Exploring how AI is transforming cyber detection and response across government systems while ensuring accountability and oversight remain central to decision-making.

• Anticipated developments in AI-enabled cyber detection and response.
• Balancing automation with accountability and oversight.
• Global lessons on AI risks and opportunities for government security.

Senior leaders discuss how Aotearoa is securing essential infrastructure from evolving threats through stronger regulation, smarter coordination and resilient design.

• How agencies and industry are strengthening infrastructure resilience.
• Emerging regulatory and operational approaches.
• Lessons from recent disruptions at home and abroad

Ministry of Justice NZ guides one of government’s most critical justice portfolios. Security transformation must be ethical, durable and defensible. This session focuses on how to operationalise risk-led governance, uplift accountability, and build continuous cyber assurance across courts, data systems and shared services with a public-first mandate.

• Embedding security governance and risk frameworks built for public sector accountability
• Designing assurance pathways that maintain ethics, transparency and operational trust
• Managing enterprise cyber risk through structured capability, reporting confidence and cross-government alignment

This panel explores how New Zealand government agencies are approaching the safe and ethical adoption of artificial intelligence. The discussion will examine how agencies can embed trust, governance, and

responsible use of AI while ensuring systems remain explainable, secure and aligned with public values.

Discussion Points:

• Practical steps for embedding AI governance and accountability across the public sector.
• Ensuring transparency and fairness in government AI systems.
• Building trust through responsible use, clear frameworks, and strong leadership oversight.

Emma MacDonald

Director, Stats NZ

Colin Simpson

Professor, University of Auckland

Data Ethics Advisory Board Member

TBA, DEAG

New Zealand Police are introducing a new era of security planning where resilience is engineered, measured and governed holistically. This keynote explores how capability models and ethical governance frameworks are shaping organisational security change, turning enterprise architecture into a practical foundation for cyber resilience without sacrificing accountability.

• Designing security transformation through measurable capability models
• Embedding ethics, oversight and accountability into architecture-led security change, avoiding complexity and compliance fatigue
• Driving security ownership and workforce assurance with confidence to detect, report, and deliver resilience across critical policing systems

A dynamic discussion exploring automation and AI-driven Innovation and defence. Where does Aotearoa fit in as new technology takes hold.

• What next-generation threats could look like — and how to get ahead of them.

• The role of AI-driven automation, innovation and sovereign capability.

• Inspiring collaboration: positioning Aotearoa as a global thought leader in the digital age.

An in-depth conversation on why citizen trust depends on secure systems, transparent communication and embedding cyber security into every stage of public service delivery.

• Why secure systems are key to public confidence in data and digital services.
• Transparency and communication as part of cyber resilience.
• Evolving towards a “citizen-first” approach to cyber.

Liz MacPherson

Deputy Commissioner, Office of the Privacy Commissioner

Adwin Singh

Cyber Security D/L - CISO Office, Inland Revenue

Derek Robson

Former Chief Information Security Officer, New Zealand Parliament