This event is proudly a part of the Australian Festival of Democracy and Human Rights.

RSVP here.

The conference is still in development, but please see the draft programme below.

We’re excited to announce the following speakers at the 2025 conference:
Lydia Khalil
Director - Senior Research Fellow
Deakin University & The Lowy Institute
Lydia Khalil is a Senior Research Fellow at the Alfred Deakin Institute and serves as Convenor of the Addressing Violent Extremism and Radicalisation to Terrorism (AVERT) Network. She is also a Project Director at the Lowy Institute. 

In her capacity at Deakin University, in addition to her research focus, she also serves as Convener of the AVERT (Addressing Violent Extremism and Radicalisation to Terrorism) Research Network and as liaison to the Research and Evaluation Working Group (REWG) of CVESC. As part of her work with the Lowy Institute, Lydia manages the Transnational Challenges Program and Digital Threats to Democracy Project.

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Saffron Zomer
Executive Director
Australian Democracy Network
Saffron is a lawyer, campaigner and political strategist with more than a decade of experience leading law reform campaigns. Saffron founded Australian Democracy Network in 2020 as a place for people worried about democracy to come together and do something positive about it; to protect and strengthen our democracy and unlock progress on issues that get stuck when democracy fails.

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9:00 AM	Welcome
9:15 AM	A systems map of democratic erosion Keynote: Lydia Khalil
10:00 AM	What this new parliament means for democracy reform Saffron Zomer (Australian Democracy Network)
10:30 AM	Break
11:00 AM	Inclusive democracy: Working to achieve the universal franchise for people with disability Panel discussion:Rosemary Kayess, Australia’s Disability Discrimination Commissioner and member of the UN Committee on the Rights of Persons with Disability | Nathan Despott, Inclusion Melbourne | Vaughn Bennison, CEO, Disability Voices Tasmania
11:45 AM	An introduction to the Jeff Bleich Centre for Democracy and Digital Disruption Emma Thomas
11:50 AM	New research on political trust Max Groemping - Under what conditions do guardrail institutions support public trust? Anna Zinn - The impact of perceived state capture in the environmental context Sam Pearson - Beyond Facts: AI dialogues and resistance to clean energy technologies
12:30 PM	Lunch
1:15 PM	Poster session Scholars and advocates present their work in poster format and conversationally to conference attendees.***
2:00 PM	Violent Extremism and Democracy Panel Discussion (AVERT): Professor Julian Droogan, Macquarie University | Associate Professor Emily Corner, Australian National University | Dr Levi West, Australian National University | Dr Jade Hutchinson, Macquarie University
2:50 PM	Break
3:15 PM	Youth and Democracy Sarah Moulds (Chair) | Zane LeBlond (UniSA and Minister’s Youth Advisory Council of South Australia) | Stella Dienl (UniSA and Salisbury City Council) | Chris Proctor (Rito o te Pāremata New Zealand) | Liam Calder (Rito o te Pāremata New Zealand) | Georgia Thain (Youth Affairs Council of South Australia)
3:45 PM	Scaling up the science of democracy Winnifred Louis - Democracy and human rights in space and time: The longitudinal Queensland survey Emma Thomas - Anti-immigration conspiracy beliefs are associated with endorsement of conventional and violent actions opposing immigration and attitudes towards democracy across 21 countries Mengbin (Ben) Ye - Democracy on Reddit: A network science approach to estimating deliberation in online discussion forums Simon Angus - Tracking policy-relevant narratives of democratic resilience at scale
4:30 PM	Closing session: How resilient is Australia’s democracy after the 2025 election? Survey and other evidence Nick Biddle
5:30 PM	After drinks

*** Scholars and advocates interested in submitting a poster can learn more here.