Meet our speakers

The Hon. Justice Debra Mullins AO

President, Court of Appeal, Supreme Court of Queensland

  • Justice Debra Mullins AO holds the degrees of Bachelor of Commerce, Bachelor of Laws with Honours and Master of Laws (Advanced) from the University of Queensland. After first being admitted as a solicitor in 1980, Justice Mullins was admitted as a barrister in 1984 and practised at the Bar in Queensland becoming Senior Counsel for the State of Queensland in 1998. Justice Mullins was appointed a Judge of the Supreme Court of Queensland in March 2000, a Judge of Appeal in January 2020 and the President of the Court of Appeal in May 2022. Other positions held by Justice Mullins include Chancellor of the Anglican Diocese of Brisbane and a member of the Standing Committee of the Anglican Church of Australia since 2014 and a trustee of the Sylvia & Charles Charitable Foundation since 2005.

The Hon. Keith Mason AC KC

Former President of the New South Wales Court of Appeal

  • The Hon Keith Mason AC KC served as Solicitor-General for NSW, President of the NSW Court of Appeal and President of the Electoral Commission of NSW. His working time is now spent mainly as a writer of historical biography, and an independent arbiter assisting Parliaments in NSW and ACT. Keith was the Chancellor of the Anglican Diocese of Armidale (1990-2017) and a Member, later President, of the Appellate Tribunal of the Anglican Church of Australia (2007-2022).

Barbara Chan

Former Judge of the District Court of Hong Kong

  • Barbara Chan is a former District Court Judge in Hong Kong who witnessed Christ’s power in her courtroom after she invited Jesus to rule and reign in all her cases. She encountered God during her solicitor’s final exams in London. Called to serve God in Law in Hong Kong, she returned to Hong Kong, and was eventually appointed a District Court Judge. During her work as Judge she applied her faith to Law. She honoured God as the final Judge, seeking His wisdom and discernment to come to her findings in facts and in applying the Law. She is passionate to see His justice and righteousness prevail. In the process God trained her to build His purposes into every situation she faced in the Courtroom.   She witnessed God’s amazing work in her cases. Upon retirement she serves as CEO of Transform Our World Hong Kong, part of Transform Our World Global to build the body of Christ to serve God in every sphere of influence. 

Julian Leeser MP

Federal Shadow Attorney-General

  • Julian Leeser has been the Federal Member for Berowra since July 2016. He has served as Shadow Attorney-General and Shadow Minister for the Arts since May 2025. 

    As the Federal Member for Berowra Julian has been a vocal advocate for the local community. He has helped deliver the $412.3 million Federal investment in NorthConnex, which has transformed Pennant Hills Road, taking 6,000 trucks off the road every day meaning fewer accidents, faster travel times and less noise for local residents. He has also secured much needed funding for sporting infrastructure upgrades to Greenway Park, Pennant Hills Park, Dural Park and Headen Park and $10 million for the NSW Government to plan for improvements to New Line Road.

    Julian has led the charge for better telecommunications for our electorate and other outer suburban communities around Australia. Julian’s work has led to the establishment of the Peri-Urban Mobile Program and NBN upgrades in the Berowra community. 

    He has also delivered hundreds of grants to local community organisations. 

    Serving the community through elected office has been a life-long passion for Julian. He was the youngest councillor in Australia when he was elected to Woollahra Council at age 19 and an elected delegate to the Constitutional Convention in 1998 aged 21.

    Julian has degrees in Arts and Law from the University of NSW and is a Graduate of the Australian Institute of Company Directors. He spent a year as a Visiting Fellow at the Taubman Centre at the John F Kennedy School of Government at Harvard University.  

    Prior to his election, Julian was variously a senior executive at Australian Catholic University, Executive Director of the Menzies Research Centre, a lawyer at Mallesons Stephen Jacques (now King & Wood Mallesons) and was an associate to High Court Justice Ian Callinan. Julian served on several boards including Mercy Health and Teach for Australia.  

    Julian is a person of faith and is committed to a strong diverse Australia. Julian is the first Jewish person elected to the House of Representatives from New South Wales for the Liberal Party.

