Time for Trust

The 24-hour news cycle and the endless scroll of social media means a single controversial headline can shatter your organisation’s credibility in seconds.

And yet leaders can’t avoid the need for communication either, especially if they’re trying to build brand credibility and consumer trust. Roger Christie says “online silence is a risk, you’re letting others fill the feed.” He’s the founder of digital reputation advisory firm Propel, and has worked with giants like CommBank, Coles, and Westpac.

So where is the sweet spot between risky silence and performative noise? And how do you build a genuine reputation that lasts?

Roger Christie breaks down why legacy public communication models are failing modern organisations, and gives practical strategies to align your online voice with your offline reality.

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Roger Chrisie is the founder of Propel. You can listen to his podcast here.

To hear more on building public trust and reputation, listen to our episode with Jim McNamara. Jim’s the Distinguished Professor of Public Communication at the University of Technology Sydney.
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AI is unavoidable in 2026, but higher education is caught between plummeting public trust and fear of disruption. In institutions where original thought is rewarded, how do you embrace an AI driven world?

Martin Betts is the co-founder of HEDx, and has worked in the higher education sector for most of his life. He's not panicking. In fact, the opposite. Betts is a "techno-optimist". Universities have changed, and he believes they need a fundamentally updated model in order to transform our way of learning.

Instead of handing educational AI structures to big tech giants, Betts breaks down how universities can collaborate to lead the change from within.

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Martin Betts is the co-founder of HEDx. You can listen to his podcast here.

If trust in universities is on your radar, listen to our episode with higher education journalist Julie Hare.
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How well do you remember your uni days? Chances are, whatever picture that came to mind - the lecture theatres, campus life, the idea of a place built to protect independent thought - is a few steps removed from the more complicated reality.

These days, that picture competes with leadership scandals, ballooning student debt, a model that relies on international students and a casualised workforce running on fumes. Somewhere along the way, the sector started looking less like an institution and more like an industry.

Julie Hare has spent her career watching that transformation up close. Formerly the higher education editor at The Australian and the Australian Financial Review, she now writes The Hare Report, where she's turned her attention to governance failures at the top.

With AI now rewriting the rules of teaching and assessment, Julie's asking the uncomfortable question - can this system reform itself, or has it too far gone?
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The UK has followed Australia’s lead by banning social media for under-16s. In a parting move made by the Starmer government, it’s left public opinion divided.

We all want children to be safe online. But is this global movement a necessary stand against Big Tech, or does it ignore how the modern world works?

Julian Sefton-Green is a Professor of New Media and Education at Deakin University. He argues the ban is contradictory because we forbid a 15-year-old from using these apps, but expect them to log on the day they turn 16. As he puts it, "you can't attend a university without some form of social media relationship - you can't be in employment, you can't be on LinkedIn, every role that you occupy as a citizen is to some degree some kind of social media."

Professor Sefton-Green explains both sides of the debate. He unpacks what you need to understand, and why this legislation could open the door to more regulations around algorithms and addictive app design.

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Interested in hearing more about age restrictions on social media? Listen to our episode with Professor Sonia Livingstone, one of the global leading voices in this debate.
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Communication is a two-way street. Or at least, it’s meant to be. So why don’t organisations ever seem to really listen to us?

Jim Macnamara, the Distinguished Professor of Public Communication at the University of Technology Sydney, is a pioneer in the field of organisation listening, and he argues it’s the critical missing piece for nearly every institution trying to build and maintain trust. He explains why it’s so beneficial, and why so many organisations don’t do it even if it’s so effective. He also outlines how two-way communication has and will continue to change as digital technologies transform the way we talk to each other.
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