Speakers
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Keynote Speakers
Abraham Kuol
Abraham Kuol is a respected youth leader and the 2026 Young Australian of the Year for Victoria, recognised for his contribution to community safety, youth empowerment, and social change. He is also a 2025 Westpac Social Change Fellow, acknowledged nationally for his leadership and community impact.
Abraham uses his deep knowledge of Victoria’s police and justice systems to support and guide young people in his community. Day to day, he mentors young people, runs sports-based programs, and strengthens community connections — all while completing a PhD in Criminology at Deakin University, where his research is informing real-world policy and practice.
Recognising the power of sport in engaging youth, Abraham co-founded the Black Rhinos, a soccer and basketball club that provides mentoring and positive pathways for at-risk young people. He is also a director at Sandown Lions Football Club, creating sporting and leadership opportunities for young people from migrant and refugee backgrounds.
Abraham has helped secure more than $3.5 million in funding for programs supporting African-Australian families, justice-involved youth, and community-led interventions.
A trusted media commentator, Abraham is regularly featured across major outlets including ABC, SBS, 9News and 7News, where he provides balanced, evidence-based insights on youth justice, belonging, and community safety.
A humble but compelling leader, Abraham is also a sought-after public speaker known for his ability to inspire genuine social change through authenticity, insight, and lived experience.
Abraham Kuol
Martin Sampson
Martin Sampson is the Chief Executive Officer of the Canadian Parks and Recreation Association (CPRA), the national voice for the recreation and parks sector in Canada. He is a strategic leader and advocate who has spent two decades contributing to Canada's public policy conversation. In his current role, his focus is championing the essential role the recreation and parks sectors plays in building healthy, vibrant, and resilient communities.
Under Martin's leadership, CPRA advances a national agenda rooted in wellbeing, belonging, and community resilience. He leads a suite of major national initiatives, including the renewal of the Framework for Recreation and Parks in Canada, a landmark sector-wide policy process engaging thousands of practitioners and communities across the country, and Everyone Outdoors Together, a campaign to establish a new Canadian ritual that invites all Canadians to step outside together and reconnect with nature, each other, and the land they share.
Martin brings together strategic vision, communications expertise, and deep relationship networks across government, the health sector, Indigenous organizations, and civil society. He is committed to elevating the parks and recreation sector as essential public infrastructure and to building the advocacy capacity of sector professionals from coast to coast to coast.
Based in Ottawa, Martin is a sought-after speaker and thought leader on community wellbeing, public policy, and the power of recreation and parks to transform individual and collective health.
Martin Sampson
Conference MC
Brett Phillips
Brett Phillips is a long-time Radio-TV Sports Broadcaster, who is in his 18th year of hosting ‘The First Serve’ on SEN (Sports Entertainment Network) around Australia, the only weekly live tennis program on commercial radio worldwide, also covering the four Grand Slams for the network as their tennis expert, including ball-by-ball commentary of the Australian Open each year. Brett is also in his 18th year as an AFL Commentator for SEN and is also part of Channel 9’s Tennis coverage as a host/commentator across the Australian summer of tennis and their French Open, Wimbledon and US Open coverage.
Brett Phillips
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