    Julian is passionate about the Australian Constitution and proud of its link to the electorate of Berowra. In 1891 a group including Australia’s first Prime Minister, Sir Edmund Barton, and the first Chief Justice of the High Court Sir Samuel Griffith, took the steamer Lucinda up the Hawkesbury from Brooklyn and worked on the first draft of the Australian Constitution.

    Julian was born and raised in Sydney and lives in the electorate with his wife Joanna with their son James and daughter Ruth.

Dr Lorraine Finlay

Australian Human Rights Commissioner

  • Dr Lorraine Finlay is the Human Rights Commissioner at the Australian Human Rights Commission. In this role Lorraine leads the work of the Commission in areas including modern slavery, emergency responses, asylum seekers and refugees, business & human rights, and technology & human rights.  

    Prior to joining the Commission, Lorraine has worked as a lawyer and academic specializing in human rights and public law. She holds a PhD in Law from the University of Queensland and a dual Masters in Law from New York University and the National University of Singapore, where she studied as a Singapura Scholar. Her past roles have included working as the Senior Human Trafficking Specialist with the Australian Mission to ASEAN, an academic at Murdoch University, and a State Prosecutor with the WA DPP.

Kara Martin

Adjunct Professor, Gordon-Conwell Theological Seminary, Boston and Author of ‘Workship: How to Use Your Work to Worship God’

  • Kara Martin is the author of Workship: How to Use your Work to Worship God, and Workship 2: How to Flourish at Work; co-author of Keeping Faith: How Christian organisations can stay true to the way of Jesus, and was co-editor of Transforming Vocation: Connecting Theology, Church, and the Workplace for a Flourishing World. She is a lecturer with Mary Andrews College and Adjunct Professor with Gordon-Conwell Theological Seminary, Boston. Kara is also a Visiting Fellow with the Mockler Center for Faith and Ethics in the Public Square and on the Board of the Theology of Work Project in the US. She has worked in media and communications, human resources, business analysis and policy development roles, in a variety of organisations, and as a consultant. Kara has presented, taught and run workshops in churches and theological colleges in Indonesia, Singapore, Malaysia, the US, New Zealand and throughout Australia. She is the 2024 winner of the Australian Faith & Work Award (presented by Ethos/Evangelical Alliance).

Professor Michael Adams

University of New England

  • Professor Michael Adams is a specialist in Australian corporate law and international corporate governance. Michael has expertise in financial services, information governance, consumer protection and legal technology. He graduated in Law and Business in 1984 and became an academic lawyer in 1989, including a professor of corporate law in 1997 — the same year he came to the Lord through the Alpha course at a local church. In 2007 became Dean of Law at WSU and again in 2019 Head of Law at UNE. In 2025 Michael moved to a portfolio role, including directorships and consultancies and Adjunct Professorships. He has published 12 books, 38 chapters, >130 articles and presented at >350 conferences/seminars in the last 35 years. In 2020 named “Academic Lawyer of the Year” by Lawyers Weekly in the 20th Australian Law Awards. 2000 Australian University Teacher of the Year in “Law and Legal Studies” and recipient of the Governance Institute of Australia President’s Award and Life Member. His Christian journey has taken him to be an elder of two NSW Churches of Christ churches and working part-time as Ministry Governance Specialist, helping the boards of 60 Churches of Christ' churches in NSW and ACT on governance.

Professor Nicholas Aroney

Professor of Constitutional Law, The University of Queensland, Director (Public Law) of the Centre for Public, International and Comparative Law and a Senior Fellow of the Centre for Law and Religion at Emory University

  • Nicholas Aroney is Professor of Constitutional Law at The University of Queensland, Director of the Centre for Comparative, International and Comparative Law, and a Senior Fellow of the Centre for Law and Religion at Emory University. His publications include: The Constitution of a Federal Commonwealth: The Making and Meaning of the Australian Constitution (2009), Shari'a in the West (2010) (edited with Rex Ahdar), The Constitution of the Commonwealth of Australia: History, Principle and Interpretation (2015) (with Peter Gerangelos, James Stellios and Sarah Murray), and Christianity and Constitutionalism (2022) (edited with Ian Leigh).

