January 2020 Board meeting minutes

Dams Safety NSW Board Meeting No 3 Strategic Workshop- 28 January 2020

Location: Holiday Inn Parramatta, 18-40 Anderson Street, Parramatta NSW 2105

Time 9.30am to 4.30pm

Invitees - Ross Carter (Chair), Alex Fisher (Deputy Chair), Eric de Rooy (member), Shane McGrath (member), Rob O'Neill (member), John Stacpoole (member), Chris Salkovic (CEO Dams Safety NSW), Peter Skehan (Secretariat), Margaret Hynes (Program Manager), Peter Boyd (Governance & Assurance Manager), Lidia Pajmakoska (Operations Manager)

Guests - John Peacock. Facilitator. CEO, Associations Forum

Minutes: Peter Skehan

Approved: 25 February 2020

Item	Decision and Action
1	Welcome - Ross Carter, Chair DSNSW The Chair acknowledged the traditional owners and welcomed all in attendance
2	General Business - Ross Carter The Chair updated the Members on his meeting with the Minister’s Chief of Staff, Jeff McCormack. The Chair discussed the legal advice the CEO had obtained regarding the special deposit account for DSNSW funding.
3	Declaration of formerly prescribed dams - Peter Boyd Peter Boyd presented legal advice obtained regarding the declaration of dams under the new regulatory regime. It was confirmed that DSNSW will be able to declare and de-declare a dam under the same framework. All members approved the motion to re-declare the dams, under s5 of the Act that became declared under the consequential provisions of the Act.
4-8	Strategic Workshop - Ross Carter & John Peacock John Peacock outlined the structure of the workshop. The proposed vision and mission were discussed. The Members elected to use the term ‘mission’ as opposed to ‘purpose’.
	Vision The Members discussed the role of a vision within a best practice regulator. ‘Safe Dams for NSW’ was accepted as the vision.
	Mission Peter Boyd introduced the proposed DSNSW mission which was extracted from the Objects of the Dams Safety Act. After lengthy discussions the Members agreed on: ‘To empower, support and regulate dam owners in managing dams safety risk for the NSW Community’
	Goals Chris Salkovic and Peter Boyd invited the Members to assess the proposed draft goals of DSNSW. Following a lengthy discussion, the following goals were agreed upon: Develop and implement a risk-informed and outcome-focused dams safety regulatory regime Engage with dam owners, the public and other stakeholders to achieve responsible and transparent dams safety management Build and enhance organisational and governance capability An aspirational measure was added to the strategic plan. “A planned progressive reduction in the risk profile of declared dams Clear picture of risk profile and risk maturity of dam owners within 2 years Dam owners provide a work program within 2 years to reduce the risk above the safety threshold within 5 years All dam owners to reduce their risks so far as is reasonably practicable (SFAIRP) within 10 years”.
	Values Peter Boyd introduced the DSNSW draft values as: Integrity Trust Service Accountability The Members agreed on the above values and discussed the inclusion of additional values, such as: Respect Collaboration Wellbeing
9	Strategic Risks - John Peacock A brief discussion into Dams Safety NSW strategic risks was undertaken. It was agreed that further work is required on this.
10	Risk Appetite - John Peacock Chris Salkovic presented the departmental view on low, high and very high risk. The Members agreed to draft risk appetite and to revisit at next meeting.
11	Wrap up Ross Carter Ross Carter thanked John Peacock for his facilitation of the day. He advised the Members that when complete, the Strategic Plan would be presented to the Minister. Ross Carter briefly updated the Members on potential resourcing issues. Next meeting: 25 February 2020