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In this episode of Risk! Engineers Talk Governance, due diligence engineers Richard Robinson and Gaye Francis discuss Culture, Criticality and Controls in terms of Ethics and Quality Assurance.

Starting from Thomas Kuhn’s idea of paradigm shifts, they look at why Australia’s defence exports are largely defensive and how that protective instinct is reflected in WHS legislation.

They also cover how splitting the world into narrow domains weakens decision-making, why the order of project success criteria changes stakeholder thinking, and why quality assurance is needed to confirm the controls actually work.

If you’d like us to cover a specific topic or have any feedback we’d love to hear from you. Email admin@r2a.com.au. For further information on Richard and Gaye’s consulting work with R2A, head to https://www.r2a.com.au, where you’ll also find their booklets (store) and a sign-up for their quarterly newsletter to keep informed of their latest news and events.

Summary notes

• 00:41 – The three Cs: culture, criticality, controls
• 00:56 – Paradigms and Kuhn’s generational change
• 02:33 – Australia’s defensive defence exports
• 05:15 – WHS intent and the protective culture
• 06:19 – Siloed domains and due diligence
• 09:15 – Budget as the last success criterion
• 09:59 – Quality assurance: did controls work?
• 11:16 – Compulsory voting and embracing culture