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Change the Conversation
Proudly supported by ECU School of Business and Law
Have you ever found yourself in a situation where you need to have a courageous conversation with a colleague, employee or direct report? Do you find it difficult to directly address issues or concerns? There are so many situations where disagreements, challenges and conflicts arise from our interactions with others. Whether it is aggressive or upset clients, a workplace bully or an under-performing teammate, the ability to influence positive outcomes and engage in courageous conversations can underpin the success of the organisation as a whole.
Join us as we hear from Anne Carey, WA Australian of the Year and passionate Anti-Bullying Campaigner, Melanie Binet, Deputy President of the Fair Work Commission and Associate Professor Maryam Omari, Dean of the School of Business and Law at Edith Cowan University to discuss how we all can change the conversation!
Date: 24 August 2016
Time: 7.00 – 9.00am
Venue: Parmelia Hilton, 14 Mill St, Perth
Speakers: Anne Maria Carey left school at 14 and after 6 years in the workforce joined a missionary order. She studied nursing and midwifery before going to PNG where she ran a remote hospital in a poor rural district of PNG. After 18 years in the order Anne left to work in health care in remote areas of Australia interleaved with Red Cross Missions in war zones overseas and completing her Masters in Public Health and Tropical Medicine. More recently Anne became involved in the running of the Red Cross Ebola treatment centres in Sierra Leone. She was there at the height of the epidemic through to the recovery phase. She received the Pride of Australia Care and Compassion Award 2015 and is the 2016 WA Australian of the year. Currently as the Western Australian of the year it is Anne’s intention to channel the same energy that she used to tackle the bully Ebola with to raise awareness and tackle bullying in the workforce and unkind treatment of refugees.
Ms Melanie Binet is the first woman appointed as Deputy President of the Fair Work Commission in Western Australia. Prior to her commencing on 1 February 2016, Melanie was a Director of Legal Services at Gregor & Binet – a boutique multidisciplinary practice specialising in employment law, employee relations, human resources, industrial strategy, workplace inquiries and mediation. Prior to forming Gregor & Binet, Melanie spent more than 15 years practicing in employee relations at top tier national law firms. Melanie holds a Bachelor of Economics with a double major in industrial relations and management and a Bachelor of Laws – both from the University of Western Australia. As a final year law student she drafted the 30,000 word text of the original WA industrial law section of Halsbury’s Laws of Australia. During her career, Melanie has been responsible for the development, implementation and defence of industrial relations strategies on a state and national basis. She has a particular interest in human resource matters and has had extensive involvement in the development, implementation and enforcement of workplace policies and procedures, including the management of performance, misconduct, discrimination and bullying. Prior to her appointment she appeared as counsel in the State and Federal courts and tribunals dealing with employment related matters. She has substantial experience in workplace training – developing and delivering customised training on a variety of employment related matters from the shop floor to the boardroom. She has significant expertise in workplace investigations, audits and inquiries including conducting inquiries on behalf of statutory investigative bodies. Her philosophy with respect to the resolution of workplace issues is that resolutions agreed to by the parties are likely to have greater long term effectiveness than those imposed by arbitration. She therefore endeavours to assist parties to reach agreed mediated outcomes wherever possible. Consistent with this approach, she is a proponent of interest based bargaining and is a member of the Commission’s New Approaches Committee which provides training and facilitation services to parties interested in adopting this alternative and effective model of industrial relations. Throughout her career Melanie has played an active role in industry representational bodies. She is a Chartered Member and former State Convener of the Australian Human Resource Institute. She is Deputy Convener of the Law Society of WA Employee Relations Committee and President of the Industrial Relations Society of WA. In 2011 she was elected National President of the Australian Labour and Employment Relations Association and currently holds the role of Secretary. Since 2014 she has been the Asia Pacific Representative on the 16 person World Governing Committee of the International Labour and Employee Relations Association. Consistent with these activities, Melanie is also member of the Access, Engagement and Communications Committee and the International Committee of the Fair Work Commission.
Associate Professor Maryam Omari is the Dean, School of Business and Law at Edith Cowan University. Her current areas of research interest include: dignity and respect at work, workplace bullying, cross cultural management, and quality of work-life issues. She has presented and published widely on negative behaviours at work. Maryam’s most recent book was published in 2016: Workplace abuse, incivility and bullying: Methodological and cultural perspectives.
