AELERT Regulatory Masterclass on Regulatory Integrity, Ethics and Professionalism featuring Keith Manch and Dr Marie Doole

Two of New Zealand’s most respected figures in environmental regulation, six cities and one masterclass addressing the questions every agency is now navigating: how to uphold integrity, professionalism and the public interest under pressure.

Integrity is the foundation of regulatory legitimacy. When it holds, regulators make defensible decisions, moderate undue influence and retain public trust. When it slips, the damage is slow, quiet and hard to reverse. Across Australia and Aotearoa New Zealand, regulators are being asked to uphold that standard in a harder environment: reform is reshaping mandates, resourcing is stretched, and pressure arrives from regulated parties and from within the authorising environment alike. In this masterclass, you will learn from two experienced regulatory leaders what integrity, ethics and professionalism require in practice, and how agencies can strengthen them deliberately rather than assuming they will hold.

Program overview

Regulatory capture, undue influence and integrity failure rarely announce themselves. They accumulate through small compromises: a relationship managed poorly, a decision made to quiet the loudest voice, a standard lowered under pressure from above. Left unexamined, these actions erode the public interest outcomes regulation exists to deliver.

Drawing on real regulatory experience and current research, Keith Manch and Dr Marie Doole will lead you through the fundamentals of good regulatory practice, management of the authorising environment, the operational areas where integrity risks concentrate, and the mechanics of regulatory capture and how to build resilience to and mitigate it. The format is deliberately discussion-based: participants bring their own experience into the room and leave with practical, tested approaches you can apply immediately.

This masterclass draws on real-world regulatory experience, practical integrity frameworks and discussion-based learning to work through the questions regulators are navigating right now:

• What does integrity look like in good regulatory practice?
• How do regulators maintain professionalism and public interest decision-making under pressure?
• How can agencies identify, manage and mitigate risks such as undue influence and regulatory capture?
• What practical steps can your agency take now to strengthen integrity, ethics and professionalism?

The masterclass sessions are discussion-based and will draw on your own experiences and from others in the room to build collective capability for all participants and operate under Chatham House Rules.

Event details

Dates: August 31 – September 3, 2026

Delivery: In-person only

Duration: 9:00am to 3:30pm

Ticket pricing:

• AELERT & affiliate members*: $500 + GST and booking fees
• Non-member: $750 + GST and booking fees

Member pricing is extended to affiliated professional bodies including IPAA ACT, EIANZ, NELA, NRCoP, and AIPIO. You may be asked to prove valid membership upon registration.

Terms and conditions: Please review the AELERT event registration terms and conditions.

Register in your city

The Masterclass on Regulatory Integrity, Ethics and Professionalism featuring Keith Manch and Dr Marie Doole runs in six locations. The same program is delivered in each city.

Meet your facilitators

Who should attend?

Integrity, ethics and professionalism are tested daily across an agency, not only in senior roles. This masterclass is core to professional development for all regulatory staff and is designed for practitioners at every level. Those newer to the concept of integrity and capture will develop a common language and the ability to identify the risk of undue influence. Managers and leaders address the more complex judgements around the authorising environment, decision-making under pressure and systemic resilience. As these risks affect every part of an agency, this session is most effective as shared training, with mixed cohorts establishing a consistent standard across teams.

This masterclass is for:

• Frontline practitioners in compliance, enforcement, investigations, monitoring and assessment
• Managers and team leaders responsible for regulatory decisions and relationships
• Senior leaders and executives accountable for regulatory strategy, culture and capability
• Integrity, ethics, assurance and governance professionals
• Policy and legislative professionals designing or reviewing regulatory frameworks
• Legal advisers to regulators, in-house and external
• Academics, researchers and students working on regulatory practice and integrity

The masterclass may apply an environmental regulatory lens to cater to AELERT members; however, the content applies across every regulatory portfolio, including workplace safety, competition and consumer protection, privacy, planning and heritage, primary industries, resources, health, and integrity and anti-corruption.

Outcomes for you and your agency

This masterclass will help you and your agency:

• Build a shared language and standard for integrity, ethics and professionalism across the agency
• Recognise undue influence and regulatory capture risks, and how to implement mitigation strategies
• Strengthen public-interest decision-making under pressure from regulated parties and the authorising environment
• Bring practical, tested approaches to your workplace you can apply immediately
• Connect with regulators across jurisdictions and portfolios facing the same challenges

A certificate of attendance is provided to support CPD and capability records.

Event sponsors

The AELERT Regulatory Masterclass series is proudly sponsored by Objective Corporation.

FAQs