2023 Education & Seminar Series
Topic : The Nexus between Foreign Interference and Corruption
Time: Wednesday, 18 October 2023, 12:30 – 1:30pm
Venue: Sydney Mechanics School of Arts, Level 1, 280 Pitt Str, Sydney & Online
Presentation:
An overview of foreign interference, what it is and how it impacts Australia, before delving into the nexus between foreign interference and corruption, integrity and fraud.
Session Speaker:
Sally Pfeiffer, Assistant Secretary, Counter Foreign Interference Partnerships, Department of Home Affairs.
Ms Pfeiffer has had a varied career in the Department of Home Affairs including IT, major procurement and contract management, immigration detention operations, immigration status resolution, character and cancellations program and the refugee and humanitarian visa program.
In September 2022 Ms Pfeiffer was appointed to the role of Assistant Secretary Counter Foreign Interference Partnerships within the Counter Foreign Interference Coordination Centre. Her key role is to lead the National Partnerships network to engage with stakeholders to raise awareness and build resilience to foreign interference threats. She also leads the International Partnerships team to engage with international partners to understand the international threat and risk environment and understand their CFI policy priorities, responses and legislative developments.
Topic and speaker are still to be assigned.
Time: Wednesday, 15 November 2023, 12:30 – 1:30pm
Venue: Sydney Mechanics School of Arts, Level 1, 280 Pitt Str, Sydney & Online
Behaving Ethically? Updates to the NSW Code of Ethics and Conduct for Government Sector Employees
Time: Wednesday, 15 February 2023 12.30-1.30pm
Venue: Sydney Mechanic’s School of Arts, Level 1, 280 Pitt Str & Online
Session Speaker
Tianna Jaeschke, A/Director @Public Service Commission
Bio
Tianna joined the Public Service Commission in January 2022. Tianna has worked across various Human Resources roles in the public and private sectors. Tianna has supported and implemented a range of people initiatives and strategies across workforce strategy, talent management and change. Tianna, along with the Employment Strategy Team at the PSC recently worked on new Commissioner’s directions and Behaving Ethically Guide and are currently undertaking a more substantive review of the Behaving Ethically Guide and the Code of Ethics and Conduct for NSW government sector employees.
Description of Session
The NSW Public Service Commissioner has recently issued two new directions covering Managing Gifts and Benefits: Minimum Standards and the NSW Code of Ethics and Conduct for NSW government sector employees. The Commission is currently undertaking a more substantive review of the Code of Ethics and Conduct, along with the suite of resources to support ethical behaviour in the sector – this work will be finalised in 2023. This presentation will help attendees understand what’s changed, what’s coming, as well as some of the ethical hotspots all public servants need to be aware of heading into the next state election cycle.
Lessons from the Australian Casino Inquiries.
Time: Wednesday 15 March 2023 12:30-1:30pm
Venue: Sydney Mechanic’s School of Arts, Level 1, 280 Pitt Str @ Online
Session Speaker:
Garry Gill, Managing Director and Head of Investigations, Forensic Investigations and Intelligence @Kroll Australia
This presentation will examine the implications of the recent Australian casino inquiries, including:
- a brief synopsis of the issues that were surfaced during the inquiries;
- the root causes of these issues, including the impact of poor corporate cultures;
- failures in risk management;
- social licence to operate;
- regulatory implications; and lessons for senior management, boards and directors.
Bio
Gary Gill is a Chartered Accountant, who specializes in Forensic Accounting, with almost three decades of complex forensic investigations experience. He assists his clients in preventing, detecting and investigating fraud, bribery, corruption, money laundering and other related misconduct. Gary’s clients include public and private sector organizations in Australia, the Asia Pacific region, North America, Eastern Europe, the Caribbean and Africa.
At Kroll, Gary is responsible for investigations and is currently leading an Independent Monitorship of Crown Resorts for the NSW Independent Casino Commission, after the Authority’s decision to find Crown unsuitable to hold a casino licence in NSW for its new Sydney casino, following the Bergin Inquiry in 2020/21.
Much of Gary’s career prior to joining Kroll was with KPMG, including KPMG Australia, where he was a partner from 2004 to 2018. He was the national leader of KPMG Australia’s forensic practice between 2009 and 2017.
ADDITIONAL RESPONSE TO QUESTIONS DURING SESSION
Please note the date for the CPN Forum is Tuesday 12 September 2023.
