CONVERSATIONS 2022: DISRUPTIONS, RESISTANCE AND OPPORTUNITIES

The theme for Conversations 2022 is Regulatory futures: disruptions, resistance and opportunities.

In the past years, events such as, the COVID-19 pandemic, rapid climate change and increasing inequality have revealed the pressing need for changes in policy and regulation.

The 2022 RegNet Conversation Series brought together regulatory, governance and policy experts to reflect on where and how change has occurred, resistance to these changes, and lessons for future reform.

Three panel sessions unpacked this theme using examples across a range of regulatory domains.

Panel 1

Disruptions

Disruptive processes such as climate change highlight the need to change old ways of doing things. Climate change, for example, has created urgency for a transition away from fossil fuelled electricity. But what will these transformations and transitions look like, who will be driving them, and how will they change people’s lives? In this panel, RegNet experts explored the positives and negatives of changes in response to disruptive processes across areas ranging from health, to energy, to migration.

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Speakers

Facilitator: Professor Alan Gamlen

PhD scholar Rebecca Byrnes

PhD scholar Lakshmin Mudaliar

Dr Lee White

Panel 2

Resistance

Resistance is a normal and healthy part of politics and social life. Most commonly resistance is the way in which groups negotiate their role in society, making demands for voice and respect to attain equality. Resistance takes a different turn; however, when its goal is domination. In this panel, speakers discussed what happened when calls for social justice trigger resistance to change that may involve preserving old status systems or disabling mechanisms of accountability.

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Speakers

Facilitator: Professor Emerita

Valerie Braithwaite

PhD Scholar Derek Futaiasi

Professor Emeritus Peter Grabosky

Dr Ibolya (Ibi) Losoncz

Panel 3

Opportunities

In the context of disruptive processes and resistance, what possibilities exist for transformative change that holds social justice, environment and equity at the centre? And how might adversarial or asymmetrical relationships be transformed? In this panel, speakers explored opportunities and strategies for transformative change across areas ranging from Australia-Pacific relationships, the bilateral Australia-China relationship, the international crime policy agenda, and Indigenous water governance.

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Speakers

Facilitator: Associate Professor

Lia Kent

Associate Professor Jarrett

Blaustein

Dr Benjamin Herscovitch

Dr Virginia Marshall

Dr Nayahamui Rooney (CHL, ANU)