As regulatory, environmental, and commercial pressures reshape the agribusiness sector, practitioners must navigate increasingly complex compliance, governance, and operational risks. This half-day program provides essential legal and strategic updates across employment law, environmental compliance, and commercial contracting within agribusiness. Gain practical insights into emerging employment and WHS risks, including wage compliance obligations following recent Fair Work decisions. Explore key legal and taxation considerations in structuring and transferring family farms, and understand the growing exposure around greenwashing and misleading environmental claims. The program concludes with guidance on managing contractual risks across rural supply chains and an interactive discussion on influencing regulatory approaches to agriculture.

Presenters

Stefan Manche, Director and Principal, Coulter Legal
Stefan is a Principal Lawyer and Head of the Wills, Estates and Succession Planning team at Coulter Legal. He joined the team in May 2020, bringing with him significant expertise in wills, succession planning and estate disputes from eleven years of practice within legal and multidisciplinary teams in Geelong and Melbourne. His experience also spans powers of attorney, guardianship and administration applications, superannuation planning and disputes, family trust succession and advice and estate administration. Stefan is a trusted advisor, and quickly gets to know his client’s personal, family and business circumstances to provide tailored advice and well-considered solutions to meet the needs and wishes of families today and into the future. Working across both estate planning and estate disputes, Stefan understands what is required to ensure the smooth transition of wealth to the next generation, whilst avoiding unnecessary estate disputes.

Timothy Zahara, Partner, Hamilton Locke
Timothy is a specialist workplace lawyer and has worked for clients across a wide range of industries, ranging from ASX 100 companies to family businesses. He has extensive experience advising clients in relation to various workplace and employment matters, including employment and post-employment obligations, executive employment arrangements and remuneration, workplace investigations, termination and redundancy implementation, and transfer of employment in the context of corporate transaction. Timothy also has considerable experience advising clients in respect of discrimination, general protection, bullying and unfair dismissal claims, work health and safety obligations, and strategic industrial advice. Prior to joining Hamilton Locke, Timothy was a member of the workplace law team at KMPG Law and also previously worked for Arnold Bloch Leibler and Clayton Utz. Timothy also worked for Australia’s national workplace relations tribunal, the Fair Work Commission and Australia’s national workplace regulator, the Fair Work Ombudsman.

Andrew Gill, Partner, Johnson Winter Slattery
Andrew is a commercial litigation and dispute resolution specialist acting for Government, listed public companies and private companies in all major jurisdictions in Australia. He specialises in the Government, Information Technology, finance and agribusiness sectors. Andrew has a strong interest in ADR and uses various ADR techniques to refine the issues in dispute between parties, to efficiently resolve matters. He advises a number of Commonwealth departments as to how to best avoid disputes in relation to a broad range of processes prior to disputes occurring.

Vanessa Gibson, Managing Partner, Gordon Garling Moffitt
Vanessa was admitted as a Solicitor in 2003 after studying at the University of New England in Armidale. Having worked in Sydney at J R Gibb & Co and then as a Policy Advisor for the then Minister for Agriculture, Warren Truss, Vanessa had a strong urge to return to her rural roots. Having grown up in the Riverina on a sheep and cropping farm, Vanessa has a firm belief that rural communities are entitled to the same quality legal representation as those in the cities. With a passion for succession planning, working in Grenfell with Peter Moffitt seemed like a perfect fit. Vanessa started work at Gordon Garling Moffitt in 2005 after relocating from Canberra to Young. She is a commercial lawyer, specialising in property, predominantly rural property and hotels. Vanessa has extensive experience in residential and rural conveyancing and rural leasing. She specialises in rural succession planning and has been quoted as saying if she could spend all day doing this, she would be a happy lawyer. Vanessa has also undertaken a vast amount of commercial litigation.

Kenneth Stanton, Principal, Stanton & Stanton
Kenneth Stanton is a principal at Barraket Stanton Lawyers. Previously he was with Herbert Smith Freehills and has also worked in Investment Banking at JP Morgan and Deutsch Bank. Kenneth has practiced in the area of wine law for the past 10 years. He acts for a number of large scale Australian, New Zealand and US wineries both domestically and internationally. He also acts for a number of publicly listed agribusiness funds which have investments in vineyards and water both in Australia, New Zealand and the United Stated. Kenneth sits on a number of government and international government advisory bodies including the Australian Legislative Advisory Committee, FIVS and AIDV. An avid collector of wine, Kenneth, his wife and son regularly holiday in wine regions seeking new additions to their collection.

Georgiena Ryan, Principal Lawyer, Regional Business Lawyers
Principal Georgiena Ryan has experience acting as solicitor to family and farming businesses, initially in her home state of Queensland where she grew up and later in the New South Wales Riverina and Central West NSW. Georgiena has unique commercial and corporate experience having held in-house legal roles with a specialist international rural and agribusiness bank, and with a leading global agricultural asset manager, responsible for a significant irrigation and dryland farming portfolio across Australia. Georgiena is the only female Accredited Specialist in Business Law located in rural NSW and has a Masters in Commercial Law from the University of Melbourne. Georgiena has special expertise in water law and irrigation and has been involved in some of the largest agribusiness transactions in Australia. Georgiena lives in the south west slopes of NSW on her husband’s family farm. She is supported by the following team members who all live regionally in NSW.