Petra Strydom
Auckland Council
I am a compliance and regulatory professional with 34 years of experience spanning law enforcement and local government. My career began with 10 years in the South African Police Service, where I gained extensive experience in investigations, evidence gathering, intelligence, and legislative enforcement.
For the past 24 years, I have worked in New Zealand local government, at Auckland Council specialising in regulatory compliance, environmental enforcement and continuous improvement.
I am passionate about delivering fair, consistent, and evidence-based regulatory outcomes while fostering collaboration, innovation, and organisational excellence. My areas of expertise include compliance and enforcement, investigations, environmental legislation, risk management, stakeholder engagement, strategic planning, and leadership, with a strong commitment to strengthening regulatory practice and achieving positive outcomes for the organisation and the communities we serve.
Shifting the Line of Compliance: Aligning effort with impact Copy
A reshape of the Licensing and Compliance Department at Auckland Council created an opportunity to reassess how compliance functions are delivered. By clarifying the outcomes we seek and comparing these to the outcomes that were being achieved, we identified the need for a more targeted and effective compliance approach. In late 2024, this led to the implementation of a new operating model designed to lift consistency and strengthen decision-making across the department.
Shifting the Line of Compliance is a department-wide initiative that ensures a unified, principles-based approach is applied across all compliance activities. Central to this work is a sharper focus on high-risk, high-harm issues, ensuring that regulatory effort is directed to the areas where it delivers the greatest value. By prioritising the matters that pose the most significant risk to the environment and the community, the project aims to create a more responsive, consistent, and outcome-focused compliance system.