20–22 November, The Kambri Centre, ANU, Canberra, on Ngunnawal and Ngambri country
There were 350+ registrations for AUSIT’s 38th Annual National Conference – theme: Focusing on Engagement: with government, clients, language communities, colleagues – and related events. The conference’s Organising Committee and other attendees have put together this overview of yet another successful and well attended conference.
photos by Corey M, Shameless Visuals
Day 1 (THURSDAY)
The conference was opened on an unseasonally cool, cloudy day by AUSIT’s National President Carl Gene Fordham, after a Rite of Passage ceremony by local Ngunnawal Elder Uncle Wally Bell and a welcome to Canberra from Michael Pettersson MLA, ACT Minister for Multicultural Affairs.
The three-day program of keynotes, roundtables, presentations, workshops and more explored a range of engagement-oriented subthemes, from initiatives by individuals and groups to AUSIT’s strategy for engaging with T&I practitioners, and from working with community language support organisations to indicators of engagement.
Jill Blewett Memorial Lecture 2025
This year’s JBML – delivered by Mary Ann Baquero Geronimo (CEO of FECCA) – went beyond T&I practitioners to bring us the voices of community stakeholders, illustrating how language services impact real communities. It underlined that translation and interpreting are not just technical or professional tasks but deeply social and political, shaping inclusion, voice, representation and access to services for migrants, refugees and ethnic communities.
A highlight from Thursday’s sessions
Aurelie Sheehan (NAATI’s Manager, Certification Policy and Development) celebrated the wealth of free resources NAATI provides to support practitioners, including sponsoring AUSIT PD workshops, while her ‘behind the scenes’ insights clarified NAATI’s achievements, and where they are heading in the near future.
Welcome Drinks
As usual, many conference attendees enjoyed catching up with old T&I friends – and making new ones – over drinks and canapés.
Day 2 (FRIDAY)
Keynote speakers
The first keynote presentation (on engagement with the legal world) was a team effort. Professors Ludmila Stern, Sandra Hale, Stephen Doherty and Mel Schwartz, all from UNSW, along with Dr Julie Lim from UTS (see photo below) – speaking on ‘Judicial Officers working with interpreters: implications for access to justice’ – presented a wide-ranging and very interesting overview of their research project on the views of judicial officers about working with interpreters.
Prof Christine Phillips, in her keynote ‘Guide for Clinicians Working with Interpreters – six years on,’ laid out a very clear analysis of clinicians’ need for professional T&I services, as well as identifying hopeful signs for the future.
A highlight from Friday’s sessions
Cameron Darke (Head of Language Services at conference sponsor ThinkHQ) gave a very interesting practical example of collaboration with language communities to provide aged care information.
Conference Dinner
On the Friday evening AUSIT’s premier annual social event, the Conference Dinner, was held in the elegant surrounds of the Federation Ballroom at the Hyatt Hotel Canberra. Those present were entertained by a bracket of Serbian folk dances, performed by the Folkloric Ensemble St Sava (who were joined for their last dance by many of the audience!), before the almost traditional dancing to the beat provided by a DJ.
During dinner three AUSIT Excellence Awards, a Fellowship and two Life Memberships were presented by AUSIT’s VP (Ethics & Professional Practice), Saeed Khosravi (see pages 6–9).
Day 3 (SATURDAY)
Keynote speaker
Professor Mustapha Taibi’s presentation was insightful, informative and engaging, and presented balanced perspectives of various stakeholders in community translation settings. It was obvious to the audience that the speaker was passionate about the subject.
A highlight from Saturday’s sessions
Practitioners both with and without experience in legal interpreting were fascinated by Reina Nazha and Zeina Issa’s presentation on Strengthening professional practice in legal settings; it sparked a lot questions which led to further inspiring conversations.
AUSIT National AGM
At the AUSIT NAGM 2025, which took place on the Saturday morning. the proposed changes to AUSIT’s constitution were passed, and all National Council roles filled for the coming year.
Thank you for making it happen!
On behalf of all attendees, a huge ‘Thank you!’ to this year’s Organising Committee (OC): Dave Deck (Chair), Elena Yudina (Coordinator), George Shaw, Jessie Huang, Vesna Cvjeticanin, Felicity Liu, Victor Xu, Ling Jin, Gizem Alkas, Rachel Wu and Willie Senanayake.
The OC, in turn, would like to extend its thanks to: this year’s sponsors, listed here on AUSIT’s website; to Donna and Michele at Office Logistics (our National Secretariat) for their professional assistance in delivering the conference; and to other local AUSIT members who volunteered to assist in a variety of ways throughout the event.
