Governance

Grant is Chief Regulatory Officer of the Natural Resources Access Regulator (NRAR), and has been a member of the inaugural AELERT National Council since 2022, including a term as Deputy Chair.

Grant is a highly regarded regulator within the AELERT Community and beyond. As NRAR’s Chief Regulatory Officer, Grant is responsible for the day-to-day operations of NRAR.

He has led NRAR since its establishment in 2018 and has more than 15 years’ experience in senior leadership roles in natural resource management and regulatory practice.

As NRAR’s Chief Regulatory Officer, Grant is responsible for the day-to-day operations of NRAR.

This includes building NRAR’s regulatory capacity and capability to deliver on the NSW Government’s commitment to best practice regulation, as well as building and sustaining effective relationships with key stakeholders, establishing good governance and high levels of ethical practice within NRAR, and working with the board to progress its agenda.

As chief executive officer of the Australasian Environmental Law Enforcement and Regulator’s Network (AELERT), Gregory utilises his passion for regulation, experience in exercising the regulatory craft, and a natural leadership style focused on connecting people to strengthen the network and provide value to its members. He is particularly focussed on connecting members to AELERT’s international regulatory network partners in North America, Latin America, Asia, Africa and Europe to facilitate new opportunities to collaborate and innovate at a global level.

Gregory previously worked as the Director of Education and Engagement, and previously the Director Water Regulation at the NSW Natural Resources Access Regulator (NRAR), where he led the building and maturing of a new, independent natural resources regulator. He led NRAR to proactively engage stakeholders, understand them better and enable them to solve complex regulatory problems. He has championed protection and recognition of Aboriginal cultural and spiritual values connected to land and water

During his 23 years of experience in the field, he has led initiatives to solve complex regional, industrial, and statewide regulatory issues in pollution, biodiversity conservation, chemicals, native forestry, land management, and water management.

Committed to serving in the public interest, Gregory has honed his regulatory craft and employs a full suite of tools and his own insights to affect real change and meaningful outcomes on the ground. He is an advocate of proactive regulation, connecting regulatory functions and effective regulatory laws, and is adept at engaging and mobilising stakeholders to amplify regulatory reach and impact.

If you have a question or would like to catch up with Greg, please contact the Leadership Team at any time.

Amy is the Deputy Chief Executive Officer at the Environment Protection Authority of South Australia, formerly Executive Director of the Environment Regulation Division in the Department of Parks, Environment and Water Security in the Northern Territory.

She specialises in energy and environmental policy and has been committed to the sustainable economic development in the Northern Territory (NT) for over 12 years.

She first came to the NT in 2010 as a solicitor at the Northern Land Council. She moved to Government in 2014 and has been mainly working in the environment and energy space during that period. Amy has a Bachelor of Engineering (Hons 1, University Medal) and a Bachelor of Laws from the University of New South Wales.

She has a Master of Laws (University Medal) from the Centre for Energy, Petroleum, Mineral Law and Policy at the University of Dundee, UK. She completed a Masters of Public Administration as a Fulbright Scholar from the Harvard Kennedy School in 2019 and is currently working on a Master of Liberal Arts (Sustainability) from the Harvard Extension School as a Monash scholar.

Sally is Director Petroleum Regulation from the Department of Lands, Planning and Environment in the Northern Territory. She has worked in the NT Government for 20 years, and during this time led teams conducting environmental impact assessments, mining reform implementation, environmental regulation of uranium mining, legacy mines and policy development.

She has regulated onshore petroleum since the transfer of regulatory responsibilities to the Environment Minister in 2019 and leads a team delivering approvals and compliance for onshore petroleum activities in the Beetaloo basin and existing gas fields in the Amadeus basin.

She has successfully worked in the politically sensitive areas of uranium and hydraulic fracturing and communicating/engaging with a wide range of stakeholders. She has formal qualifications in environmental science/botany with a keen focus on using the elements of process safety and critical controls for regulating.

David has worked in a variety of environment and sustainability related roles for around 20 years, including 15 years as an environmental regulator at the City of Belmont in Perth.  In addition to running the City’s light industry inspections project, David has a long history at the forefront of interagency initiatives including the current Light Industry Program, which is a collaboration between the WA Department of Water and Environmental Regulation and participating local government organisations.

David represents the interests of local government on the National Council and is acutely aware of the vast diversity within the sector, the agencies themselves, the regulatory contexts they operate within, the areas they manage and the communities they represent. He looks forward to learning more about other local governments’ differences, similarities, challenges and successes.

Originally from Aotearoa New Zealand, David holds a BSc in Zoology, which included focuses on aquatic and terrestrial ecology. His interests include the ecology of cities, encompassing both the living and built environments where people reside, work and play.

Rob is the Principal Advisor for regulatory practice and compliance at New Zealand’s Ministry for the Environment. 

Rob brings 25 years of compliance, enforcement and regulatory practice experience across local and central government, and in private practice.

