Communication

Trish Oakley
Trish Oakley

Welcome

I have recently been appointed Senior Manager, Community Engagement, in Transport for NSW; a challenging and exciting job.

I have suspended my consulting work for the period of my full-time appointment to the public service.

I am a highly experienced communications professional, with significant expertise managing contested issues in the spotlight of media or community attention.

Having worked in a range of different environments, I am effective at advising how to communicate messages in a way that cuts through to different audiences. I am good at transforming technical speak into plain language without losing accuracy.

Experience

  • Thirty years’ experience in journalism, government, the bureaucracy and the private sector
  • Worked on major projects in an issues rich environment, such as the legislative reform of the planning system, the redevelopment of Darling Harbour, the revitilisation of Sydney’s Central Park in Broadway and the introduction of new bail laws
  • Executive Director, Community and Stakeholder Engagement in the Department of Planning and Environment – leading the Department’s communication and engagement strategy for the proposed reform of the planning system, as well as the key ‘business-as-usual’ programs
  • Associate Director at Elton Consulting working for a range of blue-chip property and infrastructure companies and various government agencies, designing and implementing large scale communications and stakeholder engagement programs
  • Chief of Staff to a NSW Deputy Premier, managing policy, communication, engagement and media strategy in the portfolios of Health, Planning, Housing and Aboriginal Affairs
  • Journalist with the Australian Broadcasting Corporation, focusing on reporting politics and law, working in both the Federal and State press galleries
  • Degrees in law and political science.

Skills

  • Capacity to forecast what the community will think and to anticipate the big issues
  • Ability to develop and implement media management strategies, to help ensure decisions don’t fail in an atmosphere of crisis
  • Ability to develop effective positive communication strategies to influence the public debate around decisions
  • Well-honed media and political judgment developed after working at high levels in government and the bureaucracy and comprehensive knowledge of the State and Federal political landscape
  • Extensive experience developing and implementing strategies to assist manage media coverage, protecting reputations and helping deliver desired outcomes
  • Track record in designing and implementing large scale stakeholder engagement and communication programs, particularly in contested environments, involving complex information, entrenched issues and diverse stakeholders, often in the media spotlight.

Strategy

Services

  • Working with you to design and implement strategic communication plans
  • Preparing communications tools, such as media releases, brochures, webcopy, fact sheets and newsletters
  • Facilitating social media and video production
  • Identifying issues and developing strategies to manage them
  • Training for media coverage and liaising with journalists
  • Planning and implementing communications and marketing strategies for professional organisations, corporates and university centres

Engagement

Services

  • Identifying and working with stakeholders
  • Designing and implementing community engagement programs
  • Designing and implementing stakeholder engagement plans aimed at gaining ‘buy-in’ from stakeholders
  • Designing engagement programs using the latest thinking in consultation, including deliberative processes
  • Using modern techniques designed to engage with ‘hard to reach’ communities
  • Managing organisational change and facilitating high level meetings.

Clients

  • Australian Centre of Excellence for Local Government
  • Adjudicate today
  • Stockland

Contact