NELA Social Series 2025: Darwin Edition
2025-08-07 17:00 - 20:00 (Australia/Darwin) | Darwin Sailing Club, 5 Atkins Dr, Fannie Bay, Northern Territory, 0820, Australia
Update (6 August 2025): We understand some attendees are having issues purchasing tickets through our website. In the event that you are unable to purchase a ticket before the event, we nonetheless warmly encourage you to attend. It is shaping up to be a fantastic evening, with attendees from local firms, organisations and some visitors from interstate. Tickets will be available for sale on the night (cash and bank transfer only).
We’re going on tour! Get excited for the NELA Social Series 2025: a chance to connect, reflect, and also engage in some collective visioning with members and friends for the next few years at the National Environmental Law Association. We will be kicking off the series with our first instalment in Darwin at the Darwin Sailing Club on Thursday, 7 August 2025.
The NELA Social Series 2025 provides an opportunity for those interested in advancing Australian environmental law, policy, and practice to:

Reflect on recent developments in Australian environmental law, policy, and practice in a relaxed setting,
Learn more about what we do, how we operate, and our exciting new 2025-2030 Strategic Plan,
Build and deepen relationships with other NELA members and personnel, including our volunteer board members and portfolio officers,
Provide feedback directly to our board members about what initiatives you would like to see from NELA in coming years, and
Explore new opportunities for partnering with NELA at future events and at NELA’s National Conference.

There will be some drinks and nibbles provided.
Contact vicepresident@nela.org.au, copying memberships@nela.org.au with any queries. We look forward to catching up with all our friends in the Top End soon!

2025 NELA Social Series - Melbourne - 27 August 2025
2025-08-27 17:00 - 19:00 (Australia/Melbourne)
Welcome to the upcoming 2025 NELA Social Series – the Melbourne edition 🏙️
Come join some of the NELA Directors to reconnect in the city with your Environmental Law friends & peers 🍃
Kicking off at 5pm (until 7pm) on Wednesday 27 August 2025 @ Good Heavens Rooftop – Level 2, 79 Bourke Street Melbourne
Spots are limited. Tickets start from $15 for NELA members and $30 for non-NELA members.
Feel free to join NELA if you want to take advantage of NELA pricing for this and upcoming NELA events.
Tickets will go on sale on Monday 18/8/25

NELA & EIANZ presents - The ICJ’s Climate Advisory Opinion and the Australian Pabai case: Implications for Australia and New Zealand
2025-08-29 13:00 - 14:00 (Australia/Melbourne)
The esteemed panelists of Tomo Boston KC and Jacqueline Peel will be led by Simon Molesworth AO, KC to discuss the recent International Court of Justice (ICJ)’s opinion and the Australia Pabai case, as well as reflecting on their respective implications for Australian and New Zealand climate laws and policies.
For more information and to grab a ticket, please click on the EIANZ link where NELA members can register and receive member pricing.
NELA Members will see this notice on the event page. Please scroll to the bottom of the page to register.

2025 NELA Social Series - Sydney - 9 October 2025
2025-10-09 17:30 - 19:30 (Australia/Melbourne) | Bungalow 8, 3 Lime St, Sydney, NSW, 2000, Australia
For the next instalment of our 2025 NELA Social Series, come join us in Sydney to catch up and learn more about:
🍃 Our National Conference planned for 14 November 2025 in Perth
🍃 NELA’s new 2025-2030 Strategic Plan
🍃 NELA’s Biodiversity Working Group and Climate Change Working Group
We look forward to connecting you with our Sydney team, including Vice President Grace Huang (NSW Net Zero Commission), Secretary Tanja Mikulic (formerly Baker McKenzie), Directors Dr Paul Govind (Macquarie University) and Professor Cameron Holley (UNSW), and National Events Officer Connor Shaw (Lander & Rogers). We’d love to hear what you’d like to see from NELA and how you’d like to get involved!
Kicking off at 5.30pm on Thursday 9 October 2025 @ Bungalow 8 at 3 Lime St, Sydney NSW 2000.
Spots are limited. Tickets start from $20 and include 1 complimentary drink and nibbles.
Remember to join NELA if you want to take advantage of NELA pricing for this and upcoming NELA events.

2025 NELA National Conference
2025-11-14 | Parmelia Hilton Perth, 14 Mill Street, Perth, WA, 6000, Australia
🍃 NELA is holding its 2025 National Conference in Perth on Friday 14 November 2025 🍃
Australia’s key environmental legal minds will gather for a full-day forum to reconnect with, and reinvigorate, the WA & National dialogue on key environmental issues facing Australia.
The 2025 NELA National Conference will be held at Parmelia Hilton Perth and its theme is: Environmental Law for a Nature Positive & Net Zero Future 🍃
NELA will be holding post Conference drinks at the Parmelia Hilton Perth, where the 2025 NELA Lifetime Award Recipient will be announced (think canapés and drinks).
NELA acknowledges that some of its members, and those otherwise interested, may not be able to head West and attend in person. In recognition of this, NELA will be offering a hybrid capability. More information about this will be uploaded on our website in the coming weeks.
For those of you travelling to Perth to attend the National Conference, NELA has been able to secure a 20% discount on accommodation at Parmelia Hilton Perth at the time of your booking.
*Please use this code to access the generous accommodation discount: CMTG5 (click on Special Rates > then click on Group Code).
If you’re a lawyer, policy professional, advisor or academic working on climate, biodiversity and environmental reform issues (amongst others) – see our Conference Program for full information on our great speakers and sessions.

