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speech

ASIC Annual Forum 2024: Bridging generations – regulating for all Australians

Keynote opening address by ÷ÈÓ°Ö±²¥ Chair Joe Longo at the ÷ÈÓ°Ö±²¥ Annual Forum, 14 November 2024

Published

Headshot of Joe Longo

Key points

  • As a community, we rightly value regulation as a necessary part of our lives to advance and protect the interests of everyone, particularly the vulnerable.
  • Against this background of multiple waves of reform, past present and future, and as we stand on the cusp of ever more change – it’s time for a renewed national discussion about regulatory complexity.
  • It's time to ask: is this working, and if not, what should be done? It means looking to the future and considering how things should evolve to deal with not just the problems of this generation – but also the next. That challenge is front of mind for ÷ÈÓ°Ö±²¥.

Check against delivery

Firstly, welcome to the ÷ÈÓ°Ö±²¥ Annual Forum – our 27th!

Thank you to Aunty Joan for her welcome to country. I also acknowledge the Traditional Owners of the lands on which we meet today, the Gadigal people of the Eora Nation, and I pay my respects to Elders past, present and emerging.

Thank you also to our co-hosts Amelia and Michael. We are all in good hands for the next day and a half.

There are too many distinguished guests to acknowledge, but I do want to thank my fellow ÷ÈÓ°Ö±²¥ Commissioners – Deputy Chair Sarah Court, Kate O’Rourke, Alan Kirkland and Simone Constant, as well as the many ÷ÈÓ°Ö±²¥ staff and leaders who have made this event possible.

Twelve months ago, I opened last year’s ÷ÈÓ°Ö±²¥ Annual Forum by observing “now more than ever, we’re all navigating complex, even uncharted, waters.â€[1]

And today, I would add that we’re navigating those waters with overly-complex tools – a fragmented system where everything was designed for a specific circumstance…but no tool was designed with all the others in mind.

To drop the metaphor and speak plainly – I’m ta