From your National President
Esteemed Members, Colleagues:
I am thrilled to update you on the 38th AUSIT National Conference, which took place from 2 pm, Thursday 20 to 5 pm, Saturday 22 November 2025 at the Kambri Centre, Australian National University, Canberra.
I would like to acknowledge the tireless efforts of the ACT Branch for making this conference possible. In particular, I want to thank ACT Chair Dave Deck, who is stepping down after many years of service to our association. Dave, you will be sorely missed! (Dave pictured above right, at the conference opening).
I would also like to thank the members of the organising committee: Elena Yudina, Vesna Cvjeticanin, Felicity Liu, Ling Jin, Rachel Wu, Victor Xu, Willie Senanayake, Jessie Huang, Gizem Alkas, George Shaw, and volunteers: Hala Abualsisan, Henry Chen, Daniela Peressini, Karla Gizotti, Amy Wen, Lanfeng Davis and Nuria Diaz.
May I also add that Donna Bennett and Michele Jalland at Office Logistics played an essential role in coordinating this conference for the ACT Branch. Attendees also benefited from having the National Secretariat onsite to answer any questions they might have about the inner workings of our organisation. So a big thank you to Donna and Michele!
I would also like to thank our sponsors for their support this year:
Platinum Sponsors
Gold Sponsor
Silver Sponsors
Bronze Sponsors
Accessibility Sponsors
Speaker Gifts
Conference Friend
Starting with our Platinum Sponsors: a very big thank you to LanguageLoop, Multicultural NSW and the Department of Home Affairs (TIS National). Thank you to our Gold Sponsor NAATI. Thank you to our Silver Sponsors the Australian Signals Directorate and ThinkHQ, and our Bronze Sponsors Macquarie University, All Graduates, Connecting Now and the University of New South Wales. Thank you to our Accessibility Sponsors Translationz (for Auslan), Congress Australia (for videography) and OnCall CaptionConnect (for closed captioning). We are also grateful to 2M Language Services, for sponsoring the gifts for the keynote speakers, and our Conference Friend Fenton Green, who provides professional insurance to our members.
For many translators and interpreters, AUSIT‘s annual conference is the highlight of their professional calendar. Each year, it brings together practitioners from across every state and territory of this great nation. We’re also delighted to welcome visitors from around the globe.
This year, we were particularly honoured to host some distinguished international guests. This includes Isabelle Poff-Pencole, former President of NZSTI and FIT Council Member, and Agustina Marianacci, current NZSTI President. We were also privileged to welcome Rahayu Binti Ibrahim and her delegation from the Malaysian Institute of Translation & Books, along with colleagues who joined us from Israel, Spain, Indonesia and Finland.
This highly anticipated event welcomed 376 attendees, all eager to engage and participate in discussions around language services. The conference featured 72 sessions across 6 diversified tracks, covering a range of compelling topics. Among the most popular sessions were:
- Keynote #1: Judicial Officers working with interpreters: implications for access to justice (RSVP Count: 108)
- Keynote #3: Community Translation – Engaging with communities and governments by Prof. Mustapha Taibi (RSVP Count: 85)
- Keynote #2: The ‘Guide for Clinicians Working with Interpreters’ – six years on (RSVP Count: 84)
Whether you were there and want to find that vest shot of yourself … or just want to get an idea of what happens at the conference, for next year … professional photos taken aross the three days have been uploaded to our hosting platform here.
AUSIT Excellence Awards
It was my great pleasure to present the AUSIT Excellence Awards at the Conference Dinner on the evening of Friday 21 November in the gorgeous Federation Ballroom, Hyatt Hotel Canberra. I am delighted to announce the conferral of awards to the following practitioners:
- AUSIT Fellowship: Joe van Dalen
- AUSIT Life Membership: Terry Chesher, David Connor
AUSIT Excellence Awards:
- Dr Kirri Dangerfield – Outstanding Contribution in Interpreting
- Olena Radievska – Outstanding Contribution in Languages of Limited Diffusion
- Lynn Geng – Outstanding Contribution to Capacity Building in the T&I Field
Congratulations to Joe, Terry, David, Kirri, Olena and Lynn, and thank you for your immense contributions to AUSIT and the wider translation and interpreting profession. Your pursuit of excellence and your service mindset set an example for us all. Check out the December issue of In Touch magazine for more details on the award recipients and their merits.
AUSIT Annual General Meeting
It was a great thrill to chair my very first annual general meeting as AUSIT National President on Saturday 22 November at 9 am.
I can confirm that all the governance documents were tabled. I gave my report as National President, as did Han and Miranda in their roles as National Treasurer and National Secretary respectively. Han, Miranda and I welcomed questions from members on the reports. Members also had the opportunity to ask questions about any of the other documents that were tabled.
Various Special Resolutions intended to give effect to a resolution passed at the 2024 AGM were passed unanimously. These approved a change to AUSIT’s legal structure by National Council, from an incorporated association to a company limited by guarantee, which included an appropriate rewrite of our constitution. A copy of this rewritten constitution with explanatory notes has long been placed in the members-only section of the AUSIT website for members’ reference.