Associate Professor Dr Alex Deagon

Queensland University of Technology

  • Dr Alex Deagon is an Associate Professor in the School of Law, Queensland University of Technology. He is an internationally recognised researcher in jurisprudence, law and theology, law and religion, and religious freedom. His PhD, ‘Using Christian Theology and Philosophy to Construct a Jurisprudence of Truth’, received the Chancellor’s Medal for outstanding excellence. The PhD was subsequently published as a book in 2017: From Violence to Peace: Theology, Law and Community with Hart Publishing, Oxford. Alex’s second book, A Principled Framework for the Autonomy of Religious Communities: Reconciling Freedom and Discrimination, was published in 2023 also with Hart Publishing, Oxford. Alex’s third book, Christian Natural Law and Religious Freedom: A Foundation Based on Love, The True, and the Good, was published in 2025 with Routledge. Alex has more than 50 publications including in leading national and international journals such as Law, Culture and the Humanities, Political Theology, the Harvard Journal of Law and Public Policy, the Oxford Journal of Law and Religion, the Journal of Law and Religion, the Melbourne University Law Review, the University of New South Wales Law Journal, and the Federal Law Review. He is the founding co-editor of the Australian Journal of Law and Religion, a member of the Editorial Board for the International Journal for Religious Freedom, a member of the Academic Advisory Board for the International Institute for Religious Freedom, and a Board Member of Freedom For Faith. Alex has been cited extensively by Commonwealth Parliamentary Committees and Inquiries on religious freedom, including in the proceedings of the Commonwealth Parliament of Australia. He is a Senior Fellow of the Higher Education Academy and lectures in Theories of Law, Constitutional Law, and Evidence.

Emeritus Professor Patrick Parkinson AM

The University of Queensland

  • Patrick Parkinson AM, MA, LLM, LLD is an Emeritus Professor of Law and former Dean of Law at the University of Queensland. Professor Parkinson has been involved in advocacy for religious freedom in Australia for many years, in particular as board member and sometime Chair of Freedom for Faith. He is an expert on family law and child protection and has held various positions chairing governmental advisory bodies in Australia in these areas, leading to significant law reform. His latest book is Unshaken Allegiance: Living wisely as Christians with diminishing religious freedoms (Matthias Media, 2025)

    He is currently the Executive Director of Publica, a Christian organisation concerned with strengthening family and community relationships.

Bruce Burgess

Founding Director, PeaceWise

  • Bruce Burgess is joyfully married to Helen and is father to two adult children. Based in Sydney, he is the Founding Director of PeaceWise, a national, cross-denominational Christian peacemaking organisation established in 2007 dedicated to ‘promoting peace and reconciliation in relationships through biblical principles and the power of Christ.’ He is an internationally renowned speaker and was Australia's first Certified Christian Conciliator™. Having passed the baton of leadership of PeaceWise to its current CEO three years ago, his portfolio responsibility these days is for PeaceWiseKids and PeaceWiseYouth — the programs aimed at building young people to be peacemakers for life. Bruce is also the Practice Principal for Burgess Consultants, where he ​provides corporate legal and governance advice and advises on significant corporate transactions to a large financial institution. Having begun his working life in one of Australia's leading law firms, then working in a corporate environment, then going to Bible College, and now combining working for PeaceWise alongside corporate legal consulting, he has a rich breadth of experience working as a Christian lawyer across a range of different contexts.

Dr Mark Fowler

Principal, Fowler Charity Law and Chair, Australian Christian Legal Society

  • Dr Mark Fowler is the Chair of the Australian Christian Legal Society, the Principal Lawyer of Fowler Charity Law and author of Beauty and the Law: A Primer in Philosophy and Theology for Enquiring Minds Committed to the Common Good (Shepherd Street Press, 2024). Dr Fowler is a practicing lawyer whose specialist areas of advice include the law applying to not-for-profit organisations, income tax exempt institutions, charities and deductible gift recipients. He has advised a wide range of schools and other educational institutions, international aid organisations, charitable housing associations, benevolent institutions, disability service providers, peak bodies, arts and cultural organisations and religious organisations.

    Prior to establishing Fowler Charity Law Pty Ltd in 2019, Mark was a Partner in leading national charity and not-for-profit law firms located in Sydney and Brisbane. He is an Appeals Panel member for the Australian Council for International Development (ACFID), the peak body for Australian non-government organisations (NGOs) involved in international development and humanitarian action. He is a member of the Australian Charities and Not-for-Profits Commission Professional Users Group and has served as a member of the Queensland Law Society’s Human Rights Working Group. Mark is also an Adjunct Associate Professor at the University of Notre Dame, School of Law, Sydney, and an Adjunct Associate Professor in the Law School at his alma mater, the University of New England. He is also an External Fellow at the Centre for Public, International and Comparative Law, University of Queensland. He holds a doctorate degree in law conferred by the University of Queensland in 2023. He has authored several research publications.

