ENERGY AND RESOURCES LAW ASSOCIATION
2026 NATIONAL CONFERENCE
21 - 23 October 2026
SkyCity, Adelaide
Conference Speakers
Alex Gee
Alex is a Partner in MinterEllison's Energy & Resources team, based in
Melbourne. Alex has extensive experience advising clients in the energy and
resources sector both in Australia and overseas. Alex advises across the life
cycle of projects, with a particular focus on mergers and acquisitions, joint
ventures, developments and commercial arrangements. He is a trusted advisor to
global and Australian resources, renewables and power companies, and has
advised on some of the industry's most significant transactions. Clients value
Alex's deep industry knowledge and strategic guidance.
Dr Andrew Cannon
Dr Andrew Cannon AM was the Senior Warden in the Mining Court for thirty years and Deputy Chief Magistrate in South Australia. His PhD
was on structuring process rules to achieve fair and efficient outcomes. He is
an adjunct Professor of Law at Adelaide and Flinders Universities Professor and has been a visiting Professor giving short courses for English legal language programs at Münster and Trier Universities in Germany. Andrew an experienced qualified mediator specialising in landowner mining disputes.
He has presented at international conferences on space mining and is widely published on mining, space mining, court, legal and regulatory topics: for example see Thomson
Reuters (Westlaw) Laws of Australia Ch 14.12 Mining, Ch 14.13 Petroleum and Ch 14.15 Space Mining. For some other papers see https://ssrn.com/author=1772513
He is a Doctor of Laws honoris causa by Flinders University for contributions to the civil and criminal justice system in Australia and
internationally. He is a member of the Order of Australia for services to judicial administration, particularly through the reform of civil litigation
processes and to the community through the historic ketch Falie project and a range of charitable organisations. He is a Fellow of the Australia Academy of Laws.
Anthony Groom
Anthony Groom is an energy and infrastructure
lawyer with experience in negotiating connection agreements, including for data
centres. He also has experience in projects relating to on-site generation, operation and maintenance contracts, electricity and gas sales and economic regulatory matters.
Dr Ben McKeown
Ben McKeown is a mining engineer with 25+ years investing and leadership experience in the global mining and energy industries. He started his career in technical and commercial
roles before moving to private equity investing in global resources. Ben has been chair or director of various mining and energy companies globally in commodities including lithium, iron ore, base and precious metals, and oil & gas. He is now pursuing his interest in the emerging field of space resources through the Space Resource Fund Initiative. He has recently completed a PhD in commercialising space resources at UNSW, has a BEng in mining engineering from Imperial College, London and an MBA from IESE business school in Spain.
Duncan Longstaff
Duncan Longstaff is a specialist intellectual property lawyer with extensive experience in
complex patent disputes and commercial IP litigation. Over the course of his 19-year career, he has advised and represented clients across a broad range of industries, including mining and energy.
Duncan has acted in some of Australia's most significant patent disputes, including
matters involving Dyno Nobel, Fuchs Lubricants, Nalco (Ecolab), Otsuka,
Lundbeck, Zoetis, InfoTrack, AstraZeneca, Samsung Electronics, ANZ Bank and
Telstra. He regularly conducts complex litigation before the Federal Court of
Australia and has appeared in matters before the High Court of Australia, acting for both Australian and international organisations on strategically important intellectual property issues. He also has extensive experience conducting patent oppositions before the Australian Patent Office, acting for organisations such as Dyno Nobel, Nippon Steel Corporation, James Hardie, Johnson & Johnson, Zoetis, Manildra Milling Corporation, Ingredion and EMD
Millipore.
A recognised leader in the IP profession, Duncan is a member of the Law Council of Australia's Intellectual Property Committee
and the South Australian Committee of the Energy & Resources Law Association. He is consistently recognised by leading legal directories including Chambers & Partners, Legal 500, Best Lawyers and IAM Patent 1000.
