THE NSW Independent Commission Against Corruption (ICAC) will visit Moree next week as part of its rural and regional outreach program to share anti-corruption initiatives and training across New South Wales.
Workshops and visits across the Hunter New England region include Armidale, Coonamble, Glen Innes Severn, Liverpool Plains, Tamworth and Gunnedah.
The visit, to be based in Tamworth, includes workshops for public officials in the Hunter New England region, visits to local councils, information sessions for local electorate staff, and visits to local TAFEs.
ICAC Chief Commissioner, John Hatzistergos, will host a community leaders’ forum in Tamworth on Thursday, November 14, where he will be joined for a panel discussion by the NSW Ombudsman Paul Miller, Law Enforcement Conduct Commission Chief Commissioner Peter Johnson and National Anti-Corruption Commission Deputy Commissioner Kylie Kilgour.
The panel will discuss the roles of their organisations, regional issues, and how community leaders and members can contribute to helping oversight agencies fulfil functions.
Guests attending the forum will include senior staff from government agencies, and community interest groups.
Mr Hatzistergos said the rural and regional outreach program helps the Commission connect with public officials and communities outside the metropolitan area.
“Sharing anti-corruption initiatives and messages is an important part of the ICAC’s role,” Mr Hatzistergos said.
“We are looking forward to conducting training opportunities with public officials and leaders in the Hunter New England region, and are also keen to meet and explain the role that all members of the community can play in combatting corruption.”
ICAC Chief Commissioner, John Hatzistergos, will host a community leaders’ forum in Tamworth on Thursday.
Workshops scheduled 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.
Also discussed will be corruption prevention in procurement and contract management, which aims to assist managers and staff responsible for procurement identify where system 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, will be tabled.
Preventing corrupt conduct in non-government organisations (NGOs), focusing on assisting NGOs to ensure corruption does not occur when staff are performing public official functions or using public funds and corruption prevention for planners and regulatory officers, which will assist these officers to identify and manage corruption risks in their roles will also be discussed.
State government agencies taking part include Hunter New England Local Health District, NSW Ambulance, TAFE NSW, Corrective Services NSW, NSW Reconstruction Authority, Amaroo, Anaiwan, Glen Innes, Guyra and Moombahlene Local Aboriginal Land Councils, NSW Telco Authority, Office of Sport, NSW Reconstruction Authority, the Department of Climate Change, Energy, Environment and Water, and the Department of Planning, Housing and Infrastructure.
The ICAC rural and regional outreach program has proved highly successful since its inception in 2001.
Previous visits have included to the Illawarra, western NSW, the south-east, the central west, north coast, northern inland, south coast, the far west, Riverina, Central Coast, Western Sydney and the Blue Mountains.
The last visit to the Hunter New England region was based in Armidale five years ago.