Steve Frost

Founding Director, Horizons Family Law Centre

  • Steve Frost is the founder of Horizons Family Law Centre, a community legal service run as an expression of Christian faith. Since 2005, Horizons has worked in collaboration with local churches, and other faith & non-faith NGO’s, to help families in crisis create something they’ll experience as ‘Good News’. Their work is directed primarily towards families with a history of high conflict & family violence who have disputes about children and no other access to a lawyer.

    Steve has completed specialist training in the dynamics of domestic violence (Education Centre Against Violence), responding to perpetrators of family violence (AVERT Family Violence) and trauma informed dispute resolution (Institute of Specialist Dispute Resolution), and was part of the Ryde/Hunters Hill domestic violence committee & the Northern Sydney Regional Reference Group on Violence Against Women from 2008-2013. He is a past Chair of the Sexual Abuse Complaints Tribunal of the NSW & ACT Baptist Churches and has served on a variety of Boards including a Youth Refuge, a Residential College & a Bible College. He has trained as conflict coach and mediator and ran training in conflict resolution across Australia & New Zealand from 2010-2024.

Mhairi Hamilton

Director of International Ministries, The Lawyers’ Christian Fellowship (UK)

  • Mhairi was appointed as Director of International Ministries for the Lawyers' Christian Fellowship UK in March 2013. Her main priority is liaising with East Africa and other Fellowships worldwide and supporting vital ministries. She has experience in and an understanding of international work. 

Fiona Kirkman

Principal, Kirkman Family Law and Legal Innovator

  • Fiona Kirkman has over 20 years of experience in family law, mediation, and legal technology. She is Principal of Kirkman Family Law, an Accredited Specialist in Family Law, and a Family Dispute Resolution Practitioner. Fiona helps families resolve disputes efficiently and compassionately, with a focus on resolution without court.

    In addition, Fiona is Head of Legal Innovation & Engagement at CORTO, where she works with technologists to design AI productivity solutions that streamline legal workflows, enhance client service, and educate the legal profession on AI prompting.

    As an educator, mentor, and speaker, Fiona is passionate about shaping the future of family law and mediation. She also advocates strongly for family violence training and mental health awareness across the profession.

    Fiona is a long-standing member of Gymea Baptist Church, New South Wales, and collaborates with their community partner Hopefield. She also brings the values of her PeaceWise Christian Negotiation and Mediation training to her practice and leadership. Outside of work, Fiona enjoys time with her husband, children, and cavoodles, as well as travel, snow skiing, and bushwalking.

Jo Knight

CEO, Anglican Overseas Aid and Author of ‘Called to Care: Our Christian Calling and Response to the Climate Challenge of Our Generation’

  • Jo Knight is a visionary leader dedicated to seeing possibilities for transformation and actively making them a reality by advocating for God's people and planet. Her work, which she details in her upcoming book, Called to Care, is centred on imagining and catalysing social change through creative collaborations.

    As the CEO of Anglican Overseas Aid (AOA), Jo leads a relief and development agency that works for God's renewed creation, free of poverty. She has two decades of experience advocating for global justice and environmental sustainability, collaborating with people internationally to help them overcome challenges related to poverty, climate change, and injustice. She's been a driving force in global movements encouraging the Church to take action for a better future, including helping to establish the Renew Our World global movement while Advocacy Director at Tearfund.

    A lawyer by training, Jo has led test cases at the cutting edge of migration law and headed initiatives to combat poverty. Her deep commitment to holistic discipleship and action against poverty and climate injustice is the inspiration behind her book, Called to Care: A Christian response to the climate challenge of our generation, to be published by IVP in late 2025.

    Jo's governance experience is extensive and includes her roles as Chair of the Church Agencies Network (CAN) and a board member for Micah Australia. She is also involved internationally through ACT Alliance governance, where church humanitarian and advocacy agencies work together. Her prior contributions include founding Chair of Oaktree, Section Chair of the Law Institute of Victoria’s administrative law, human rights, and refugee committees, and Green Collect.

