Conrad Liveris is an economist and non-profit executive.

With an advisory practice on employment and workplace issues, Conrad has worked with small businesses through to global technology giants on issues including flexible working, restructuring, diversity and inclusion, remuneration and performance.

A list of services in available below.

Conrad can be briefed as an expert witness on matters of employability and remuneration in employment and family law matters.

Currently, Conrad’s most substantive role is as the executive officer of The Piddington Society in WA, a non-profit working to advance access to justice and collegiality in the legal profession. He maintains his advisory practice alongside this.

The ABC has called him “one of Australia’s leading employment and workplace experts” and his knowledge on labour market economics is sought by decision-makers, including government ministers and listed companies. Conrad’s research and analysis looks at the changing nature of employment, breaking it down by gender and age, to find the story of contemporary Australia.

This informs both his public commentary and his approach to advising organisations.

Conrad has written widely about workplace and economic issues, including for The Australian, Sydney Morning Herald, The West Australian, WA Today and others.

During the 2016 Presidential Election he wrote a regular column for Washington DC’s most-read newspaper, The Hill. His work has been featured by the ABC, Channels 7, 9 and 10, Buzzfeed and internationally by The Straits Times (Singapore), Xinhua News (China) and South China Morning Post (Hong Kong).

As an Australia Day Ambassador, Conrad has delivered Australia Day addresses in Albany, Broome, Derby, Geraldton and Mullewa. In Broome in 2020, he delivered the Address in English, Noongar and Yawuru. These can be accessed here.

Conrad is the Chair of WAAC (previously, the WA AIDS Council), Chair of Sussex Street Community Law Service, and is on the board of Carine Senior High School. He has previously served on the boards of arts, community services, education, health and legal assistance organisations, including as chair.

Amongst other recognition, Conrad:

  • Is an alumni of the US State Department’s International Visitor Leadership Program;

  • Was awarded an Alumni Achievement award by Curtin University;

  • Was awarded OUTstanding 50 LGBTI+ Leaders by Deloitte, EnergyAustralia and Google.

Conrad holds a Bachelor of Arts from the University of Notre Dame Australia, a Certificate in Governance and Risk Management from the Governance Institute of Australia and a Master of Commerce from Curtin University, as well as having completed executive and further education at the University of California, Los Angeles and University of Oxford.

Conrad is a member of the Economic Society of Australia, Industrial Relations Society of Western Australia, the Australian Institute of Company Directors and an Associate Fellow of the Royal Commonwealth Society.

Conrad is an avid runner, and formerly undertook triathlons. He prefers to read non-fiction but his book club encourages him to read more fiction. He enjoys getting out of the city as often as possible into regional areas, and has learned the hard way that it’s important to know whether cars take unleaded or diesel.

He is a proud public school kid.

Presentation topics

Advisory services

I am a regular speaker and presenter, and can speak to the following topics:

  • Current employment trends and the job market;

  • Contemporary workplace issues: flexible working (and managing it), sexual harassment, gender equality, LGBTI+ issues;

  • Navigating workplace politics;

  • Leading non-profits;

  • Being young and in leadership roles; and,

  • Others as mutually agreed.

I regularly provide advice and project management on areas including:

  • Flexible working;

  • Remuneration, hiring and workplace negotiations;

  • Restructuring and organisational design;

  • Internal communications;

  • External communications and media management.

Expert witness

I am available to be briefed as an expert witness in legal disputes, where I can provide reports on the employability and earning capacity of individuals or groups. I have completed reports on matters before courts and tribunals on employment and family law, and am open to being briefed in wider areas.

I give consideration to Australian Bureau of Statistics data, which can be broken down by industry, state, gender, age and other factors, as well as industry-specific data and reports.

While these are primarily economic reports, I also bring in my HR knowledge where appropriate to give a more ‘on-ground’ insight to the issues.

Some things I have done

In 2020, I created In Her Seat, an interview and events series with currently serving female politicians to commemorate the 100th anniversary of the first woman elected to an Australian Parliament, Edith Cowan. This project was a self-funded historical documentation endeavour and serves to inspire the next generation of women politicians. This project engaged with hundreds of female politicians in every state and territory.

In 2016, recognising a lack of clear information on men and women in the workforce and the pursuit of workplace gender equality, I created the Gender Equality at Work report series. It is an annual agenda-setting piece of research for gender equality and promotions, now in its fifth year which contributes to, and stimulates, the discussion around these issues Australia-wide and overseas. One section of it tracks the names of ASX200 CEOs, including that (as per the 2020 report) there are 12 CEOs named Andrew, 11 named Michael and 9 women.

In 2012, along with friends, I co-founded and ran a homelessness charity that gave a national voice to people experiencing homelessness. We were sought out to inform government policies in this area.