Felipe Bascuñán
Felipe Bascuñán Montaner holds a law degree from the UDP (Santiago, Chile) and a
postgraduate course in Senior Management, P. Universidad Católica de Chile - University Northwestern of Chicago, Kellogg . He is currently partner in the Energy and Natural Resources practice group at the law firm Bascuñán & Cía in Santiago, Chile. He has more than 30 years of experience in energy law and
natural resources, and since 2015, he has been a professor of the Energy and Electricity Law course in the Diploma Program in Natural Resources and Environment at Universidad de Los Andes. He has advised many of the leading mining companies operating in Chile on matters regarding electric power and water
rights.
Jaya Prasad
Jaya Prasad is Sustainability & Governance Manager and Deputy Company Secretary at New Hope Group, where she leads sustainability and climate reporting, supports Board and Committee governance, and advises on regulatory and stakeholder matters across the Group’s mining, port and agricultural
operations. An Australian legal practitioner, Jaya holds Bachelor of Laws (Honours) and Bachelor of Commerce degrees from the University of Queensland, together with a Graduate Diploma of Legal Practice from the College of Law.
Jaya began her career in restructuring and insolvency before moving into resources law, advising on mining tenure, land access, native
title, major projects, corporate transactions and governance. Her experience includes top-tier practice at Herbert Smith Freehills and in-house roles supporting mining, energy and associated infrastructure businesses.
Beyond her corporate role, Jaya is a Board member of the Energy & Resources Law Association, President of the ER Law Young Professionals Committee since 2021 and Co-Secretary of the Queensland Branch since 2023. She has previously held Executive team roles on Young Mining Professionals Brisbane
as Secretary and Women In Sustainable Energy and Resources (WISER) where she was founding Secretary. Her contributions have been recognised through the Queensland Law Society Emerging Leader Award, the ER Law Outstanding Service Award, and selection as a Governance Top 100 finalist annually since 2024, including receipt of the inaugural Governance Top 100 Rising Star Award in
2024. Jaya is passionate about providing pragmatic, decision-useful advice, and
ensuring that governance and sustainability are treated as embedded strategic performance measures rather than compliance checkboxes. She also enjoys developing future legal resources professionals through her involvement in mentoring programs with the Asian Australian Lawyers Association and the
QRC/Women in Mining and Resources Queensland.
Johanna Kennerly
Johanna is a senior legal and ESG executive with deep experience
operating at the intersection of environmental law, regulatory enforcement,
sustainability governance and operational risk. As Head of Sustainability &
Environment at Ravenswood Gold, she currently oversees environment, approvals,
community, First Nations and ESG functions. She was previously a partner in
Carter Newell’s Planning and Environment team, specialising in approvals,
environment and land access.
Luke Dale
Luke Dale is a partner at HWLE
Lawyers in Adelaide, practising in corporate and commercial law with a
particular focus on commercial intellectual property law, technology law, brand
protection and trade practices issues. He brings deep expertise in
transactional and licensing work, including negotiating and drafting IT
contracts, software licensing agreements, distribution agreements, technology
transfers, and privacy and data protection frameworks for clients operating
across Australia and key international markets. Luke also advises on trade mark
prosecution and portfolio management, copyright matters, and brand protection
strategies, and has acted for leading brand owners on trade mark oppositions
and registrations in Australia and multiple overseas jurisdictions.
Luke has been named Intellectual Property Law "Lawyer of the Year" for Adelaide in
the 2025 and 2022 editions of Best Lawyers™ Australia, and Doyle's Guide (2024)
recognises him as a Preeminent Technology, Media & Telecommunications
Lawyer and a Leading Intellectual Property Lawyer in South Australia. He is
actively involved in the profession as a Committee Member of the Intellectual
Property Society of Australia and New Zealand, the Law Council of Australia's
Competition & Consumer Committee and Intellectual Property Committee, and
the AIPPI Standing Committee on Geographical Indications.
