Primary Landing Page

From our Director

Kate Henne

It’s been an enriching experience to partner with NRCoP and ANZSOG to deliver this important program. The regulatory profession has grown significantly in recent years, making it an exciting but also varied space. This unique curriculum focusses on strengthening regulatory competencies and supporting robust professional development. This offering provides foundational knowledge of this diverse field of practice.   

Working with NRCoP experts has enabled RegNet colleagues to co-create an innovative program that harnesses valuable academic and professional insights for application in real-world contexts. I am excited to see how The Professional Regulator will enhance the capacity of regulators to think, learn and lead with integrity and wisdom.

Professor Kate Henne

Director, RegNet

About the program

The Professional Regulator provides professional development for regulators, regardless of regulatory sphere or jurisdiction, that results in a common foundation of current, modern regulatory practice, increasing the professionalism and capacity of regulators around Australia.

The course is a practical six module online self-paced professional learning program. Participants will also have the unique opportunity to participate in a program of six seminars that will expand on the topics and themes explored in the six online modules.

RegNet Exec Ed
RegNet Exec Ed

Module One: Who Regulates and Why?

Read more

After completing this module you will be able to: 

  • explain why contemporary regulation matters 
  • identify who regulates in contemporary Australia 
  • describe the major styles, tools and concepts of regulation in use in Australia today 
  • know the regulatory approaches used by your organisation 

Module Two: Licensing as Regulation 

Read more

After completing this module you will be able to: 

  • understand the legal environment in which Australian regulators work 
  • identify and explain regulators’ authorising environment and the use of authorising tools, including licensing, permitting, accrediting and registering 
  • apply these practical insights to real-life examples in complex regulatory environments 

Module Three: Understanding and Achieving Compliance

Read more

After completing this module you will be able to: 

  • understand different explanations for, and approaches to compliance 
  • consider and analyse the variety of reasons that may lead to non-compliance
  • identify a range of options and strategies in the regulator compliance toolkit 

Module Four: Using Information to Regulate

Read more

After completing this module you will be able to: 

  • understand the many ways information can inform regulatory best practice 
  • identify key strategies for effectively gathering and using information, including evidence-based strategies and regulatory intelligence 
  • reflect on how to effectively collect and utilise information to align and support regulatory objectives  

Module Five: Regulatory Communication

Read more

After completing this module you will be able to: 

  • identify the different kinds of regulatory communication and their value for regulatory practice 
  • understand when and how to use specific regulatory communication strategies, including lessons from case studies of successes, mistakes and failures 
  • refer to examples for mapping and planning regulatory communication plans and stakeholder engagement 

Module Six: Regulatory Professionalism and Ethics

Read more

After completing this module you will be able to: 

  • reflect on the specific attributes and responsibilities of a professional regulator, considering them in relation to previous modules 
  • develop a broad appreciation of issues related to ethics and ethical decision-making for regulators 
  • comprehensively demonstrate foundational professional competencies, reflecting on essential elements of effective regulatory practice 

Seminar program

RegNet ANZSOG
RegNet ANZSOG

Participants in The Professional Regulator will have access to a program of six seminars, run in conjunction with RegNet at the Australian National University. The seminars provide an opportunity for participants to learn with peers and will be facilitated by expert regulators. Seminars are run on a rotational basis and repeated three times a year so if one is missed there are opportunities to participate at a later date. 

Why seminars?

The six seminars for this course are optional, but discussing new ideas and asking questions is the best way for participants to consolidate their knowledge – and to meet and learn from their regulator peers. 

In principle, seminars can be completed at any time. However, the seminar content follows the online modules: Seminar 1 builds on Module 1; Seminar 2 on Module 2, and so on.  

Each seminar is a 90-minute online session with a maximum of 25 people and can be booked directly through The Professional Regulator online platform. 

Seminar topics

Read more

Seminar 1: Using our regulatory tools 

How can we better understand and fully use the regulatory frameworks and tools available to us, generally and for particular regulatory domains? 

Seminar 2: Frontline regulators and processes  

Module 2 introduces licencing and authorising as fundamental regulatory activities. In this seminar we look at some of the challenges of authorization. Many ‘frontline’ regulatory functions are performed by people in a wide range of service delivery or compliance roles that not directly connected to regulatory policy. What are the challenges and potential for ‘connecting up’ all levels of a regulatory organisation? 

Seminar 3: Understanding and achieving compliance 

We hope for compliance, but we often encounter defiance or indifference.       

How do we engage more fully with those who do not want to engage with us? 

Seminar 4: Regulatory information and stakeholder engagement 

How can we better use and share regulatory information? What are the challenges of doing so? What are the most effective strategies for using information to support engagement with regulated entities and stakeholders in our authorising environments? 

Seminar 5: Regulatory communication 

What is best practice for regulatory communication? How can it support building cooperation with regulated entities and stakeholders What are some of the challenges for communicating effectively as a regulator? 

Seminar 6: Regulatory relationships, professionalism and ethics 

Most regulators are not alone in the regulatory spaces in which they operate. How do we navigate regulatory relationships without being compromised or captured? How do we communicate with, cooperate and collaborate with other regulators and regulatory actors within a federation? What works in developing those relationships, and when do they come under pressure?