Anita Murrell
Department of Conservation
Anita Murrell is a Principal Advisor at the Department of Conservation with more than 20 years’ experience in environmental regulation, compliance, and regulatory system stewardship across local and central government, as well as the private sector. Her career has spanned biosecurity, pollution prevention, environmental compliance, conservation, major infrastructure projects, overseas investment, and the space sector.
A strong advocate for capability development and peer learning, Anita enjoys connecting people, ideas, and practical solutions to achieve better outcomes while supporting regulator wellbeing.
Outside of work, Anita enjoys spending time at home on the Kapiti Coast with her family (including two energetic dogs) and enthusiastically supporting local coffee roasters and gin makers.
Wearing Many Hats: DOC’s Journey to Being a Modern Regulator
What happens when the same people supporting conservation outcomes and building partnerships are also responsible for enforcing the rules?
At Te Papa Atawhai / the Department of Conservation (DOC), that’s our everyday reality. We operate in a devolved delivery model, where our regional teams work closely with communities and stakeholders, but also make regulatory decisions about what can and can’t happen on conservation land and waters.
We process more than 2,000 permission applications each year. Over time, our systems have become complex, our processes sometimes clunky, and our role as a regulator not always as clear as it could be. So, we’re doing something about it.
We’re on a journey to modernise how we regulate: aiming to be more consistent, proportionate, and trusted. A big part of that is getting clearer about who we are as a regulator, while still holding onto the strengths of a place-based, locally delivered model.
When your people are wearing multiple hats, tensions and conflicts of interest are inevitable. This presentation shares how we’re working through that reality, rather than trying to avoid it.
We’ll talk about how we’re thinking differently about our regulatory role, where we’re drawing lines (and where we’re still figuring it out), and the practical ways we’re approaching conflicts when they arise. Along the way, we’ll reflect on what’s working, what’s hard, and what’s surprised us.
This isn’t a “we’ve solved it” story. It’s a work in progress that will likely resonate with others navigating the messy space between enabling outcomes and holding the line.