Topic : NSW ICAC Investigation Report on Operation Paragon
Time: Wednesday 19 th April 2023 12.30-1.30pm
Venue: Sydney Mechanic’s School of Arts, Level 1, 280 Pitt Str @ Online
Session Speaker:
Stephen Wood, Senior Corruption Prevention Officer@ NSW Independent Commission Against Corruption
The NSW Independent Commission Against Corruption recently released its report into Operation Paragon. This investigation identified both substantial corrupt conduct by two former staff at Roads and Maritime Services and wide-ranging systemic issues. In the presentation, Senior Corruption Prevention Officer, Stephen Wood will discuss key elements of the conduct, the context in which it took place and the Commission’s corruption prevention recommendations.
Bio
Stephen Wood joined the NSW Independent Commission Against Corruption in January 2017. For 15 years prior to that, Stephen was a member of the leadership team within the then Department of Immigration and Border Protection. This included senior executive roles focussed on corporate governance with responsibility for planning, reporting, finance policy, audit, information management and fraud control. His earlier roles involved policy, regulatory, compliance and operational oversight and leadership of significant systems and organisational change projects in both the public and private sector. Stephen also has a particular interest in leadership and organisational culture.
Please note the date for the CPN Forum ” Recognising and Responding to Corruption Risks” is Tuesday 12 September 2023.
Topic : Preparing for the Public Interest Disclosures Act 2022
Time: Wednesday, 17 May 2023 12.30 – 1.30pm
Venue: Sydney Mechanic’s School of Arts, Level 1, 280 Pitt Str @Online
Session Speaker: Patrick Sheehy, Manager, Notifications, Advice and Governance, Public Interest Disclosures Unit, NSW Ombudsman
Description of Session
Under the Public Interest Disclosures Act 2022, the functions of the NSW Ombudsman include providing information, advice, assistance and training on matters relevant to the Act, and to publish guidelines and other materials for agencies and public officials. Ahead of the commencement of the Act on 1 October 2023, the Ombudsman is preparing materials to assist agencies with their own preparations. In this presentation, Patrick Sheehy, Manager within the NSW Ombudsman PID Unit will provide information about the materials that the Ombudsman will supply to agencies, including the guidelines, model policy and training materials.
Bio
Patrick Sheehy returned to the NSW Ombudsman’s Office in March 2023 as the Manager, Notifications, Advice and Governance, Public Interest Disclosures Unit. He previously worked at the office between 2013 and 2018 in police oversight and child protection. Most recently, Patrick worked at UNSW where he managed investigations of protected disclosures and other complex complaints.
A review of the “Cyber Security NSW: governance, roles, and responsibilities” audit report
Date : Wednesday 21st June 2023
Time: 12:30pm -1:30pm
Venue: Sydney Mechanics School of Arts, Level 1, 280 Pitt Street Sydney & Online
Session Speaker: Christian Heinrich, Principal , ISG(Information Systems Group)
Description of Session
In February 2023, the Audit Office of NSW released the “Cyber Security NSW: governance, roles, and responsibilities” report into the effectiveness of Cyber Security NSW’s arrangements in contributing to the NSW Government’s commitments under the NSW Cyber Security Strategy. In this presentation, Christian Heinrich of ISG will discuss its findings and recommendations.
Bio
Christian Heinrich is the former security manager of the NSW State Emergency Service (SES) and represented the Justice Cluster at the NSW Government Cyber Security Community of Practice. Christian Heinrich has presented at the OWASP Conferences in Australia, Europe and USA and OWASP Chapters in the Netherlands, Singapore, UK, Thailand and Sydney and Melbourne in Australia, ToorCon (USA), Shmoocon (USA), BlackHat (Asia, Europe and USA), DEFCON (China and USA), SecTor (Canada), CONFidence (Europe), Hack In The Box (Europe), SyScan (Singapore), B-Sides (Australia), RUXCON (Australia), and AusCERT (Australia).
Please note the CPN Forum is on Tuesday 12 September at the NAB Conference Centre, Level1, 2 Carrington Str, SYDNEY.
Theme: “Recognising and Responding to Corruption Risks”.
Early Bird rate is AU$600 per person plus GST and spaces are limited.
