ICAC regional corruption prevention program to visit New England
Thursday 25 November 2010
The Independent Commission Against Corruption (ICAC) will visit New England next week as part of a Commission program that takes anti-corruption initiatives and training to regions across NSW.
The visit, to be based in Armidale, will include workshops and briefing sessions for state and local government agencies to raise awareness about corruption risks and ways to manage and prevent corrupt conduct from occurring. For the first time, the Commission will also hold a breakfast seminar on the lessons learned from its investigation earlier this year into resume falsification and attempted corrupt payments, focusing on the corruption risks in recruitment.
The ICAC Commissioner, the Hon David Ipp AO QC, said the Commission's outreach program provided local agencies across the state with the opportunity to experience hands-on corruption prevention workshops with the Commission's highly-skilled staff.
"The ICAC workshops will include training on managing protected disclosures, corruption prevention for managers, land dealings and a fact-finder workshop which will help agencies to conduct their own internal investigations. This is the first time the Commission's outreach program has visited New England since it came to Tamworth in 2006, and our staff are looking forward to sharing our latest information and techniques to help agencies minimise corruption.
"The visit will also include the NSW Deputy Ombudsman, Chris Wheeler, who will address a community leaders' breakfast and co-conduct a workshop on the better management of protected disclosures," Commissioner Ipp said.
The ICAC's Deputy Commissioner, Ms Theresa Hamilton, will host the community leaders' breakfast, which will be attended by approximately 50 people including representatives from local councils, state government agencies, local business people and interest groups.
State Government agencies attending the outreach activities include the NSW Aboriginal Land Council, the State Emergency Service, Industry and Guardian, the Department of Environment, Climate Change and Water, Industry and Investment NSW, Roads and Traffic Authority, NSW Community Services and Corrective Services NSW. Councils participating include Armidale Dumaresq, Gunnedah Shire, Guyra Shire and Uralla Shire.
The ICAC outreach program has proved highly successful since its inception in 2001. Previous visits have included to the Far South Coast, the Illawarra, the Central West, the Hunter, the Far West, the South East, the Central Coast, and the North Coast.
News Directors/Ed's note: Media are welcome to attend the Community Leaders' Breakfast at the Moore Park Inn, South Armidale, at 7:15am on Wednesday, 1 December. Please RSVP to the Commission's Manager Communications & Media, Nicole Thomas, by 12 noon on Friday, 26 November at nthomas@icac.nsw.gov.au or telephone 02 8281 5799/0417 467 801.