Engagement Update - June 2025

By Emma Peters, Head of Engagement

The Local Buy Engagement Team continues to travel the state far and wide to meet with councils. This month Senior Engagement Manager, Jeremy Walker and Category Manager, Debbie Spann travelled to Diamantia, Boulia, Winton, Barcaldine, Blackhall-Tambo and Longreach. At the other end of the state Emma Peters and Audrey Dobell jumped on a plane to Weipa for the Western Cape Futures Symposium and to meet with Napranum and Mapoon Aboriginal Shire Councils. Liz McFarlan attended the LGAQ Indigenous Leaders Forum in Cherbourg and joined Fleet Category Manager, Shane Grimstone on a tour of SEQ! We’ve also partnered with several Councils to speak at Supplier Engagement Events across the state.  

For suppliers, we hosted our inaugural online webinar, “Meet Your Category Manager” with Michael Franzmann, specifically for suppliers on our recruitment Arrangements. With high attendance numbers and great feedback from attendees, we will look to host similar events with our other Category Managers. This session took a deep dive into our Recruitment Arrangements and allowed participants to ask questions about how to maximise being a Local Buy pre-qualified supplier.

Registrations are now open for our inaugural Local Buy South East Queensland Fleet Managers Forum. This event has been held in Townsville over the past two years, and we are bringing it south to ensure our SEQ Fleet Managers don’t miss out. With a blend of speakers, workshops and adequate time for networking this event is aimed at Fleet Managers and procurement staff in councils who purchase fleet products and services. This event is free for council’s to attend - we look forward to hosting you on 5th August at The Glen Hotel. Please note, this event is for council staff only (not suppliers).

Finally, I would like to take this opportunity to remind you that the end of financial year is fast approaching. If you have projects that need to be executed before 30th June 2025 please consider Local Buy as your procurement methodology. Even if your project is over $200,000, if you engage via a Local Buy pre-qualified supplier Arrangement you will not have to perform a tender. Issuing a quote through VendorPanel will speed up the procurement process to enable you to hit your deadlines whilst complying with Local Government legislation.

Local Buy have a range of online and face-to-face events taking place, so please do check out our events page on the website for more information.

Please do not hesitate to reach out to me, or one of our experienced Senior Engagement Managers if we can be of any assistance.