Bookings https://eventfrog.eventsair.com/cpn-forum-2023/cpn
Topic : Understanding Corruption Control Maturity
Time : Wednesday, 19 July 2023 12:30 – 1:30pm
Venue : Sydney Mechanics School of Arts, Level 1, 280 Pitt Str, Sydney & Online
Dr Benjamin Marx, Principal officer Corruption Prevention, NSW Independent Commission Against Corruption
Bio
Benjamin Marx commenced in ICAC’s Corruption Prevention division in 2006. He has managed or led many ICAC corruption prevention projects, including those on employment screening, invoice payment controls, IT contractors and NGO-delivered human services. He is also currently managing the ICAC CP in Practice project that is examining how corruption control is implemented within NSW state government agencies. Dr Marx has also performed or managed corruption prevention analysis on over 20 ICAC investigations, led many internal analyses of ICAC complaint data, and currently manages ICAC’s program of speaking engagements and training workshops. In 2020, he returned to ICAC from an 18-month secondment to Transport for NSW where he was responsible for TfNSW’s fraud and corruption prevention program. Prior to working at ICAC, he completed a PhD in Psychology at the University of Sydney that explored some of the cognitive and attitudinal elements of moral reasoning, having previously conducted research on relative risk judgements.
Description of Session
The NSW ICAC has recently released two publications regarding corruption control maturity. These publications provide guidance to agencies who wish to assess their corruption control maturity and/or know what outcomes they need to achieve to enhance it.
This presentation provides an overview of these publications. It discusses general features of the publications, the four pillars of better practice corruption control (Building integrity, Preventing corrupt conduct, Detecting corrupt conduct and Responding to integrity breaches) and the
four systems and processes that support these pillars (Corruption risk management, Corruption control framework, Corruption control roles and Corruption control competence).
Please note the CPN FORUM is on Tuesday 12 September 2023 at NAB Conference Centre, Lvl 1, 2 Carrington Str, SYDNEY.
Theme : “Recognising and Responding to Corruption Risks”.
Registration AU$700 per person plus GST.
Topic: The roles of Access to Information and Privacy Laws in promoting integrity and preventing corruption
Time: Wednesday, 16 August 2023, 12:30 – 1:30pm
Venue: Sydney Mechanics School of Arts, Level 1, 280 Pitt Str, Sydney & Online
The session consist of two presentations from the Information and Privacy Commission NSW.
The Role of Access to Information Laws in promoting integrity and preventing corruption – unique challenges in contemporary government
Elizabeth Tydd (CEO, Information Commissioner)
Ms Tydd is the NSW Information Commissioner, CEO of the Information and Privacy Commission and Open Data Advocate. She has extensive regulatory and governance experience at an executive and Board level, in a range of jurisdictions and industries including commercial, not for profit and public sector oversight. Ms Tydd holds a Bachelor of Laws and Master of Laws from the University of Technology Sydney, as well as post graduate certificates in executive management and governance. She has occupied a number of significant statutory roles, including Deputy President of the NSW Workers Compensation Commission and Deputy Chairperson of the former Consumer Trader and Tenancy Tribunal.
Nothing is more important to investigating corruption than evidence. This session will explore the role of the right to access information in preserving and exposing evidence; preventing corruption and promoting integrity. Fundamental and novel challenges to the right to access information have manifested in modern democracies and digital government that are highlighted through significant case studies. National and international risk prevention and mitigation strategies are also identified and discussed. This session commences with the purpose of the human right to access information and provides practical advice to ensuring those rights are preserved in a contemporary government setting.
The Role of Privacy in preventing Fraud and Corruption
Samantha Gavel (Privacy Commissioner)
Samantha Gavel was appointed as NSW Privacy Commissioner in September 2017.
Her role is to promote public awareness and understanding of privacy rights in NSW, as well as providing information, support, advice and assistance to agencies and the general public. Her responsibilities include the preparartion of reports in the interests of privacy as well as conducting inquiries and investigations into privacy related matters. Most recently Ms Gavel was the National Health Practitioner Ombudsman and Privacy Commissioner, and previously held the role of Private Health Insurance Ombudsman for six years. Ms Gavel has also worked in senior administrative roles for both NSW and Commonwealth Government organisations. She is an experienced mediator and has significant expertise in complaints handling, dispute resolution, privacy rights and ombudsman work.
Privacy plays an important role in preventing fraud and corruption, as well as in the design of systems for identifying fraud and corruption. The Privacy Commissioner will discuss these issues, as well as current privacy issues.
ADDITIONAL RESPONSE TO QUESTIONS DURING SESSION
Please note the CPN FORUM is on Tuesday 12 September 2023 at NAB Conference Centre, Lvl 1, 2 Carrington Str, SYDNEY.
Theme : “Recognising and Responding to Corruption Risks”.
Registration AU$600 per person plus GST.
The Forum on 12 September 2023 will replace this session.