20/20 Hindsight: Reflections on Perceptions of Trust in Corporations

The 2020 conference was held at an interesting time. Much of Eastern Australia had just experienced an unusually intense bushfire season, and Australia was beginning to feel the effects of the COVID-19 pandemic. Despite these difficulties over 100 delegates attended the 2020 conference.

The conference theme invited participants to reflect on the reasons why a significant proportion of the population does not trust business; and by implication the corporate entities and the directors and officers that control those businesses. The conference focused on the changes to organisational and governance arrangements and regulatory regimes that had (recently) been introduced or could be introduced to build trust. The conference was convened by Professor Michelle Welsh, Dr Vivien Chen, and Dr Michael Duffy.

The plenary programme included keynote addresses from Professor Lorraine Talbot from the University of Birmingham, and Professor Benjamin Richardson from the University of Tasmania. A plenary panel comprised of Bob Santamaria, former Group General Counsel, ANZ Bank; Heather Loewenthal, Partner Governance, Regulation and Conduct, Deloitte; and Marie McDonald, Non-executive Director of CSL, Nanosonics and Nufarm discussed the impact of the Royal Commission on Corporate Boards, Corporate Governance and Corporate Culture. The panel was chaired by Professor Jennifer Hill.