    Jo lives in the inner north of Melbourne with her husband, Peter Carolane, a church planter leading Merri Creek Anglican, and their two boys.

Bevan Mailman

Managing Principal and Director, Jaramer Legal

  • Bevan is the Chairman of Jaramer Legal, Australia’s first national Indigenous firm which was founded as a joint-venture with Norton Rose Fulbright. He is a corporate lawyer with extensive experience in the areas of corporate governance, corporate advisory, corporate structuring, public policy, and establishing micro/macro-economic strategies.

    He has worked extensively with remote/regional Indigenous communities and organisations across Australia both in terms of evaluating challenges facing these communities, and in identifying opportunities and local/national strategies to improve governance, independence, and economic sustainability for these communities.

    Bevan has advised major corporations, local, State, and Federal Governments, and senior officials and business delegates from the UK, US, China, Indonesia, New Zealand, Holland, and Israel on economic policy, strategy, and legal frameworks as they relate to First Nations Australians, and the broader economy. More recently he has advised on the UK-Aust Free Trade Agreement from an Indigenous inclusion’s perspective, fund management/capital raising initiatives relating investments into large scale infrastructure projects that incorporate First Nations participation, and Australia’s economic policies. 

    Bevan has served on The Law Council of Australia’s Indigenous Advisory Committee and the Law Institute of Victoria, and currently serves on DFAT’s Trade and Investment Advisory Committee to drive scale into Australia’s economy through First Nations entrepreneurship. 

    Bevan was formerly a University Lecturer on Public Policy and has studied at the University of Melbourne Business School (MBA), Kellogg School of Management (United States) and Otto Beisheim School of Management (Germany). Bevan is an Alumnus of Global Law Firm Norton Rose Fulbright, a former member of NAB’s Corporate and Finance team, and a former member of Allens Linklaters Mergers and Acquisitions team.  

    He is the 2021 Indigenous Leader of the Year (Australian Law Awards).

Steven Moe

Partner, Parry Field Lawyers (New Zealand) and Author of ‘The Circle: Careers with Impact’

  • Steven Moe is a Partner at Parry Field Lawyers based in Christchurch New Zealand with a focus on “for purpose” organisations. He has worked as a lawyer for 25 years including 4 years in Sydney at Norton Rose Fulbright as well as 4 years in Tokyo, 3 years in London, 3 years in Wellington and for the last 10 years in Christchurch. He helped establish the Christian Lawyers Network in New Zealand and wrote the book “Christian Lawyers: A Call to Faith in Action” and hosts seeds podcast which has a focus on people doing inspiring things which has 447 episodes and another on governance for the Institute of Directors called Board Matters.

Stephen Moloney

Barrister, Victorian Bar

  • Mr Moloney is a senior barrister in Melbourne and a member of the Victorian Bar practising in corporate and commercial law, administrative and constitutional law, equity, professional discipline, institutional liability, professional negligence, common law, insurance, defamation, medical negligence.

    He holds a trial and appellate practice and an advice practice with a specialisation in public law includes all aspects of the regulation of medical practitioners, particularly at a Commonwealth level.

    He is experienced in Inquiries and Arbitration (both local and international) and he has chaired an Inquiry into the probity of scientific research under the NHMRC guidelines and appears in Inquiries, including as counsel assisting.

    He practises in the High Court of Australia, the Supreme Court of Victoria and the Federal Court (trial and appellate). 

    He is the Chairperson of the Medicare Participation Review Committee of Australia, thrice appointed by the Federal Government. By this office he chairs a committee which makes determinations about whether certain health practitioners should retain the right to participate in the Medicare Scheme and whether their provider rights are to remain.

    He is the immediate Past-Chairperson of the Australian Institute of Administrative Law (Victorian Chapter), and The Medico Legal Society of Victoria, and is a member of the Administrative Law Committee of the Law Council of Australia. He currently chairs a large private secondary school of 1200 students.

