deca Policy Forum

Location & Timings:

Canberra
DAY 1: March 15th 2027 –  QT Hotel
DAY 2: March 16th 2027 – Parliament House
9AM – 3PM

The DECA Policy Forum is a national, two-day program bringing industry and government together to shape policy, regulatory and economic frameworks for Australia’s digital economy. It focuses on digital assets, tokenisation, digitalisation and stablecoins, with emphasis on regulatory coordination, market integrity, innovation enablement and national competitiveness.

Day 1 features three closed-door roundtables that form the core pillars of DECA’s Proactive Policy Paper. These roundtables examine the economic evidence, the commercial pathways and the regulatory settings required to support Australia’s digital economy.

Roundtable discussions will anchor the DECA Policy Forum fostering proactive policy development through meaningful industry dialogue.

The Policy Forum is action-driven. All discussions are recorded and transcribed, ensuring every contribution is captured and incorporated into a structured policy document for delivery to government.

Day 2 brings industry and government together at Parliament House for a series of plenary sessions that highlight sector capability, global trends and shared policy priorities.

The DECA Proactive Policy Forum provides a unique opportunity for industry to directly contribute to the policy conversations shaping Australia’s digital economy.

Day 1 brings together industry leaders, researchers, policymakers and subject matter experts for focused discussions on emerging areas where technology, markets and regulation are moving quickly. The objective is to identify practical policy considerations, areas requiring greater regulatory clarity and opportunities for Australia to take a proactive approach to emerging economic and technological change.

Three specialised invite only and member led roundtables anchor Day 1:

1. Trade Digitalisation: Modernising Australia’s Trade Infrastructure

Australia’s trade system is increasingly intersecting with digital identity, tokenisation, programmable payments, electronic trade documents and distributed infrastructure.

This roundtable will examine the policy, regulatory and infrastructure settings required to accelerate the digitalisation of Australian trade. Participants will consider interoperability, digital trade documentation, payments and settlement, standards, cross-border recognition and the barriers currently preventing greater adoption across Australian supply chains.

The discussion will focus on practical opportunities to improve efficiency, reduce friction and strengthen Australia’s competitiveness in an increasingly digital global trading environment.

2. Regulating Agentic Commerce

AI agents are rapidly moving beyond providing information and recommendations towards systems capable of acting on behalf of people and businesses, including initiating purchases, making payments and interacting with other agents and digital infrastructure.

This roundtable will examine how Australia’s existing regulatory frameworks apply when the party initiating or executing a commercial transaction may be software rather than a person.

Participants will consider questions of authority, identity, authentication, liability, consumer protection, payments, financial crime controls and the infrastructure that may underpin machine-to-machine commerce.

The objective is to identify where existing frameworks remain appropriate, where regulatory uncertainty is emerging and what policymakers should begin considering as agentic commerce develops.

3. Financial Crime Intelligence Sharing

Digital assets increasingly operate within a financial crime environment that crosses institutions, platforms, technologies and jurisdictions. Effective disruption therefore depends on the ability of industry, law enforcement and government to identify and share actionable intelligence quickly and lawfully.

This roundtable will examine how Australia can strengthen financial crime intelligence sharing between VASPs, financial institutions, blockchain analytics providers, law enforcement and government.

Participants will explore information-sharing pathways, referral mechanisms, emerging typologies, data quality, privacy and legal constraints, cross-sector collaboration and opportunities to improve the speed at which financial crime intelligence can move between relevant organisations.

The objective is to identify practical improvements that strengthen Australia’s ability to prevent, detect and disrupt financial crime while maintaining appropriate safeguards.

Day 2 of the Proactive Policy Forum is held at Australian Parliament House and is designed specifically to brief and inform parliamentarians, government and their offices on developments across Australia’s digital economy.

The fully catered program features a series of concise plenary sessions delivered by industry, economic, technology and policy experts, providing practical insight into digital assets, artificial intelligence, payments, trade digitalisation, tokenisation, digital markets and modern digital infrastructure.

The Forum provides an opportunity to translate complex and rapidly developing areas of the digital economy into clear policy considerations for government.

Its purpose is to support informed decision-making by sharing evidence-based insights, current industry developments and priority policy considerations relevant to Australia’s economic competitiveness, productivity, innovation and market integrity.

Importantly, the Parliament House program also provides an opportunity to bring the work undertaken through the Day 1 roundtables directly into the broader policy conversation, connecting emerging industry challenges with Australia’s future regulatory and economic priorities.