ICAC keen to meet Dubbo community at Western region rural and regional outreach visit next week
Monday 3 February 2025
The NSW Independent Commission Against Corruption (ICAC) is keen to meet members of the local community when it heads to Dubbo this month, where it will hold a combined public and community leaders’ forum on Thursday, 13 February.
The forum will be held as part of the ICAC’s rural and regional outreach program, which aims to share anti-corruption initiatives and training across the state.
Chief Commissioner the Hon John Hatzistergos AM said meeting the local community is an important part of sharing information about the roles and functions of the ICAC. “In addition to conducting training opportunities with public officials and leaders in the Western region, we are pleased to create an opportunity for local members of the public to come along and meet us,” Chief Commissioner Hatzistergos said.
“This will also be an opportunity to meet us and learn about the ICAC’s investigative and prevention work, and for us to explain in person the role that all members of the community can play to help in combatting public sector corruption.”
ICAC Commissioner the Hon Helen Murrell SC will host the public forum and panel discussion, which will also include the Law Enforcement Conduct Commission Chief Commissioner, the Hon Peter Johnson SC; the National Anti-Corruption Commissioner the Hon Paul Brereton AM RFD SC; and NSW Deputy Ombudsman Jacqueline Fredman.
The panel will discuss the roles of their organisations, regional issues, and how community leaders and members of the public can contribute to helping oversight agencies fulfil their functions. Guests in addition to members of the public will include senior staff from government agencies, and community interest groups.
The ICAC will hold a range of activities and events throughout the week, including workshops for public officials located in the area, visits to local councils, and visits to local TAFEs. There will also be a Q&A discussion session for local councillors with Commissioner Murrell.
Public officials’ workshops scheduled for this visit include:
- Corruption prevention for managers, which focuses on developing an understanding of the nature of corruption, how and why it occurs, and what managers can do to prevent it
- Corruption prevention in procurement and contract management, which aims to assist managers and staff responsible for procurement to identify where systems weaknesses and corruption opportunities may lie
- Preventing corrupt conduct in Local Aboriginal Land Councils (LALCs), which focuses on the specific corruption issues LALCs may face and how these can be effectively managed
- Preventing corrupt conduct in non-government organisations (NGOs), focusing on assisting NGOs to ensure that corruption does not occur when their staff are performing public official functions or using public funds
- Corruption prevention for planners and regulatory officers, which will assist these officers to identify and manage the corruption risks in their roles.
Members of the community wishing to attend the public forum are requested to register via email at [email protected]. Address details will be provided on registration. The forum will commence with registration and refreshments from 7.30 am, then the panel discussion at 8 am, with some time for audience Q&As before proceedings finish at approximately 9 am.
The ICAC rural and regional outreach program has proved highly successful since its inception in 2001. Previous visits have included to the Illawarra, the south-east, the central west, the north coast, the northern inland, the south coast, the far west, the Riverina, Central Coast, Western Sydney, Hunter New England and the Blue Mountains. The most recent visit to the Western region was based in Orange in 2018, and the last visit based in Dubbo was in 2014.
The ICAC will continue the Western region outreach visit when it heads to Broken Hill from 17 February.