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2002 INTERNATIONAL INSTITUTE FOR PUBLIC ETHICS (IIPE) BIENNIAL CONFERENCE

The Biennial IIPE Conference follows on from the Ethics in the Public Service (EPS) Conferences held since the late 1980s. The 2000 IIPE Conference was held in Ottawa, Canada and was opened by Canada’s Prime Minister, The Right Honourable Jean Chrétien. Participants shared their views on the central challenges of ethics programs, from the perspective of both state-of-the-art theory and lessons learnt from the most effective practices. Attendees from a variety of academic, government, business and non-governmental organisations shared their experiences. The 2002 IIPE Conference in Brisbane promises to develop this tradition. Academics and practitioners in ethics and governance are coming from around the world to discuss and debate how "the public interest" can be reconstructed in a globalising world, given the range of 'publics' who are affected by the actions of: accountants, auditors, business executives, doctors, politicians, priests, public servants, scientists, soldiers; etc. The Conference will also discuss some of the more pressing issues for public ethics in today's tumultuous world, such as: responding to asylum seekers and displaced persons; responding to international terrorism; and East / West Dialogue on the 'Public Interest'

2002 AUSTRALIAN ASSOCIATION FOR PROFESSIONAL AND APPLIED ETHICS (AAPAE) ANNUAL CONFERENCE

AAPAE and IIPE are joining forces in 2002 in order to enhance the experience of those who attend each conference. The AAPAE conference will be held on the first two days (October 4th and 5th). However, there is a special rate for those AAPAE members wishing to attend the full four days. The combining of the conferences will give AAPAE members access to an increased range of professionals, engaged academics and informed practitioners. This will be AAPAE'S 9th Annual Conference. The previous AAPAE Conference was held in Adelaide and was attended by a number of professionals and academics from the areas as diverse as nursing, health care, workers’ compensation, engineering, education, defence, criminology, social work, and business. One aim of the Annual AAPAE Conference is to facilitate networking between individuals and institutions interested in the areas of professional and applied ethics.

CORE THEME: RECONSTRUCTING 'THE PUBLIC INTEREST' IN A GLOBALISING WORLD

Arguably, some conception of 'the public interest' is at the heart of institutional forms of ethics. Conceptions of 'the public interest' underpin public sector ethics; professional ethics (including legal, medical, media, engineering and accountancy); business ethics; military ethics; and the internal governance of not-for-profit and non-government organisations.

Although there is much debate about what constitutes the public interest, there has been little controversy about the boundaries of ‘the public’ to which that debate is addressed. However, globalisation challenges those boundaries – as it does many others. Should public servants only consider the citizens of their own country when their actions increasingly affect those in other countries or in transition between countries? When a corporation operates in several countries, should it take into consideration the interests of the people of the state in which it operates and the interests of the people of the state where it originated?

The military were seen as serving the state and its citizens. However, they now have responsibilities to abide by international law, international organisations and the peoples of other territories through peacekeeping efforts. Professionals who are educated, privileged and creatures of nation states tended to see themselves as serving the public of that nation state. However, does the breaking down of barriers between states mean that professions should reconceive of themselves as ‘international professions’ with wider responsibilities?

Each of the major themes will have some sub-themes with special sessions devoted to them.

ISSUES OF NATIONAL AND INTERNATIONAL SIGNIFICANCE

In addition to the conference theme and relevant sub-themes, the conference will promote discussion of critical current questions in public ethics.

Responding to asylum seekers and displaced persons

Responding to international terrorism

East / West Dialogue on "Public Interest"
  • The future of the relations between Islam and the West
  • Moral or ethical reasoning across cultures
  • The possibility of shared or global values
  • Tolerating and embracing difference
  • State sovereignty and human rights.

CURRENT WORK IN PROFESSIONAL AND APPLIED ETHICS IN AUSTRALIA

This regular feature of AAPAE conferences will provide an opportunity for international delegates to familiarise themselves with the wide range of Australian theoretical and applied work in professional and applied ethics.

ETHICS AND GOVERNANCE TOOLS

Increasingly, tools, systems, laws and institutional processes are emerging as theoretical and philosophical perspectives on Public Ethics become established. Public officials must be trained to make ethically-competent decisions, transparency regimes rely on laws and procedures and review mechanisms must be available, and understood by officials, Ministers, journalists and citizens. This Conference - and especially its workshops - will enable those working to institutionalise advanced applied ethics and governance practice to see at first hand what is being developed in other systems and cultures, and to demonstrate their own insights and strategies, particularly in the following areas:

  • The expression of a society s underlying values (eg. ethics laws, Codes and institutions)
  • Independence and accountability of public sector agencies (eg. auditing and reporting)
  • Transparency mechanisms (eg. Freedom of Information legislation; Whistleblower protection)
  • Appeal institutions and standard-setting (eg. protection of merit, professionalisation)
  • Review and oversight processes (eg. Ombudsman and other administrative review)
  • Training and education (eg. competence-based processes; institutionalisation of lessons learned)
  • Integrity systems (eg. probity assessments, integrity audits, corruption detection measures)
  • Community capacity-building strategies (eg. consultation, engagement and evaluation processes).

SUB THEMES

A number of sub themes related to the core theme will be explored.

Public sector ethics and the Public Interest
  • Ethical issues in Indigenous governance
  • Ethics of elected officials
  • Police ethics
  • The ethics of intervention
  • Ethics and administrative law
  • Ethics of government advertising
  • Ethics and the right to know: FOI, commercial-in-confidence, privatisation and whistleblowing.

Business Ethics and the Public Interest
  • Ethical investment: rediscovering the public role of corporations
  • Ethics and international investment: which public?
  • Ethics for consultants in ethics and governance
  • Media ethics in a global age.

    • Professional Ethics and the Public Interest
    • Ethics for public consultants
    • Global ethics and global technology
    • Legal ethics and the corporatisation of the legal profession
    • The ethics of mixed professions – accountancy and law
    • Medical ethics and the corporatisation of medicine
    • Military ethics in a globalising age. NGOs and the Public Interest
    • Ethics and the internet – governance of the internet and governance through the internet
    • Biotechnology and ethics and regulating the human genome
    • Ethics of international NGOs.

    Issues crossing government, corporate and business ethics
    • Ethics and corruption
    • Ethics audits: a new tool?
    • Maintaining the public / private interface
    • Institutionalising ethics in organisations
    • Mapping national integrity systems
    • Developing international integrity systems.

    Future direction: globalising public ethics research

    Papers are welcome on all these topics and on others within the theme of public ethics broadly conceived. Individuals or groups seeking to organise workshops within this broad theme are particularly welcome.

    CONFERENCE ORGANISING COMMITTEE

    Justice Barry O'Keefe, Supreme Court of New South Wales
    President, Conference Organising Committee

    Professor Charles Sampford, KCELJAG, Griffith University
    Vice President (Research) and President Elect, International Institute for Public Ethics
    Foundation Professor of Law, Griffith University and Director, Key Centre for Ethics, Law, Justice and Governance.

    Mr. Howard Whitton, Department of the Premier and Cabinet, Queensland
    Vice President (Consultancy)

    Dr Julian Lamont, AAPAE Representative

    Mr Douglas Magendanz, Conference Secretary

    Mr Clem Campbell, Sponsorship Co-ordinator

    Ms Lynette Farquhar, Manager, KCELJAG.