NRCoP Conference inspires regulators to think deeper about the future of regulation

Over 600 regulators from across Australia and Aotearoa New Zealand gathered in Brisbane last week for the ANZSOG-auspiced National Regulators Community of Practice 2025 conference – Regulation 2025-2050: disruption, change and continuity. 

As well as chance to build their networks and learn from their peers, attendees were given insights into key challenges across regulation from a range of Australian, New Zealand and international academics and regulatory practitioners. 

In a global climate where regulators are under increasing attack, particularly in the USA, keynote speaker Professor Cary Coglianese, director of the University of Pennsylvania’s Program on Regulation, inspired attendees with a keynote address defending the role of regulation and outlining the path towards regulatory excellence. 

“Regulating successfully is hard. It may be one of the most challenging endeavours known to humanity, especially in turbulent times. Regulatory excellence – pursuing it, regulating with stellar confidence, the utmost integrity, and empathic engagement – is key to meeting the challenges confronting regulators today,” he said. 

“A regulator’s purpose is to shape the behaviour of others, who have their own pressures and incentives, and get them to shift their direction. Just one bad choice or rule violation by a regulated entity, if it leads to a disaster or calamity, can be blamed on the regulator too,” he said. 

Professor Coglianese cited figures showing an increase in the number of people who believe their country is in decline, and who believe that political and economic elites don’t care about hard-working people (65 per cent in Australia and 63 per cent in Aotearoa New Zealand) to underline the increasingly difficult task regulators faced trying to shape behaviour in an environment of low trust. 

He said that pursuing excellence would require innovation, but that innovation should not be pursued for its own sake. 

“Your lodestar should always be: what are we trying to achieve? And why do we think a new approach could achieve those outcomes better? Don’t just adopt a new approach and move on to something else – put in place some mechanisms to ensure that you’re going to learn from that innovation.” 

Too big to regulate? The challenge of regulating AI and social media

The rise of Artificial Intelligence, and what we should do about it is a key topic, across all part of society, and regulators are no exception. 

A key panel at the Conference explored What does AI hold for the future of regulation? 

eSafety Commissioner Julie Inman Grant, Dr Kate Conroy from QUT, and Hamish Hansford from the Department of Home Affairs took attendees through the potential risks and opportunities of AI for regulators. 

Dr Conroy said that organisations needed to be continually adapting and educating themselves about AI, and shift to an ‘AI safety culture’ similar to the positive safety culture that existed in other domains. 

“If I go to visit a maritime environment, we’ll have a safety brief before you get into the meat of a discussion,” she said. 

“I would have an AI safety brief, for example, at the start of the meeting you’re in. Do we have any AI chatbots in this team’s meeting? What is our data policy for recording this meeting? Do you want your face biometrically scanned for this team’s meeting or your voice biometrically identified so your words can be held against you? What are we doing for records for this meeting? Are we allowing co-pilot to make up words and change the logic of what we’re saying?” 

“I fundamentally think that if you haven’t used AI and if you don’t understand it at a level of depth, how can you as a leader actually change an organisation? I think there is a challenge for every leader who leads any organisation in the world, but particularly regulators, to inform yourself and get engaged and use AI so you actually understand how it works.” 

Ms Inman Grant is the regulator for the fast-changing, globally-connected landscape of safety threats online, and will also regulate enforcement of the Australian Government’s  social media ban for children under 16. 

She said building a new organisation with such demanding and high-profile roles had been challenging 

“I knew for us to be successful, I had to create an agile, nimble, innovative organisation that moved fast or at least kept up with those in the tech world that were moving fast and breaking things. The areas we regulate are one of the only customer-facing areas where safety is not built into design, but has to be embedded afterwards.” 

“Finding the right skills is very difficult, particularly in a small market like this. And so, we have to train a lot of people on the job. And guess what? The technology companies that we’re regulating want to handpick some of my most talented people to bring inside their operations. 

“The social media ban legislation was only deliberated for two or three days. So, figuring out how it’s going to be implemented is all on me and my team.”  

A range of breakout panels allowed regulators to pursue their key interests in more depth, and covered issues around climate change, childcare, the challenges of regulating regulators, First Nations regulation, managing change and a debate about how regulators should handle the new frontier of Outer Space. 

Elly Patira, Commissioner at the Victorian Essential Services Commission, spoke about the reluctance of many regulators to acknowledge First Nations rights, and advised on how regulators should approach working with First Nations communities. 

“Balance and reciprocity underlie First Nations worldviews, and this means there is an opportunity for quality relation-based regulation. It’s also important to be honest with First Nations communities, particularly about the barriers and restrictions that you are facing.”  

A counterview of regulation from NZ Deputy Prime Minister 

The conference dinner, held at the Museum of Queensland, featured a speech from New Zealand’s Deputy Prime Minister and Minister for Regulation David Seymour. 

In a challenging and thought-provoking address, he urged regulators to avoid business-as-usual and to focus on the negative effects on the economy that came from over-regulation. 

Keynote speaker Professor Christopher Hodges from Oxford University began the second day with a speech taking the audience through the rapid changes happening in regulation, and the value of building trust and co-operation. 

The final panel of the conference focused on the issues of stewardship and regulation in practice and featured Professor Veronica Taylor, ASIC Commissioner Kate O’Rourke, Queensland Productivity Commissioner Dr Karen Hooper, and CEO of the New Zealand Ministry for Regulation Gráinne Moss. 

Ms Moss echoed some of Mr Seymour’s comments, outlining the practical process and successes of de-layering regulation in New Zealand, saying that regulators often did not appreciate the opportunity cost when businesses had to comply with outdated regulation. 

“We need to ensure that new regulation is up to date, fit for purpose and will last the test of time.” she said. 

Ms O’Rourke spoke about the value of regulatory simplification, and the many issues that needed to be considered when removing or modifying regulation. 

“Nothing we administer has no use – but how do we determine which have less impact than others, or are counterproductive? The process if not quick, often not announceable, it’s difficult but very necessary work,” she said. 

Ms Moss concluded the panel by saying that ‘the question of ‘why haven’t we cut red tape? is the wrong question’. 

“We’re not here to cut red tape, we’re here to make things better for New Zealanders. Productivity is about people having happier, healthier and wealthier lives, need to tell the story of how regulation enables this.” 

The NRCoP conferences are held every second year, and are attracting a bigger audience each time. Thanks to the NRCoP steering committee, NRCoP chair Rebecca Billings, Director of Regulatory Practice Ashley Bunce and all the presenters and attendees.