Day 1 program
Thursday May 7
Please note the program is still evolving and may be subject to some changes.
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Morning session 9am-11am
Welcome to Country
Minjil is an Indigenous cultural group connecting people from all backgrounds with country, culture and age-old traditions through dance, lore and education.
MC's welcome to conference
We're pleased to welcome back award winning ABC journalist Daniel Ziffer as our MC. He and the FCA Chair will welcome you to the conference.
Message from the Governor-General of Australia
Her Excellency the Honourable Sam Mostyn AC, Governor-General of Australia, shares a special video message with conference participants, recognising the important work financial counsellors do in supporting people experiencing financial hardship across Australia.
Minister's address
Details TBC.
Opening keynote
Joe Longo, Chair of the Australian Securities and Investments Commission (ASIC), will deliver the opening address, offering reflections on the evolving regulatory landscape and its impact on the financial lives of Australians.
Mr Longo will share insights drawn from his time leading the organisation, including the important work taking place across the sector to support people during times of financial stress.
This keynote will explore how regulators, industry and consumer advocates can continue working together to strengthen financial systems and improve outcomes for communities.
Where are we headed? National Workforce Strategy 2026–2030
This panel will explore the National Workforce Strategy 2026–2030 and what it means for the future of financial counselling and financial capability work. Panellists will discuss the workforce challenges facing the sector, from growing demand and disasters to wellbeing, skills and workforce supply. They will also reflect on the Strategy’s priorities for building a stronger, more diverse and more sustainable workforce. The session will focus on what needs to happen next to turn this vision into real, practical change for frontline workers and the communities they support.
Tipping point: the moments that change everything
In every financial counsellor’s and financial capability worker’s practice, there are moments when something shifts. It might be a conversation that lands differently, a creditor changes course, a piece of information arrives at just the right time… and the trajectory of a person’s life changes.
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For this opening session, we invited workers from across the country to share the “tipping points” they have witnessed in casework: the moments when the game changed for a client, and what made that change possible.
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Through a curated selection of short frontline stories, this session captures the power of the work the sector does.
FCA update
Financial Counselling Australia (FCA) CEO, Domenique Meyrick, reflects on a time of change for the financial counselling sector. Drawing on what financial counsellors and capability workers are seeing every day, she speaks about the growing pressures people are facing and the compassion, skill and quiet impact of the people who walk alongside them.
She will share FCA’s priorities for strengthening the workforce, building better evidence and working together as a sector, so that those on the frontline are supported to keep doing what they do best: supporting people find their way through financial hardship with dignity and hope.
Morning tea 11-11:30am
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Late morning session 11:30am-1pm
Getting scam protection right
Australia’s new Scam Prevention Framework promises a change in how we prevent and respond to scams, but will it deliver? Stephanie Tonkin (CEO, Consumer Action Law Centre), Catriona Lowe (Deputy Chair, ACCC) and David Locke (CEO and Chief Ombudsman, AFCA) discuss what the framework means in practice, the strengths and gaps in the proposed protections, and what fair outcomes for scam victims should look like if the system is to genuinely shift the dial on scam harm.
Epic retirements aren’t just for the wealthy
More people are reaching retirement with complex mixes of housing stress, debt, health concerns and family change. Financial counsellors and financial capability workers are right there with them, supporting clients through one of life’s biggest transitions. In this session, author and expert in modern aging and retirement, Bec Wilson, invites us to rethink retirement as a human journey and shares practical ideas to help clients navigate this next chapter. She explores systems that can support people in retirement, what options they have, the emotional impacts, and what investments people could make to set themselves up for retirement.
Through the eyes of: the bankruptcy regulator
One of two 'through the eyes of' sessions, this short conversation with Australian Financial Security Authority (AFSA) Chief Executive Tim Beresford explores what the bankruptcy regulator is seeing at the moment. Hear about emerging trends, risks and opportunities across personal insolvency, and what they mean for frontline financial counsellors and capability workers and the people they support.
Short and sharp
Hold onto your hats for these quick-fire updates on things you need to know and more.
Lunch
Enjoy a one-hour break for a tasty lunch, 1pm to 2pm.
Concurrents
Conference attendees will split off into their concurrent group sessions, from 2pm until 3:30pm. More information about the concurrents is available here.
Afternoon tea
A half-an-hour break for afternoon tea, 3:30pm until 4pm.
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Afternoon session 4-5pm
FCA explainer: what is productivity and why does it matter?
Welcome to the part of the conference where FCA takes a complex topic and tries to make sense of in a pantomime. Last year, it was all about interest rates and inflation. This year, the FCA team try to get their heads around... productivity.