Sandra Parker PSM on regulatory leadership, isolation, and fixing a 'toothless' regulator – Part 1
The Modern Regulator PodcastShow Notes
What does it actually feel like to move from shaping regulation to enforcing it?
Sandra Parker PSM spent eight years as a Commonwealth Deputy Secretary, close to ministers, consulted on everything, and in the room for every major workplace relations decision in Australia. Then in 2018 she stepped across to lead the Fair Work Ombudsman (FWO), overseeing workplace relations for two million employers and fifteen million workers – and the room went quiet.
In part one of this conversation, Sandra discusses the transition that catches so many regulatory leaders off guard: the moment independence arrives and the informal infrastructure disappears. Sandra describes walking into an agency publicly labelled "toothless," with 18 court matters a year, and what she did about it, including a legal interpretation that had been quietly paralysing the agency's enforcement toolkit for years.
This episode covers: The isolation shock of moving from policy to regulation and why it's a structural problem, not a personal one The department–regulator relationship: what it should look like, and what it usually does The 7-Eleven wage theft scandal, the Fels task force, and the burning platform Sandra inherited How a capability review and a seconded chief counsel changed the FWO's enforcement posture Compliance notices: from 220 a year to 2,500, and what that shift actually required
Part two of this episode is available now.
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