Brave Conversations Canberra 2017 followed on from the Meta conferences (2008 - 2011) and was our first event as a part of the Web Science network. These earlier events were held at the height of the Open Data and Open Gov reforms around the world, in the very early days of what became known as Web 2.0.
In the first quarter of 2017 the Australian Prime Minister was Malcolm Turnbull, who managed to be berated by Donald Trump before being rolled by Tony Abbott, there was further ministerial scandal with Health Minister Susan Ley being investigated for taxpayer funded trips to the Gold Coast, and Julie Bishop claiming expenses to attend a polo match. NSW got it’s first female Premier in Gladys Berejiklian. South Australia had massive power losses due to an unprecedented heat wave and then announced the construction of Australia's largest grid-connected battery and gas-fired power plant to provide the state with emergency back-up power and system stability.
This event saw us partners with the Ethics Centre, The AIIA and the UK’s New Philanthropy Capital.
Initial blog about the event and its objectives.
2017
