Professor Paul Mazerolle, Chair, Global Integrity Summit
Pro Vice Chancellor (Arts, Education and Law) Griffith University

13 October 2015

Welcome to the 2015 Global Integrity Summit.

My name is Paul Mazerolle and my role is as the Chair of the Global Integrity Summit.

I would like to begin by acknowledging the Traditional Owners of the land on which we gather today and pay my respect to their elders past and present and extend that respect to other Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people.

As chair of the 2015 Global Integrity Summit I wish to extend a warm welcome to each and every one of you here in attendance today. I want to particularly acknowledge and welcome our many speakers who have travelled to be here as well as the many young people in attendance who have shown an interest in the issues and themes which this Summit will address.

As some of you are aware, the 2015 Global Summit is the second Summit we have hosted following on from the 2014 event here in Brisbane. The 2014 Summit was delivered in advance of Brisbane’s hosting of the G20 meeting, and our effort last year examined the many integrity issues associated with the core issues of interest for the G20.

Our tact this year has been toward a broader remit; a broader agenda; a more comprehensive focus. In that regard, we have embraced the twin meanings of integrity— including the importance of honesty and embracing and adhering to strong moral and ethical principles, as well as striving toward a state of being whole, undivided and undiminished.

That dual focus —embracing strong moral principles and the state of being undiminished— is reflected in the 2015 Summit. We have broadened the focus of the summit across two days with day one being focused on the big picture or the big challenges facing society including human rights and human security; climate change and climate justice, free speech, press power, and integrity in journalism, big data, secrecy, surveillance and privacy.

With the second day exploring in more detail particular aspects of integrity challenges for businesses and corporations and our various financial systems and institutions –this will be captured in the Integrity Roundtable.

Collectively, the 2015 Global Integrity Summit will provide a much needed platform for examining many of the big challenges of our time and illuminating their integrity related concerns as well as the implications for the world in which we live and the world in which our grandchildren will inherit.