At the end of the AGM, Dave stepped in to facilitate the election of the National Office-Bearers. I can now confirm that the National Council Executive includes the following members:
- Carl Gene Fordham, nominated to continue as National President
- Michael Broughton, nominated as Vice President (Events and Professional Development), replacing Issa He
- Saeed Khosravi, nominated to continue as Vice President (Ethics and Professional Practice)
- Michela Schirru, nominated as Vice President (Communications and Public Relations), replacing Rosario Lázaro Igoa
- Han Xu, nominated to continue as National Treasurer
- Miranda Lai, nominated to continue as National Secretary
There being one nomination for each vacant position, the nominated members were declared duly elected. The ex officio position of Immediate Past President continues to be Erika Gonzalez, and the National Council is grateful to call on her wisdom and expertise when needed.
I am also thrilled to introduce the following new and ongoing Branch-appointed Directors (formerly known as Branch Delegates):
- Jialiang (Jessie) Huang, replacing Dave Deck, for the Australian Capital Territory
- Christine Le, replacing Carina Mackenzie, for Queensland
- Silvia Martinez, replacing Camille Lapierre, for New South Wales
- Adrian Garcia Rodriguez, replacing Joe van Dalen, for South Australia and Northern Territory
- Qiusi (Echo) Zhang for Tasmania [no change]
- Jess Shepherd for Victoria [no change]
- Catherine Nicholson Pfammatter for Western Australia [no change]
I would like to take the opportunity to thank all the members of the National Council for their support this year. In particular, I would like to acknowledge the hard work and dedication of outgoing Vice President (Events & Professional Development) Issa He and outgoing Vice President (Communications & Public Relations) Rosario Lázaro Igoa. I am thrilled that Michael Broughton and Michela Schirru were elected in their respective places. I congratulate Michael and Michela on their appointments and am looking forward to working with them and other colleagues on the NC to further the professional development of our members and strengthen AUSIT’s communications strategy.
During the AGM, I also announced that the six-year tenures of our current National Secretary Dr Miranda Lai and National Treasurer Dr Han Xu will be coming to a close by the end of next year’s AGM. I encouraged any members who might be interested in these roles to reach out to Miranda and Han to learn what the positions entail, should they wish to volunteer to take one of them on next year. It is essential that we find the right people to fill these roles, given how critical they are to the ongoing functioning of our organisation.
First Meeting of the Newly Formed National Council
On the morning of Sunday 23 November we held the very first meeting of the newly formed National Council (NC). It was a pleasure to connect with my fellow members on the NC, onboard new colleagues, and discuss matters of priority for the coming year. Some of the items on the agenda included: a conference debrief – what went well and lessons to be learnt for future conferences; potential directions for the Communications and PD portfolios under their new Vice Presidents; and other matters critical to the continuing implementation of AUSIT’s strategic vision.
Photo below, from left to right: Carl Gene Fordham (National President), Dave Deck (outgoing Branch-appointed Director for ACT), Echo Zhang (Branch-appointed Director for TAS), Jess Shepherd (Branch-appointed Director for VIC), Catherine Nicholson Pfammatter (Branch-appointed Director for WA), Michael Broughton (incoming Vice President [Events & Professional Development]), Silvia Martinez (incoming Branch-appointed Director for NSW), Jessie Huang (incoming Branch-appointed Director for ACT), Adrian Garcia Rodriguez (incoming Branch-appointed Director for SA/NT), Saeed Khosravi (Vice President [Ethics and Professional Practice]).
In the photo Michael is holding the laptop on which members of the National Council who could not attend in person could participate via Zoom. This included Christine Le (Branch-appointed Director for QLD), Rosario Lázaro Igoa (outgoing Vice President [Communications & Public Relations] and Michela Schirru (incoming Vice President [Communications & Public Relations]. I would like to thank Rosario for attending the first part of the meeting to assist Michela with her onboarding.
AUSIT Code of Ethics and Code of Conduct: have your say
What do you think of the current AUSIT Code of Ethics and Code of Conduct? What do you like about it? What changes do you think it needs?
The Working Group for the Revision of the AUSIT Code of Ethics and Code of Conduct commenced work in August 2025 and is interested in hearing the views of AUSIT members. If you would like to provide your views, please complete this anonymous electronic questionnaire here or via the QR code. This is your chance as a member to make your voice heard.
Please provide us with your views, opinions, experiences, thoughts or suggestions on the topic of ethics for translators and interpreters. Your responses will inform the Working Group in making revisions for the third edition of the AUSIT Code of Ethics and Code of Conduct.
The questionnaire takes 10 minutes to complete and will be open until 31 December 2025.
Jim Hlavac on behalf of the Working Group.
Thank you for your attention and continued support.
If I didn’t get to catch up with you at the conference, I hope we may have a chance at a future event – the next conference, to be held in Adelaide next year, may be the perfect opportunity.
With warmth and gratitude,
Carl Gene Fordham
AUSIT National President
