November 17, 2025
Mike Morris
Head of Sales & Commercial, Asia Pacific
It was great to see many familiar faces and to make new connections at the PLA National Conference in Tasmania. The theme ‘Inspired by the past. Create visions for the future’ was embraced by all, featuring a diverse range of excellent presentations covering parks, leisure, recreation and sport for all, as the sector and its leaders navigate common challenges in a changing landscape.
ActiveXchange & Golf Australia
In our session, we explored ‘Using data to understand the bigger picture and connect‘.
To set the scene, Tony Craswell (Head of Venue Development, Golf Australia) outlined the importance of data-driven decision making to Golf Australia and how research is supporting growth and the community benefits of golf, reporting $3.3 billion in economic, social and environmental impact. Tony explained that golf already places a strong emphasis on technology and data, yet is eager to explore further and address any gaps.
He then handed the session over to me to share how ActiveXchange has used new movement technology to help Golf Australia understand more about the 88% of golfers who are non-members: who they are, where they go, and how they engage with golf facilities nationwide.
For those who couldn’t attend the sessions, the project with Golf Australia involved analysing visitation across more than 12 courses and facilities, mapping visitation, average time spent, and peak usage times using de-identified movement data sourced from thousands of mobile apps.
This data is then connected to Experian Mosaic, Census and other sources to understand not only movement patterns but also the demographic and behavioural preferences of all golfers. This provides deeper insights to support better community engagement, partnerships and long-term planning.
We plan to more shortly on this project, including a case study that outlines the approach and how it can be applied to any location, facility or sport.
With so many valuable sessions and conversations at PLA 2025, here are our headlines and highlights:
1. Honouring legacy while looking forward
Throughout the conference, there was a strong emphasis on honouring the historic foundation of parks, leisure and recreation in Australia as the organisation approaches the 100+ year mark, while also charting how the industry can evolve.
Implication: Organisations should preserve heritage and institutional memory (e.g., longstanding park systems, traditions) and simultaneously ask: what’s next for our places, communities and services?
Highlight: Inspired by Dy Currie from Torch Advisory who shared great examples from past Olympics to help guide the huge opportunity around Brisbane Games. Her session encouraged fresh thinking about readiness and legacy opportunities in the lead up to the 2032 Olympic and Paralympic Games. Lots of opportunity but equally plenty of questions and uncertainty:
- The opportunities are endless
- You don’t have to be a host city or Games sport to deliver legacy for your city/region/sport
- Get started now!
2. Climate resilience & urban nature as core design drivers
Sessions covered topics like how suburbs can stay cooler through urban forest programs, planning & designing open spaces that respond to changing climate/flood risk, and fostering biodiversity in built landscapes.
Implication: Parks and leisure planners must embed climate adaptation, nature-based solutions (such as trees and water-sensitive urban design) and ecological resilience into their everyday operations. Not just as add-ons, but as foundational elements.
Highlight #1: “Feeling hot hot hot… how do we make our suburbs cooler?” (Katie Jackson – Urban Forest Programs Officer, Department of Energy, Environment and Climate Action)
Highlight #2: “The green approach to urban biodiversity and environmental stewardship” (Monina Gilbey & Kate Torgersen)
3. Inclusion, belonging & multi-use community spaces
The program featured a range of topics that covered belonging, inclusivity and access for all, highlighting the need for multi-use community value.
Implication: The industry is evolving from merely providing infrastructure to ensuring those assets foster belonging, access and equity. Multi-use spaces that serve broad community needs (rather than single-purpose) are increasingly important.
Highlight #1: “Disability Sports – Community Facility Guidelines” (Jason Leslie – Otium, and Dr. Phil Hamdorf – Australian Sporting Alliance for People with a Disability). The session discussed the launch of collaborative guidelines to make community sports facilities more accessible and inclusive for people with disabilities in Australia. It emphasised that true inclusivity in sport requires integrating accessibility at every stage – from planning and design to management – through continuous collaboration with people with disabilities and relevant organisations.
Highlight #2: “ASC – Engagement & Collaboration, Access & Participation, Culture, Community and the Spirit of Playwell”
Tameka Collins presented The Australian Sports Commission’s (ASC) Local Government Engagement Project which aims to boost community sport participation through the Play Well strategy by strengthening collaboration, addressing resource and data gaps, and co-designing tailored, value-driven solutions with local stakeholders.
Sue McGill then shared how the PLA Well strategy can transform Australia’s sport infrastructure by prioritizing better use of existing facilities, equitable access, and collaboration to address fragmentation, outdated assets, and climate challenges.
In closing Steve Marquis shared the co-designed Playwell framework unites government, clubs, and volunteers around shared values of respect, belonging, well-being, growth, and fun to strengthen community culture in sport, addressing current gaps in values, communication, and diversity, with implementation and measurement (via the Spirit Index) set for early 2026.
4. Technology, systems and smarter operational models
Keynotes and sessions touched on the importance of data in decision making, AI & digitisation of sport & recreation systems; modular and stageable facility design; scalable and responsive operations. There are also some very cool new ways to map activity to service the community or better understand their need.
Implication: To stay relevant, parks & leisure services must leverage smarter tools and operate more flexibly. Whether it’s using data/AI, modular infrastructure, or novel delivery models, technology and adaptability are becoming central.
Highlight: Maptivate introduced a digital mapping platform that enhances engagement and accessibility by connecting organisations’ assets with their communities through interactive, customisable maps.
Key takeaway: Leveraging digital mapping technology like Maptivate enables organisations to improve community engagement, accessibility, and sustainability, providing flexible and interactive tools to connect people with places and information.
5. The rise of trails, active open space and re-imagined infrastructure
The program featured trail development trends, future fields of play design, re-imagining public parks for evolving communities, and how open spaces can be co-designed with communities
A common theme from a range of presentations all encouraged us to challenge the norm and think outside the box while reminding us that we can leave an impactful legacy in our communities if we work together.
Implication: The nature of what we call “parks and leisure infrastructure” or “sport” is broadening: trails, active corridors, multi-functional open space, community co-designed facilities. Planners and providers must think beyond the traditional boxes.
Highlight #1: “Beyond the Fairway: How local governments are leveraging golf assets to deliver inclusive, multi-use community value”
Highlight #2: “Planning Tomorrow’s Trails” (Anna O’Sullivan – Fitzgerald Frisby Landscape Architecture)
Highlight #3: “Trail Development. Trends, events, and the future” (Neil Ames – MidCoast Council/PLA National Advisory & Lincoln Quilliam – Owner & Director, Trail Ventures)
Takeaway: Human centric. People led. Data-driven storytelling
While supporting and acknowledging the need to think differently and embrace change, at our core we need to continue to be Community focused.
The sector brings together a range of great people from diverse backgrounds, all committed to making a difference in their chosen area, all of whom should be applauded. There are also a range of innovative tools and technology out there designed to make a difference and worth embracing or at least looking into – what have you got to lose?
An underlying theme of the conference was the importance of sport, recreation and leisure to everyone. Acknowledging that individuals have different drivers and needs, there should be access for all to a range of spaces and places given the importance of wellbeing and connection in a disconnected world.
