Speeches
Thursday, 04 June 2026
Officially open the Council of Australasian Tribunals Annual Conference
I am pleased to join you today to open the Council of Australasian Tribunals Annual Conference.
I warmly welcome delegates to Adelaide from across Australia and New Zealand, in person and online.
We’ve not delivered you the best weather this week, but I trust you’ll still enjoy what Adelaide has to offer, including some world-class food and wine.
The National Wine Centre is a great place to start!
If I may begin on a personal note: like many students drawn to public life, I once considered studying Law.
However, my eventual path was Economics and the diplomatic service.
Of course, as Governor I do perform a constitutional and legal role in giving Royal Assent, and retain the reserve powers and the prerogative of mercy, so perhaps I am not so far removed from my original aspiration.
The path of law fell to my sister, the Honourable Justice Christine Adamson of the Court of Appeal of the Supreme Court of New South Wales.
Through Christine I have some inkling of the discipline, the weight of responsibility, and the genuine satisfaction that comes from work in the service of justice.
Friends,
Tribunals occupy a place in our justice system that is sometimes, I think, underappreciated.
They sit at the point where citizens encounter the machinery of the state most directly in their everyday lives, and where the quality of that encounter matters profoundly.
Whether resolving a tenancy dispute, reviewing a visa decision, adjudicating a matter of professional discipline, or handling some of the most sensitive questions in a person's life, tribunals perform work that is vital to the health of our democracy and to the confidence of ordinary people in the fairness of public institutions.
The 2026 conference theme of ‘Respect, Flexibility and Excellence’ is a strong reflection of the values that define quality tribunal practice undergoing a period of significant change.
Respect speaks to the humanity owed to every person who comes before a tribunal, often at a difficult or uncertain moment in their lives.
Flexibility speaks to the agility required of institutions that must evolve to meet shifting community expectations and technological realities.
And excellence speaks to the standard of decision-making that the public is entitled to expect.
As Governor, I regularly engage with South Australia's institutions of public administration, and I am heartened by the dedication I observe in those who carry out this work.
Staff are often managing high volumes of complex and sensitive matters with professionalism, rigour and a deep commitment to fairness.
I am therefore particularly pleased to see that this conference will give careful attention to the wellbeing and resilience of tribunal members and staff — because institutions of excellence depend, above all, on the people within them.
The conference program reflects the breadth of challenges and opportunities before the sector.
From enhancing communication and inclusion for self-represented participants and those from culturally and linguistically diverse backgrounds, to strengthening procedural fairness in practice, to the growing and profound questions raised by artificial intelligence — both as a tool available to tribunals, and as a technology increasingly employed by those who appear before them.
These are not abstract questions: they go to the heart of how tribunals maintain integrity, accessibility and public trust in a rapidly changing world.
I look forward to hearing how this gathering of distinguished practitioners grapples with them over the coming days.
I thank the Council of Australasian Tribunals for the important contribution it makes as the peak body supporting tribunals across Australasia, promoting best practice, developing professional standards, and deepening ties between jurisdictions - and for bringing this national conference to Adelaide.
It is now my pleasure to declare the 2026 Council of Australasian Tribunals National Conference officially open.