He has a long history of regulatory problem solving and innovation, leading regional and national initiatives to improve regulatory delivery, to develop interagency networks, and to design innovative policy frameworks that solve environmental problems.

Since 2020, Rob has turned his focus to the nexus between legislative design and effective operational delivery of environmental regulation. He is currently leading the policy work to redesign the compliance and enforcement system for the NZ Government’s replacement to the Resource Management Act. 

Rob was one of AELERT’s first New Zealand members. He is a strong supporter of the value that networks provide to practitioners.  He is passionate about the value that good regulation brings to communities, and about ensuring regulatory systems are designed well and are delivered efficiently and effectively.

Rob holds a Master of Science degree from Waikato University, majoring in soil science, hydrology and geochemistry.

Kate is the inaugural Chief Conservation Regulator for Victoria. Commencing in 2019, Kate has led the establishment of the Conservation Regulator in Victoria and continues to lead significant reform to develop an effective, best-practice and effective regulator for wildlife, forestry and public land crime for Victoria. 

Over her career Kate has delivered significant environment protection reforms and prior to this current role, lead the modernisation of Victoria’s Environment Protection Act, a once in a generation reform. 

Kate is committed to championing innovation, collaboration and capability building within the areas she leads with a focus on empowering staff to deliver for the Victorian community.

Paul is an experienced leader with a proven record of achievement in the public and private sectors, including 16 years as a regulator across the mining and environmental sectors.

Paul holds a Bachelor of Environmental Science (First Class Honours) and a Master of Business Administration. Paul is employed as the Director, Mining Regulation with the Department of Energy and Mining, South Australia.

In his current role, Paul is responsible for all aspects of the regulation of the mining and quarrying sector in SA under the Mining Act 1971 and related legislation, including environmental assessments, licencing and approvals, compliance, investigations and enforcement, and mine closure.

Paul is passionate about change management and driving regulatory capability development. He looks forward to providing a strategic contribution to the broader regulatory network through the AELERT National Council, where he can share his knowledge, experiences, leadership skills and understanding of the regulatory environment, whilst continuing to learn from others.

Cameron Grebe leads NOPSEMA’s Environment, Renewables and Decommissioning Division since joining the regulator in August 2011, following 16 years as an environmental engineer, adviser, and manager at BHP, Woodside Energy and Shell Global Solutions International.

Cameron is responsible for leading NOPSEMA’s regulatory oversight of offshore renewables as well as decommissioning and environmental management for all offshore petroleum activities in Commonwealth waters.

Cameron led the inception and implementation of NOPSEMA’s regulation of environmental management, which involved a comprehensive stakeholder engagement and streamlining program. He continues to work within NOPSEMA’s leadership team to ensure offshore energy industries take place with appropriate protections for offshore workers and the environment. This has included substantial stakeholder engagement, reforms to improve transparency, consultation processes and more recently decommissioning and leads NOPSEMA’s work with the Federal Government to establish and implement the offshore renewable energy regulatory framework.

Cameron is Australia’s representative and current Chair of the International Offshore Petroleum Environment Regulators forum (IOPER) and a member of the National Committee for the Australasian Environmental Law Enforcement Network (AELERT).

Cameron holds a Bachelor of Engineering (Environmental Engineering) from RMIT University and a Post Graduate Diploma in Energy Studies from Murdoch University.

Graeme is the Assistant Secretary of the Compliance and Enforcement Branch of the Department of Climate Change, Energy, the Environment and Water. The role leads compliance and enforcement activities involving contraventions of Australia’s national environmental laws.

Graeme has extensive domestic and international law enforcement experience having worked in the field for over 25 years as a sworn officer of the Australian Federal Police, Australian Border Force and NSW Police in various leadership, investigation and enabling roles.

He is passionate about empowering staff, driving culture and capability, and working with others to maximise outcomes, essential for leading his Branch’s role in the Australian Government’s Nature Positive agenda relating to enhanced compliance and enforcement, and the establishment of Environment Protection Australia.

Graeme holds post-graduate leadership qualifications and a Bachelor of Commerce degree from the University of NSW.

Kate is the Director of Southeast Compliance in the Environmental Services Regulation division of the Queensland Department of Environment and Science.

She is responsible for leading teams of staff to deliver a program of reactive and proactive environmental compliance across Southeast Queensland in response to environmental risks, community concerns, weather events, incidents and industry feedback.

Major industry sectors regulated include waste, environmental authority holders, coastal, heritage, utilities, infrastructure projects and quarries. Kate has also been involved in providing advice to government about the options for an independent EPA for Queensland. She has a keen interest in the role of the regulator in responding to wider challenges like emerging contaminants, climate change, natural disasters and increasing population density.

Kate came to the department as a Lawyer with carriage of major environmental prosecutions, land court objections hearings and planning and environment court appeals for the state.

She holds a Bachelor of Laws and a Graduate Diploma in Legal Practice from Queensland University of Technology and a Masters of Business Administration from the University of Southern Queensland.