SESSION 4
National Investigations Symposium 2027
Explore the speakers, presentations and panellists across the 3 streams :
THURSDAY 3 JUNE 2027: 10:30am - 12:00pm
STREAM 4A: CONTEMPORARY INVESTIGATIVE CHALLENGES
DETAILS TO BE CONFIRMED
STREAM 4B: COMPLAINT HANDLING
Sarah Hoskins
Manager, Issues and Complaints
SAFEWORK NSW
Listening, linking, learning: Creating a connected complaints function
Following the establishment of SafeWork NSW as an independent regulator, the organisation recognised the need to replace disconnected approaches to external complaints and issues management with a coordinated system. Complaints were received and addressed across the agency, but without centralised oversight there was limited visibility of emerging concerns and missed opportunities for organisational learning. Like a nervous system without a coordinating centre, the organisation lacked consistent connections between complainants, teams, and leaders.
This presentation explores the creation of a dedicated complaints management function and the governance, escalation, risk-based triage, and oversight frameworks that formed the organisation’s “complaints nervous system”.
Drawing on contemporary regulatory experience, this session shares lessons in building capability, embedding positive culture, and managing complex matters. It demonstrates how connecting people and processes with data can leverage individual complaints into strategic insights, address systemic risks, and drive continuous improvement to build public trust in a complex regulatory environment.
Jocelyn Yem
Director, Advocacy, Complaints & Training
VICTIMS OF CRIME COMMISIONER
Lessons from a new independent complaints body
Establishing a complaints function within a newly created statutory office presents both opportunities and challenges. This session will share practical insights from the establishment of the advocacy and complaints function for the NSW Victims of Crime Commissioner, including the foundations required to build a credible, victim-centred service.
The presentation will explore how stakeholder listening forums and engagement across the justice sector helped shape priorities, identify service gaps and inform the design of the complaints framework. It will discuss key themes emerging from complaints received to date, the importance of developing clear jurisdictional and scope guidelines, and strategies for communicating what the Commissioner can and cannot do.
The session will also examine approaches to managing stakeholder expectations, establishing service level standards, balancing responsiveness with quality, and using complaints as a source of intelligence to identify systemic issues and drive continuous improvement.
STREAM 4C: INVESTIGATING IN THE REGULATORY ENVIRONMENT
Justice Robert Craig
Judge
SUPREME COURT OF VICTORIA
Values without virtue: Why good people do bad things in good organisations
By way of further background, in starting the list the Supreme Court of Victoria has sought to recognise that the rules administered by regulators are designed to assist the proper functioning of the modern economy and that regulation has been central to economic growth as well as an important part of social progress. The exercise of public power through enforcement proceedings, the importance of general deterrence and the considerable impact these proceedings can often have on individuals and businesses concerned, means that Courts and practitioners must be astute to have cases of this type tried and determined as quickly and fairly as possible. There are features of investigation and enforcement processes which make this possible and allow a bespoke list for regulatory cases to be operated. Recognising the goals and objectives of the list, parties are expected to work with the Court to facilitate the preparation and presentation of applications and trials in the Regulatory and Civil Penalties List on an expedited basis.
Alex Lieneman
Senior Investigator
DEPARTMENT FOR ENVIRONMENT & WATER
From a levee bank to a landmark case: Collaboration, culture and compliance at Anna Creek Station (DPE)
This presentation explores a landmark multi-agency investigation at Anna Creek Station, highlighting collaboration between the Department for Environment and Water (DEW), Traditional Owners, the South Australia Arid Lands Landscape Board, and Aboriginal Affairs and Reconciliation (AAR).
The investigation began when a previously unknown levee bank was discovered and Satellite imagery analysis revealed extensive undocumented earthworks, including at registered Aboriginal heritage sites, raising concerns about unauthorised water-affecting activities and potential heritage damage. A coordinated investigation followed, combining cultural knowledge, regulatory expertise, and technology to examine suspected breaches of the Aboriginal Heritage Act 1988 and Landscape South Australia Act 2019.
The investigation utilised coercive powers and a first-of-its-kind approval for interagency use of evidence across legislative frameworks. Joint inspections with Traditional Owners confirmed landscape modification and impacts on Aboriginal heritage. This precedent-setting case demonstrates how shared intelligence and collaborative enforcement can strengthen heritage protection, landscape management, and regulatory outcomes in remote Australia.
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