About the Rule of Law Dinner and Robin Speed Memorial Address

The Rule of Law Institute of Australia’s Annual dinner looks at current threats to the rule of law in Australia. Starting before 2007, the Rule of Law Institute of Australia has participated in and run conferences and seminars considering whether the rule of law in Australia is under challenge.  In 2025, the event will include a short talk from Henry Ergas AO on ‘From Magna Carta to Anti-Semitism: The Call to Justice for All’ as well as a panel discussion during dinner with Henry Ergas AO, Margaret Cunneen SC and Chris Merritt. 

In 2023, the Rule of Law Dinner included the Robin Speed Memorial Address in honour of the founder of Speed and Stracey Lawyers and the Rule of Law Education Centre, Robin Speed OAM, who passed away in February 2023. The Robin Speed Memorial Lecture is held annually to coincide with the anniversary of the sealing of the Magna Carta on 15 June.

The purpose of this Lecture will be to provide an inspirational reminder of the contribution made by Robin Speed in promoting and protecting the rule of law in Australia. On establishing the Rule of Law Institute in 2010, Robin hoped “to encourage fellow Australians to stand up and challenge rule of law abuses. This can be done in all sorts of ways, small or large, like making submissions to the government, writing articles, speaking out publicly, attending conferences and working with the Rule of Law Association. The job cannot be left to the courts, where they have limited powers of intervention and any intervention may be too late.”

In the recent past, speakers have included Mr Walter Sofronoff KC, Paul Kelly, Margaret Cunneen SC, Chris Merritt, Charif Kazal, Bret Walker SC, Ron Hoenig MP and Malcolm Stewart. Click here to learn more

About the Speaker
Henry Ergas AO

Henry Ergas AO is a columnist for ‘The Australian’. From 1978 to 1993, Henry was an economist at the OECD in Paris, where amongst other roles he headed the Secretary-General’s Task Force on Structural Adjustment and was Counsellor for Structural Policy in the Economics Department. After that he worked as a consultant economist at NECG, CRA International, Concept Economics and Deloitte. He has held a number of academic appointments, including at the École nationale de la statistique et de l’administration économique in Paris, the Kennedy School of Government at Harvard and Monash University in Melbourne, and served on numerous official reviews, including as Chair of the Intellectual Property and Competition Policy Review Committee. In 2016 he was made an Officer in the Order of Australia for distinguished service to infrastructure economics, higher education, public policy development and review, and as a supporter of emerging artists

About the Panellists
Margaret Cunneen SC

Our president Margaret Cunneen SC is a passionate supporter of the rule of law in Australia. As a young woman she began her career as a clerk in the Attorney General’s Office while studying law and is now known for her pursuit of justice in criminal law. She was the Commissioner of the NSW Special Commission of Inquiry into child sexual abuse in the Maitland-Newcastle area and was the NSW deputy senior crown prosecutor. She now works as a barrister in private practice.

Chris Merritt

Chris Merritt is Vice-President of the Rule of Law Education Centre and the Rule of Law Institute of Australia. Chris has a weekly column in The Australian as well as providing regular commentary on the radio and Sky News.

For more details
Email info@ruleoflaw.org.au