LGP News CEO Item – October 2025
Each year, Local Government Procurement proudly participates in Steptember, raising awareness and vital funds for children living with Cerebral Palsy. This year, a third of our team joined the challenge, collectively taking over 5.5 million steps and raising more than $2,200. My sincere thanks go to everyone who participated and to those who generously donated to support this important cause.
October also marks a major highlight in our calendar – the LGP Annual Conference, taking place at Doltone House, Darling Island, Pyrmont on Tuesday 21 and Wednesday 22 October.
Our theme this year, “Future Focused: 2026 & Beyond”, reflects the opportunities and challenges that lie ahead for those working in sourcing, procurement, and contract management across local government.
The speaker line-up is specifically diverse to reflect the various parameters we need to navigate with change. Some of the fastest changes in our personal lives and business right now is Artificial Intelligence, Cyber Security and global unrest, all of which we address with experts from Microsoft (AI), Northern Beaches Council (Cyber Security) and Shivendra Kumar (Geopolitical Disruption). We have Gordon Donovan from SAP giving us all the research and statistics which quantifies and measures what the future demands.
This won’t be new to anyone, instead of talking about what they are going to do, Procurement needs to start demonstrating how they are implementing social procurement. We are lucky to have two council case studies sharing their stories in this space, with Kate Russell the CEO of Supply Nation is joining us to talk first nations procurement. Tania and Hadi from LGP’s Strategic Procurement Solutions team will bring another future inevitability, Climate Change as an unavoidable procurement focus area, because we now need to start demonstrating our impact here also.
Of course on the Tuesday night we have the honour of celebrating the 2025 Procurement Awards, which we are judging as we speak.
Events of this scale cannot be delivered without the support of our 30+ Exhibitors who we thank for their valued support. I would like to thank our event partners for 2025:
Platinum Sponsor: Telstra
Gold Sponsor: Blackwoods
Silver Sponsor: Stabilcorp and ‘COS
We are just about passed 100 conference attenders registered, with 3 weeks to go, we do have some space left for more. If you want to know more or get your ticket, please click here or speak with your LGP Business Development Manager.
Finally, and noting Telstra as our Annual Conference Platinum Sponsor, last month and in partnership with Telstra, we have launched the new Innovation Development Fund (IDF). Inside the first 3 weeks we are already seeing submissions for dollar-for-dollar funding to support local government organisations wanting to meet the evolving needs of their communities through strategic digital transformation.
The Innovation Development Fund remains open until 5pm, Friday 31 October 2025. Simply go to the LGP website as per the link below and complete the web form to have your project considered. We look forward to hearing more about your digital transformation project.
I look forward to seeing many of you at the conference later this month and to continuing our shared journey towards a future-focused procurement landscape.
Thank you.