SUMMARY
Dr Michelle Maloney is an Earth lawyer and advocate for ecocentric and nature based governance. She is recognised internationally and in Australia for her work advocating for Earth centred law and governance, including Earth laws and Rights of Nature. Michelle is Co-Founder and Director of the Australian Earth Laws Alliance (AELA), and Co-Founder and Director of Future Dreaming, an Indigenous led organisation that works to share Indigenous ecological and governance knowledge with non-Indigenous people and organisations in Australia. She is the Director of Ecocentrix Training and Advisory, which offers unique training and personal development opportunities for individuals and organisations.
Michelle holds a Bachelor of Arts (Political Science and History) and Laws (Honours) from the Australian National University and a PhD in Law from Griffith University. Michelle’s PhD analysed how regulation can be used to reduce unsustainable consumption. Her other affiliations can be seen on this webpage, including: Adjunct Senior Fellow, Law Futures Centre, Griffith University; Steering Group Member for the Earth Trusteeship Initiative, Advisory Council Member for the Global Alliance for the Rights of Nature (GARN), and Co-Founder and Director of the New Economy Network Australia (NENA).
To contact Michelle, please email: contact@michellemaloney.au
MICHELLE’S BACKGROUND
Michelle is an Earth-centred human with a passionate love of the living world. A descendant of Irish people who were part of the colonisation of the continent of Australia, Michelle grew up in a little country town in outback Queensland, obtained a western education in law, politics and governance and then embarked on a life-long journey of learning, unlearning and decolonising much of the knowledge she learned at school and university. All of Michelle’s work is focused on creating systems change, in order to shift industrialised societies towards an Earth centred culture and governance system.
Michelle has more than 30 years experience designing and managing climate change, sustainability and community building projects in Australia, the United Kingdom, Indonesia and the USA. This includes working in solidarity with Indigenous colleagues in Central Queensland, South East Queensland and other regions of Australia, on a range of community building, natural resource management and cultural heritage projects.
Michelle met and fell in love with Earth jurisprudence and Earth Laws in 2009 and since 2011 has been working to promote the understanding and practical implementation of Earth centred governance in Australia, through her work with AELA. Michelle’s system change work connects with law, economics, ethics, education, the arts, fostering cross-cultural understanding and decolonising knowledge and practices.
MICHELLE’S PROFESSIONAL JOURNEY
Environmental law and policy
Michelle began her career in 1992, with a legal & policy advisory role with Australia’s Federal Environment Protection Agency, after completing her undergraduate degrees in Law (Honours) and Political Science, at the Australian National University. She then worked at a number of environment protection agencies at the national and state government levels in Australia, on environmental protection and climate change policy and programs. Michelle worked at Australia’s first government agency created to address climate change in 1995 – the NSW Government’s ‘Sustainable Energy Development Agency’ (SEDA) – and then worked internationally, as a consultant to the International Energy Agency, as a consultant at the Energy Saving Trust (London) and on community energy initiatives in California, USA.
Earth laws and nature based governance
The past two decades have seen Michelle forge a unique career path within Earth laws, Earth-centred governance and nature based governance. Ahead of her time, Michelle founded a not-for-profit organization in 2012, which continues today to provide thought leadership and showcase innovative, nature based and Earth-centred governance design across all scales of human activities. Michelle’s work connects the science and place-based frameworks of bioregional governance to sustainability policy, corporate social responsibility, ESG and newly emerging nature based risk assessments.
Community capacity building
Michelle has extensive experience working with Indigenous and non-Indigenous communities in Australia and in other parts of the world. Her cross cultural knowledge and facilitation, engagement and negotiation skills have been honed through many years working on community development projects, as well as leading negotiations between mining companies and Native Title representative groups in Australia. She has worked to assist corporations who wish to engage more meaningfully with local communities, including for a large energy utility in New South Wales, Australia. Michelle teaches workshops on community engagement, decolonisation and Earth-centred initiatives for researchers and businesses.
Civil society networks and organisations
In addition to Michelle’s expertise in systems change and ecocentric governance, she has dedicated her volunteer time over the past decade to building networks and organisations that support innovation within civil society. She has created civil society organisations and networks, including: Australian Earth Laws Alliance, New Economy Network Australia and Future Dreaming. She has also mentored and supported dozens of community and civil society groups to help them develop effective governance systems to achieve their environmental and social justice objectives.
AWARDS AND ACKNOWLEDGEMENT
Michelle recently won an Australian “National Peace Women’s Award” (May 2024), in recognition of her decades of committed work advocating for Earth-centred governance. In 2018 Michelle won a recognition award from the United Nations Association Australian Branch, for her work for the environment.
AFFILIATIONS
Please visit this webpage to read about the organisations and networks that Michelle works with.
PUBLICATIONS AND WRITING
Please visit this webpage, to read about Michelle’s books, essays, journal articles and more
CURRENT RESEARCH
Michelle is currently researching and writing two books:
- “Future Law, Future Life: What if Australian Society was built on the Relationist Ethos? ” co-authored with Kombu-merri person and Adjunct Associate Professor Mary Graham, University of Queensland. The book will be available in early 2025.
- A Handbook for Bioregional Governance, as part of AELA’s ‘Greenprints‘ project, which will be available in mid 2025.
GET IN TOUCH!
Michelle is available for public speaking, workshops, short courses, training/mentoring and other projects. Please get in touch anytime if you’d like more information about Michelle’s work – contact@michellemaloney.au