Prof. Rodney Carter
Enterprise Professor Rodney Carter is a distinguished Dja Dja Wurrung and Yorta Yorta leader currently serving as the Interim Director of the Mabo Centre. Appointed to lead this landmark partnership between the National Native Title Council and the University of Melbourne, he champions First Nations self-determination and native title research translation. Before his academic appointment, Professor Carter spent over a decade as the Group CEO of the Dja Dja Wurrung Clans Aboriginal Corporation (DJAARA). In this role, he was a key signatory in negotiating their milestone 2013 native title settlement and steered the group to win Telstra's 2024 Best Business of the Year. A prominent institutional voice across Victoria, he has also served as the Chairperson of the Aboriginal Heritage Council and Co-Chair of the First Peoples' Assembly's Elders Voice. Today, he utilizes this extensive governance experience to guide the Mabo Centre in creating enduring socio-economic benefits for First Nations landowners.
Ryan Hartfield
Ryan Hartfield is the General Counsel of PTT Exploration and Production Public Company Limited (PTTEP), Thailand’s national energy company. With more than 25 years’ experience, he is a senior energy and resources executive and lawyer with extensive international expertise across Australia, Southeast Asia, Central Asia, the Middle East and Africa.
Ryan also serves as PTTEP’s Country Representative in Australia and is an alternate director of Oman LNG LLC. He was previously President of the Energy and Resources Law
Association of Australia. He began his career in
private practice at Freehills (now Herbert Smith Freehills Kramer) before moving into senior in-house roles with Woodside Energy in Australia and Dubai, and Mubadala Development Company in Abu Dhabi. He later joined PTTEP Australia, where he held a range of senior legal, commercial and executive leadership
positions, including Chief Executive Officer, before being appointed PTTEP’s
global General Counsel. Ryan is a regular
speaker at international energy and legal industry forums and was recognised in The Legal 500 GC Powerlist: Southeast Asia 2025.
Prof. Simon Rice
Simon Rice is an Emeritus Professor of Law at The University of Sydney, and a consultant lawyer at the law firm Chalk & Behrendt. He is a
co-author of the texts The International Law
of Human Rights, and Australian Anti-discrimination and Equal Opportunity Law. He is a board member of the NSW Council of Social Service and of the Justice and Equity Centre, and a founding member of the Anti-Discrimination Law Experts Group. Among Simon’s previous positions he has been the expert legal adviser to the federal Parliamentary Joint Committee
on Human Rights, and executive chair of the ACT Law Reform Advisory Council
where he conducted a review of the ACT Discrimination Act. In 2002 Simon was awarded a medal in the Order of Australia for
legal services to the socially and economically and socially disadvantaged.
Dr Timothy Jones
Tim is a geophysicist who
works on mineral exploration, with a focus on multidisciplinary data
integration. He grew up in Newcastle, Australia and earned a BSc from Macquarie
University and his PhD from the Australian National University. Currently Head of
Exploration Science at Fleet Space Technologies, Tim was also a Green Scholar
at the University of California San Diego and a Carnegie Fellow at the Carnegie
Institution for Science. His research on mantle plumes was recognised by the
American Geophysical Union with its Study of the Earth's Deep Interior Section
Award for Early Career Scientists. Tim is interested in how geological models
and data can be used to make better exploration decisions under uncertainty.
Vicki McNamara
Vicki McNamara is Senior Research Associate with the Centre for the Future of the Legal Profession at UNSW Law & Justice. Her work
focuses on how technology is reshaping legal practice, with particular emphasis
on generative AI, AI literacy for lawyers, and practical implications of
technology adoption for legal services.
Before joining the Centre in early 2024, Vicki spent many years working in large law firms and in-house legal teams, first as a
practising lawyer and later in senior leadership roles spanning knowledge
management, legal technology, and innovation. She has held roles at Herbert
Smith Freehills, Woolworths Group and Maddocks, supporting lawyers and legal
teams to work more effectively at scale.
Vicki regularly speaks at legal conferences, delivers hands-on professional development programs, and publishes in leading academic
and industry journals, translating research insights into practical guidance
for legal professionals.
Conference
Information
Energy & Resources Law Association 2026
National Conference
Conference
Organisers
All Occasions Group
12 Stirling Street
Thebarton SA 5031
21 - 23 October 2026
SkyCity Adelaide,
North Terrace Adelaide, SA
5001 Australia
(08) 8125 2200
