What do you see as your main focus for 2025?

2025 is a milestone year for our association. It’s been 50 years since its original formation in 1975 and 20 years since Accord was formed in 2005 as the combined voice of the hygiene, personal care and specialty products industry. We have some celebrations planned throughout the year, including a ‘heroes of cleaning’ dinner, to commemorate this special year. We look forward to connecting and celebrating with as much of the industry as

possible.

We also have some cleaning sector-specific initiatives planned for 2025, including expanding our ESG commitments and programs, as well as our industry development programs to empower up-and-coming talent.

What are the biggest challenges facing the cleaning industry right now?

We recently conducted a member-wide survey on priorities and challenges for Accord and the industry. A few common themes emerged from our cleaning and hygiene member companies regarding the challenges facing this sector. These included a loss of local manufacturing capability and local suppliers, with the closure of input suppliers such as Qenos, which increased the costs of doing business. Rising gas and energy prices and the ability to attract and retain STEM graduates and skilled workers are among the other challenges faced by the industry.

Where are the biggest opportunities?

At a recent Accord Board of Directors meeting, business leaders in our sector identified the lack of an overarching and broadly applied industry policy across all sectors as a critical policy gap. Successful industries can only thrive if the ‘ecosystem’ they exist within is also thriving. From gaps, we can find opportunities and potential solutions to industry challenges such as those raised

So, what should be done? First, finding out what led to the closures of plants like Qenos seems sensible. Such findings would help inform what policy remedies may be needed to improve business conditions to avoid an ongoing loss of local manufacturing capability. From there, concerted policy action to tackle complexity, duplication and unproductive regulatory paperwork requirements—often resource intensive—is required to eliminate such barriers to innovation and investment and to ameliorate the rising cost of doing business.

What role does sustainability play in your plans for 2025?

One of the key priorities for members that came out of our survey was, of course, sustainability. Corporate sustainability reporting, new packaging waste legislation and obligations for companies are all set to progress in 2025. For small and medium businesses,

like many in the cleaning and hygiene industry, these topics can be daunting and overwhelming. Our members can continue to rely on us to distil this information for them, so they get the need-to-know details, as well as practical guidance and education sessions to ensure they’re across the expectations and changes for businesses. We will continue to progress our active sustainability advocacy and initiatives on behalf of the hygiene and cleaning sector, including a focus on industry-led stewardship.

What does good leadership mean to you?

As I reflect on 25 years of leading Accord, through its various name changes, to me, good leadership is all about empowering and investing in your team. I’ve been privileged to work

alongside many very strategic industry leaders as directors of our association. Their support of and commitment to me and my team to be the voice of their industry is not something we take for granted. And it’s the same support and commitment I show my team to be the best at what they do. My job as a leader is to make sure they feel confident to be that, whether through positive guidance, constructive feedback, investment in their professional development or simply being an empathetic and encouraging ear at the end of a long day. To use a famous quote – do what you can, with all that you have, wherever you are.

What is one thing you want people to know about the cleaning industry in 2025?

No industry exists in isolation. The fact that industries are fundamentally interlinked, and often functionally interdependent, is well understood by the cleaning and hygiene sector. Accord’s economic case study on disinfectants and sanitisers illustrates the connection between hygiene products and at least eight other sectors critical for community wellbeing, such as hospitals, aged care, food production and water utilities. Our products are essential and deserve greater government policy attention to boost innovation and investment in our sector, rather than hindering it.