Workshop discusses if Australia's public law institutions are fit for purpose in an age of government automation

The Hub's 'Technologies and the Rule of Law Stream' and the Gilbert + Tobin Centre of Public Law's 'Administrative Law and Justice Project' recently cohosted an online workshop on the public law implications of government automation. The workshop brought together government law practitioners, public servants, judges, technology experts and legal scholars to discuss whether Australia's public law institutions are fit for purpose in an age of government automation. Bringing together professionals with this range of of expertise and experience provided an opportunity to workshop practical solutions to some of the challenges that government automation presents for public law and to discuss the opportunities for governments to use technology better while upholding public law values. The topics covered included the use of automated systems to assist legislative drafters, rules as code projects, the role of administrative law oversight institutions in reviewing automated government decisions, the function of parliament and parliamentary committees in facilitating and overseeing automated government programs, relationships between the public and private sectors in designing and building automated government systems and how to ensure fairness in automated government processes. 

An edited collection of papers from the workshop will be published by the Federation Press in early 2021.

The workshop was held on 19 June and like so many events in 2020, the workshop was originally planned to be held in-person, but was re-designed as a virtual event. The project's leaders - Dr Janina Boughey, Katie Miller and Dr Monika Zalnieriute - wanted to make sure that the event retained a 'workshop' feel, with a focus on discussion amongst participants, in the online setting. This was achieved thanks to the enthusiasm of participants, by designing the event around a series of problems to be addressed rather than presentations from participants, and the expert facilitation of sessions by Human Rights Commissioner, Ed Santow, Professor Lyria Bennett-Moses, Katie Miller and Professor Rosalind Dixon.