My Local Buy Story: Harrison Human Resources
Published on 11 August 2026
Harrisons shows how Local Buy makes it easier for councils to access trusted suppliers who understand local government challenges
Feature article by Claire Harrison, Harrison Human Resources, Founder and Managing Director
In 2009, I started Harrisons after two decades as an HR Director in large organisations including Redland City Council, and as a Non-Executive Board Director, on a simple belief: complex workforce challenges deserve senior, sector-aware advice, not a junior delivery team working from a template.
We’re specialists, not generalists. Our work spans HR audits, workplace investigations and mediations, psychosocial hazard risk management, occupational violence and Respect@Work compliance, recruitment, capability frameworks, HR policy, organisational change, leadership development and outsourced HR support. What ties it together is a focus on practical, defensible outcomes our clients can own and sustain long after we’ve finished.
For local government, we understand the pressures councils face, such as lean HR and safety teams with broad areas of responsibility, public-facing diverse workforces, regulator scrutiny, and the need to do more with less while staying compliant. We bring the senior capability of a large consultancy with the agility and personal touch of a specialist firm.
Becoming a Local Buy pre-qualified supplier was a natural step
Most of our public-sector work is with Queensland councils, and we wanted to make it as easy as possible for them to engage us; compliantly, efficiently, and with confidence.
Local Buy solves a real problem for councils. Procurement is time-consuming. Local Buy’s pre-qualified Arrangements let councils access trusted suppliers through a quotation process rather than running a full tender, while still meeting their obligations under the Local Government Regulation.
For us, being pre-qualified signals something important: we’ve been vetted, we meet the standard, and we’re a known quantity. Harrisons is appointed to:
Working with councils across Queensland
Over recent years we’ve delivered for councils right across the state. Three engagements, with Douglas Shire, Hinchinbrook Shire and Mackay Regional Councils, show the breadth of what that partnership looks like.
Douglas Shire Council: occupational violence prevention
Like every council, Douglas Shire’s frontline workers (customer service officers, rangers, library staff, parks teams and field crews) face a small but rising share of interactions involving aggression and abuse. Council’s internal working group had named the problem. What they needed was to turn a report into changed behaviour on the ground. We converted those recommendations into a recommendation-tracking framework with named owners, a Leadership Safety Commitment and Zero Tolerance Statement, frontline communications and posters, induction and leadership briefings, and steering-committee governance. The result is a self-sustaining system council owns and runs, every recommendation has an owner, every leader has a script, and every frontline worker has a visible message that council stands behind them.
Hinchinbrook Shire Council: Respect@Work and sexual harassment prevention
Under the Respect@Work reforms, every employer now carries a positive duty to take reasonable and proportionate steps to eliminate sexual harassment and sex-based discrimination. We worked with Hinchinbrook to help the council meet that duty, moving beyond a policy on the shelf to leadership accountability, prevention, and a defensible position under its WHS and anti-discrimination obligations, including workplace audit, risk assessment, consultation survey and focus group, prevention plan, policy, and executive and manager training.
Mackay Regional Council: recruitment, graduate program and workplace relations
With around 1,300 employees, Mackay set out to lift its HR capability on three fronts. We recruited experienced HR professionals matched to council’s culture; we designed and managed council’s first Graduate Recruitment and Development Program, engaging universities and building a pipeline of motivated graduates; overhauled policy framework; and we provided senior workplace-relations expertise across investigations, disciplinary processes and unfair-dismissal matters, helping council act fairly, compliantly and with confidence.
In their words
“Working with Harrisons was a game-changer for Mackay Regional Council. Their dedication, expertise, and seamless project management have transformed our HR function and created a dynamic graduate program. Their workplace relations support has been invaluable in maintaining a harmonious work environment.
We highly recommend Harrisons to any organisation seeking exceptional HR services.”
Rod Francisco, Manager People and Culture, Mackay Regional Council
Find us If your council is facing a workforce challenge that needs senior, practical HR support, we’d love to help — and you can engage us through your existing Local Buy Arrangement. W: hhr.com.au P: 1300 001 447 E: info@hhr.com.au