NELA National Annual General Meeting 2025
2025-11-25 19:00 - 20:00 (Australia/Sydney)
Please join NELA for our National Annual General Meeting, being held online on Tuesday, 25 November 2025.
Access the AGM Notice here, to be informed of our items for business and voting eligibility. At the AGM, our President (Mark Beaufoy), Vice President (Grace Huang), Treasurer (Shannon McGrellis), and Secretary (Tanja Mikulic) will each deliver an annual report.
Please register by obtaining a ticket below. Registration closes at 5.00pm AEDT Sunday, 23 November 2025.
Note: We are currently experiencing some intermittent IT issues – if you cannot register below, please email secretary@nela.org.au to register.
If you wish to vote at the AGM and have not yet paid your membership fees for the 2025-2026 financial year, you must do so by 5.00pm AEDT Monday, 24 November 2025. If you do not pay your membership fees for the 2025-2026 financial year by this time, you will not be eligible to vote at the AGM.
If you wish to vote at the NELA AGM, but are unable to attend, you can register for an AGM proxy vote using the proxy vote registration form and email it to secretary@nela.com.au by 5.00pm Sunday, 23 November.

Planning reforms in Tasmania: Legal updates and insights
2026-03-26 17:30 - 19:30 (Australia/Hobart)
Not a member? Join Us!
NELA offers its members a range of exclusive membership benefits, including discounted rates for NELA events.
To access member pricing for this event, you can join as a member here.

NELA WA Presents: The Role of Solidarity in Addressing Climate Justice
2026-04-02 16:00 - 17:00 (Australia/Perth)
The Honourable Justice Brian Preston

Justice Preston is the Chief Judge of the Land and Environment Court in New South Wales. Prior to being appointed in November 2005, he was a senior counsel practising primarily in New South Wales in environmental, planning, administrative and property law.
He holds a Bachelor of Arts and a Bachelor of Laws (1st Class Honours) from Macquarie University, practised as a solicitor from 1982-1987, and then at the bar from 1987-2005. He was appointed senior counsel in 1999.
He has lectured in post-graduate, environmental law for over 23 years, principally at the University of Sydney, but also at other universities in Australia and overseas. He established two law courses: environmental dispute resolution and biodiversity law. He is currently an Adjunct Professor at the University of Sydney.
Justice Preston is the author of Australia’s first book on environmental litigation (in 1989) and over 90 articles, book chapters and reviews on environmental law, administrative and criminal law. The subjects of his writings include: the law and the environment; sustainable development; biodiversity; climate change; heritage; environmental impact assessment; environmental crime; the courts and the environment; public interest litigation; and administrative law and environmental law.
He holds editorial positions for environmental law publications, including General Editor of the Local Government Planning and Environment NSW Service and Title Editor for the Laws of Australia, Title 14 – Environment and Natural Resources, and is a member of the editorial advisory boards of the Asia Pacific Journal of Environmental Law and Legal Perspectives on Global Challenges, Eleven International Publishing.
He has been involved in a number of international environmental consultancies and capacity-building programs, including for the judiciaries in Indonesia, Kenya, China, Trinidad and Tobago, Thailand and Sri Lanka.
Justice Preston is an Official Member of the Judicial Commission of NSW; Chair of the Environmental Law Standing Committee of the Law Association for Asia and the Pacific; member of the Environmental Law Commission of the International Union for Conservation of Nature; member of the Australian Centre for Climate and Environmental Law; member of the Advisory Committee of the Asia Pacific Centre for Environmental Law (National University of Singapore); member of the Adhoc Advisory Committee of Judges, United Nations Environment Programme Judges Program; member of the Advisory Group on the Guide to the UNEP Bali Guidelines on Rio Principle 10; and member of the International Bar Association President’s Climate Change Justice and Human Rights Task Force. He has been inducted as a Fellow of the Australian Academy of Law.
He is the recipient of a Commendation in the 2010 Australasian Institute of Judicial Administration, Award for Excellence in Court Administration, for his work in implementing the International Framework for Court Excellence in the Land and Environment Court of New South Wales. He is also the recipient in 2010 of an award by the Asian Environmental Compliance and Enforcement Network in recognition of his outstanding leadership and commitment in promoting effective environmental adjudication in Asia.

This event is hosted by College of Law
Not a member? Join Us!
NELA offers its members a range of exclusive membership benefits, including discounted rates for NELA events.
To access member pricing for this event, you can join as a member here.
