The 3-Line Summary
- NetThing 2023, Australia's national IGF, met in Brisbane on 28 August 2023 as a hybrid 'Day 0' of the Asia Pacific Regional IGF (APrIGF 2023), which opened at the same venue the next day.
- Alongside a ministerial address by Michelle Rowland and a keynote by Cyber Ambassador Brendon Dowling, the forum launched an Indigenous Leaders Internet Governance Fellowship and debated AI governance, meaningful connectivity and the future of multistakeholderism.
- Plugging a national forum directly into a regional one, days apart and under one roof, made 2023 a model of connecting domestic debate to the wider world.
Welcome — this is the Japan IGF Support Organization. This in-depth report on NetThing 2023 (Australia's Internet Governance Forum) draws on official outputs, session records and on-site reporting. In a hurry? The three lines above and the diagrams carry the gist.
📍 Held as a 'Day 0' event of APrIGF 2023 (29–31 August, same venue), alongside the Pacific IGF, Youth IGF and a Parliamentary Track
Conference at a Glance (from official records)
| Item | Detail |
|---|---|
| Official name | NetThing 2023 (Australia's Internet Governance Forum) |
| Dates | 28 August 2023 (one-day event) |
| Venue | Brisbane Convention and Exhibition Centre, Brisbane, Australia |
| Theme | Cooperation and collaboration: Australia's commitment to supporting the future of Internet governance |
| Sessions | 11 (Eleven programme segments from the Welcome to Country to closing remarks) |
| Format | Hybrid (in-person and online) |
| Host | NetThing Steering Committee, chaired by Annaliese Williams, with support from auDA, Internet Australia, APNIC, ICANN and others |
(See the source list at the end of this article.)
Discussion Digest — from the Session Records
Key exchanges extracted from session records and transcripts.
1. APrIGF's 'Day 0' — Wiring National Debate into the Asia Pacific
Sessions: Opening (Welcome to Country; ministerial address by the Hon Michelle Rowland MP; keynote by Brendon Dowling, Ambassador for Cyber Affairs and Critical Technology)
- Held the day before auDA-hosted APrIGF 2023 ('Emerging Technologies – Is Asia Pacific Ready for the Next Phase of the Internet?') at the same venue, run jointly with the Pacific IGF, Youth IGF and a Parliamentary Track [2][3][4][5]
- Minister Rowland addressed the forum and Cyber Ambassador Brendon Dowling gave the keynote — unusually senior government presence for a national IGF [2][3][4][5]
- APNIC provided Zoom operations and the live stream, and full recordings were archived publicly by ISOC Live [2][3][4][5]
2. Launching the Indigenous Leaders Fellowship — More Seats at the Governance Table
Sessions: Launch of the NetThing–Identity Digital Indigenous Leaders Internet Governance Fellowship, with Senator Jana Stewart
- A fellowship to bring First Nations leaders into Internet governance debates and international meetings was launched with Senator Jana Stewart on stage [4][5]
- Having opened every edition since 2019 with a Welcome to Country, NetThing moved Indigenous participation a step beyond ceremony toward structure [4][5]
3. AI Governance — the 'Forging our Future' Panel
Sessions: Panel 'Forging our Future' (Aurelie Jacquet, David Masters, Brendon Dowling, Professor Johanna Weaver; moderated by Dr Alexandra Caples)
- With generative AI surging, AI-standards experts, industry, government and academia debated how Australia should approach AI governance [4][5]
- Discussion tracked the government's 2023 'safe and responsible AI' consultation, balancing domestic regulation with international norm-building [4][5]
4. Meaningful Connectivity — Being Online Isn't Enough
Sessions: Panels 'Meaningful Connectivity' (Daniel Featherstone, Andrew Williams, Dr Paul Brooks; moderated by Holly Raiche) and 'Social and Economic Value of the Internet' (Professor Julian Thomas, Dr Greg Adamson, Ken Walliss, Chandni Gupta; moderated by Keith Besgrove)
- The global shift from 'is there a connection?' to meaningful connectivity — speed, devices, skills, affordability — was tested against remote and First Nations communities' realities [4][5]
- A companion panel on the Internet's social and economic value brought researchers and consumer advocates together on how to measure digital inclusion [4][5]
5. What's Next for Multistakeholder Governance — Global Practitioners in Brisbane
Sessions: Panels 'Multistakeholder governance for the future – where next and how to get there' (Anriette Esterhuysen, Chris Buckridge, Jordan Carter, Lise Fuhr; moderated by Pablo Hinojosa) and 'Co-operation and Collaboration' (Sandra Davey, Ian Sheldon, Cheryl Langdon-Orr, Paul Wilson; moderated by Annaliese Williams)
- International practitioners led by former IGF MAG chair Anriette Esterhuysen debated how to renew the multistakeholder model ahead of WSIS+20 and the Global Digital Compact negotiations [3][4][5]
- The closing panel — founding NetThing chair Sandra Davey, APNIC Director General Paul Wilson, the government's Ian Sheldon and others — mapped Australia's contribution before chair Annaliese Williams closed the forum [3][4][5]
Three-Minute Short Talk — Your Questions Answered
Q. Why Brisbane, and why together with the regional IGF?
A. Because APrIGF 2023 opened at the same venue the next day. Running the national forum as its 'Day 0' piped domestic debate straight into the regional and global conversation.
Q. What was unique to this edition?
A. The launch of the Indigenous Leaders Internet Governance Fellowship, announced with a senator on stage — turning Indigenous participation from ceremony into structure.
Q. Why should I care?
A. Two months later Japan hosted the global IGF in Kyoto. Australia's co-location model is one clear answer to a question every host country faces: how to connect national debate to international forums.
What Is Australia IGF? (for first-time readers)
Australia IGF is a National or Regional IGF Initiative (NRI), aligning local internet governance discussion with global IGF principles.
Why It Matters to You
What was discussed here becomes the baseline for national digital policy, platform rules and AI regulation worldwide within a few years. The principles confirmed at the 2023 meeting are the foundation of the "next rules" for the phones, social platforms and AI services you use every day.
Sources & References
- NetThing 2023 — auIGF（旧NetThing）公式サイト (accessed 2026-07-11)
- NetThing 2023（イベント案内） — auDA（豪州ドメイン管理機構） (accessed 2026-07-11)
- Event Wrap: APrIGF 2023, Net Thing 2023, and PacIGF 2023 — APNIC Blog (accessed 2026-07-11)
- WEBCAST AUG 28 – Australian Internet Governance Forum (NetThing) — ISOC Live（インターネットソサエティ配信ノート） (accessed 2026-07-11)
- Australian Internet Governance Forum (NetThing) 2023（全11セッション録画） — Internet Archive（ISOC Live提供） (accessed 2026-07-11)
Quotes are translated or condensed from the records listed above. Bracketed numbers [n] refer to the source list.
Related links
- IGF official (NRI list): https://www.intgovforum.org/en/content/national-and-regional-igf-initiatives
- Japan IGF: https://japanigf.jp/
- Yuki Nakazawa's blog: https://nkzw.jp/category/igf/
Revision History
Rev. 1 — published 17 June 2023, 10:00 (Article published)
Rev. 2 — updated 16 July 2026, 20:09 (Fully revised into the in-depth edition: added the 3-line summary, minutes digest, short talk, source list and diagrams (all quotes verified against the listed sources))
— 中澤祐樹
