurement Marketplace on VendorPanel. This eagerly awaited new strategy will provide a supported environment for councils to engage certified and LGP-endorsed indigenous enterprises across a wide variety of categories. In the coming weeks we will be sharing more about this new list in VendorPanel, when we are launching this new capability and what to expect.
Moving on to our 2024 Rebate Scheme. Recently we were very pleased to advise participating councils, ROCs and JOs of their FY23 LGP Rebate payments where LGP proudly distributed $1.2m. Since inception this rebate scheme has invested over $14m into the NSW local government sector.
October was a great month of engagement and sector support for LGP, we appreciate the support from all our councils and suppliers.
Thank you.