Weapons, climate justice & investing ethically

Join a panel of experts for a conversation that tackles the moral and ethical obligations integral to research and investing priorities.  

We are living in an era of overlapping crises: from climate catastrophe to devastating wars, alongside the age-old ravages of inequality at home and across the globe. As these struggles escalate, many ordinary people are questioning their own responsibility, and possibility of their complicity, in these disasters. What prospects are there for responding? What avenues for meaningful action?

With the ongoing wars in Gaza and Ukraine, these concerns have come into sharper focus. This panel of experts will examine some of these uncomfortable questions, and our moral and ethical obligations to address adverse human rights and climate justice impacts.

Panellists: 
Professor David Kinley holds the Chair in Human Rights Law at the University of Sydney Law School. David has worked for 25 years as a consultant and adviser on international and domestic human rights law in (or with agencies from) China, Vietnam, Indonesia, South Africa, Bangladesh, Thailand, Iraq, Nepal, Laos, the Pacific Islands, and Myanmar. His particular expertise is in human rights and the global economy, focusing on the respective roles and responsibilities of corporations and states.

Dr Claire Parfitt is a Lecturer in Political Economy at the University of Sydney, where she completed her doctorate in 2020. A critical engagement with ethical investing and corporate sustainability, her research contributes to debates in the social studies of finance, moral philosophy, economic geography, cultural economy, intellectual property and interdisciplinary accounting literatures.

Dr Richard Denniss: Executive Director of the Australia Institute. Richard is a prominent Australian economist, author and public policy commentator, and has spent the last twenty years moving between policy-focused roles in academia, federal politics and think-tanks. He was also a Lecturer in Economics at the University of Newcastle and former Associate Professor in the Crawford School of Public Policy at ANU. He is a regular contributor to The Monthly and the author of several books including: Econobabble, Curing Affluenza and Dead Right: How Neoliberalism Ate Itself and What Comes Next?

Moderator: 

Melanie Morrison: Director, Sydney Peace Foundation. Melanie is a social and climate justice advocate at the Sydney Peace Foundation, a foundation at the University of Sydney, best known for the annual Sydney Peace Prize. 

Closing remarks:

Dr Ihab Shalbak: Ihab is a lecturer in human rights and social justice. Before joining the University of Sydney, Ihab worked both in community and government positions including as a Senior Research and Policy Advisor at the Australian Human Rights Commission.

This panel will take the form of an extended Q&A. Please consider sending your questions in the registration form. 

This event is hosted by the Sydney Peace Foundation with the support of the School of Social and Political Sciences, Sydney Law School and the Australia Institute.