Jennie Pakula

Principal, The Lawyer’s Friend

  • Jennie Pakula is Principal of The Lawyer’s Friend, a Melbourne-based law practice supporting lawyers to practise well and meet their regulatory obligations. Admitted in 1988, six months after becoming a Christian, Jennie worked in legal services regulation from 1994 to 2023, managing thousands of ethics and complaint matters and gaining unique expertise in compliance and disciplinary issues. She now helps lawyers to comply confidently with their regulatory obligations.  She also helps those facing complaints, audits and prosecutions, offering not only sound legal advice but also kindness and encouragement in stressful times. Jennie especially values helping small firms and those who want to practise differently. She is married to Martin and has two adult children and two very spoiled cats.

Emi Rowse (Igusa)

Partner and Head of Japan Practice, Kudun and Partners (Thailand)

  • Emi Rowse (Igusa) is a partner in the Dispute Resolution team at Kudun and Partners, Thailand, and heads their Japan Practice.

    She has over 18 years of experience advising and representing clients throughout Asia on complex commercial litigation, international arbitrations and fraud investigations. Prior to joining Kudun and Partners, Emi was a senior lawyer at an international law firm for 10 years and gained experience working in Hong Kong, Tokyo and Bangkok.

    She is a Hong Kong qualified lawyer, accredited mediator and is on the panel of Arbitrators for THAC, list of Arbitrators for HKIAC and eBRAM.

    As Head of Japan Practice, she represents and advises major Japanese corporations on issues ranging from shareholder and joint venture disputes, employment, compliance and investigations, competition law and general corporate matters. Emi is half Japanese and speaks fluent Japanese.

    She has been ranked in Thailand’s Top 100 lawyers from 2022 to 2024 and was named “Future Star Practitioner” by Benchmark Litigation, 2024. Emi is regularly invited to speak at international conferences and has co-authored numerous articles including “International Arbitration and the Circle of Control”, “Third Party funding in Thailand”, “To Invest or Not to Invest in Thailand?”, “Unfair Termination Claims in Thailand — Practical guidance on minimising the risks and managing claims for employers” and most recently, “Managing Costs Strategies for M&A Disputes”.

    Emi is also very active in various committees, including the American Chamber of Commerce Thailand’s Women Committee (2024) and Legal Committee (2025), APAC Sub-Committee for the ERA (Equal Representation in Arbitration) Pledge and leads the firm’s initiatives on Pro Bono cases.

Elizabeth Shalders

Special Counsel, Mills Oakley

  • Elizabeth Shalders is Special Counsel in the Mills Oakley Not-for-profits, Human Rights & Social Impact team. Elizabeth has been practising solely in the field of not-for-profit and charity law for over 15 years and is recognised as an expert in this area. Elizabeth regularly advises faith-based organisations, independent schools, public benevolent institutions, industry and professional associations, charitable trusts, ancillary funds and other not-for-profits. She regularly assists clients with constitutions, governance advice, governance disputes, charitable-trust related matters, structuring, Australian Charities and Not-for-profits Commission registrations and compliance, and not-for-profit tax concessions. In addition to client-focused work, Elizabeth is recognised for her expertise and contributions in professional development, academic and law reform settings.

Dr Matthew Turnour

Chairman, Neumann & Turnour Lawyers

  • Dr Matthew Turnour is a Director and the Chairman of Neumann & Turnour Lawyers and the head of the firm’s Corporate Governance and Charity Law departments.

    Dr Turnour has almost 40-years of experience across the business, government and not for profit sectors. His legal experience is uniquely wide and deep having practiced in many areas of law including land development, insolvency, criminal law, compliance, litigation, and charities. Currently much of his work is in governance, legal-structuring, complex trusts, tax, and fiduciary law. As he has served as a company director of many companies, and as a leader of many charities he brings to his advice practical experience from the perspective of the client. He is listed in Chambers Asia-Pacific Best Lawyers — Charities & Not-for-profits and has been recognised by the Queensland Law Society with President’s Medal, Outstanding Contribution Award.

Peter Wrench

National Lead, City Legal Network, City Bible Forum/Third Space

  • Peter is the National Lead of the City Legal Network. He studied Arts/Law at UNSW and worked as a Tipstaff & Associate in the NSW Supreme Court. Following a career change Peter worked as a Pastor in SW Sydney and as a School Chaplain for over 10 years. He enjoys camping with his family, reading biographies, surfing and (attempting to!) keep fit. He is married to Jacinta and has four adult children.