National Administrative Law Conference 2023 in Adelaide – Call for papers and save the date
You can trust me!
Administrative law: Building trust and confidence in government decision-making
Thursday 27 and Friday 28 July 2023
Adelaide Convention Centre
North Terrace, Adelaide SA
The AIAL National Administrative Law Conference is Australia’s pre-eminent administrative law conference, having been held each year since 1991 (except in 2020, due to COVID-19 restrictions). The 2023 Conference will be the 32nd National Administrative Law Conference. The aim of the Conference is to provide those involved or interested in Australian administrative law with the opportunity to discuss contemporary issues, share practical experiences and consider future developments. The 2023 Conference will be hosted by the SA Chapter of the Institute.
2023 NATIONAL CONFERENCE THEME
It is proposed that the overarching theme for the 2023 AIAL National Administrative Law Conference will be You can trust me! Administrative law: Building trust and confidence in government decision-making.
Government decision-making is being subjected to greater public scrutiny as social media and web-based communication open up commentary to wider demographics. Governments themselves are taking active steps to ensure decision-making processes and outcomes are more transparent. It might be assumed that greater transparency and scrutiny would result in heightened public confidence in governments. However some much publicised events in recent years could be argued to have had the opposite effect, and to have eroded the public’s trust in governments.
The 2023 Conference aims to examine integrity at all levels of Australian government and will focus on administrative law principles and mechanisms that contribute to sound decision-making that in turn builds public trust.
The theme therefore invites consideration of a range of topics that focus on providing not only greater transparency but greater protection for our citizens, particularly those who are most vulnerable. We seek papers that explore emerging issues, analyse lessons learned and suggest ways forward, particularly those that address the following subthemes:
- How can administrative law and our public institutions better serve vulnerable people in the community?
- Are traditional parliamentary methods of holding Government to account, such as question time, parliamentary committees and budget review, effective in maintaining trust and confidence in Government?
- Does the scrutiny of decision-making afforded by common law judicial review promote trust and confidence in Government (whether Commonwealth, State, Territory or Local)?
- Do integrity branch agencies, including tribunals, build trust and confidence in Government (whether Commonwealth, State, Territory or Local)? What features of such agencies or their processes (such as, for example, open hearings and financial and administrative independence) are necessary to promote this goal?
- Is transparency critical to building trust and confidence in Government (whether Commonwealth, State, Territory or Local)? Can there be too much transparency? How can we identify legitimate exceptions to transparency?
- Do constitutional rules, conventions and public law values promote, or undermine, trust and confidence in Government?
- Is there a tension between rules governing expenditure of public money and conflicts of interest and Government fulfilling its election commitments?
The Institute encourages contributions on these Conference subthemes but is also interested in finding space for those with fresh perspectives or ideas not reflected in the suggested range of topics above. The Conference will provide a stimulating mixture of practical sessions and more reflective and thought-provoking presentations. The Conference will include a review of the state of administrative law in the Commonwealth, States and Territories.
CALL FOR PAPERS
The Institute calls for potential papers on our theme to be presented at the Conference.
Please send written proposals for a paper by Friday 24 February 2023 by email to: aial@commercemgt.com.au or by post to: AIAL, PO Box 83, Deakin West ACT 2600.
PUBLICATION OF PAPERS
Conference speakers will be asked to prepare papers, which will be made available to those attending the Conference. Selected papers may also be published in the Institute’s journal, AIAL Forum. Papers may be refereed, if requested by the contributor.
CONFERENCE VENUE
The 2023 National Administrative Law Conference will commence at 1:00pm on Thursday 27 July 2023 and conclude at 4:30pm on Friday 28 July 2023. All Conference sessions will be held at the Adelaide Convention Centre.
CONTACT DETAILS
For enquiries about the program or to discuss a possible paper, please contact:
· Anna Olijnyk, AIAL SA Chapter(E: anna.olijnyk@adelaide.edu.au; T: 08 8313 7166), or
· Sue Hart, AIAL Business Manager AIAL Secretariat(E: aial@commercemgt.com.au; T: 02 6290 1505)