Responsible Decision Making: covenantal integrity & administrative conflict

Context

Many of the most difficult conflicts in public and institutional life are not disputes about legal rights. They are conflicts about responsibility and moral coherence.

They arise when people experience decisions as procedurally correct, yet morally incoherent — when integrity feels absent, trust is strained, and the injury is not easily translated into a formal claim. In these spaces, the conflict is often principled: grounded in values, notions of justice, and the integrity of public authority.

In this TalkAbout session, we explore Responsible Decision-Making & Covenantal Integrity as foundations for relational and administrative justice.

Drawing on the work of Australian jurist Noel Preston, alongside guidance and materials from the Australian Professional Standards Councils, we will consider how ethical decision-making in governance contexts is not merely contractual or compliance-based, but:

• grounded in entrusted purpose
• shaped by fidelity and stewardship
• sustained by moral coherence
• responsive to vulnerability and public trust

This session continues our wider exploration of administrative conflict — where moral injury can be real even when legal remedy is unclear, and where moral imagination and moral courage must often be scaffolded.

In this TalkAbout, we will reflect on:

• What makes a decision ethically responsible, not merely defensible
• Integrity as fidelity to purpose, not just adherence to rules
• The difference between social contract compliance and covenantal integrity
• Professional standards frameworks for accountability and ethical explainability
• Administrative justice as a practice of repair, trustworthiness, and relational care

Who is this session for?

This session will be valuable for:

• governance and integrity professionals
• public decision-makers
• dispute resolution practitioners
• those working as lay or professional advocates in administrative claims and conflicts
• anyone navigating principled conflict within institutions

TalkAbout sessions are reflective, structured, and grounded in ethical practice — a space for learning at the intersection of conflict, governance, care, and responsibility.