About the Agency

The Commonwealth Director of Public Prosecutions (CDPP) is an independent prosecution service established by Parliament to prosecute alleged offences against Commonwealth criminal law. We aim to contribute to a fair, safe, and just society by delivering an effective and efficient prosecution service in accordance with the Prosecution Policy of the Commonwealth. Our work involving victims of crime is performed in accordance with the CDPP’s Victims of Crime Policy and other relevant policy and legislation.

The diverse, complex and interesting cases prosecuted by the CDPP range across four national practice groups and include drug importations, on-line child sexual exploitation, terrorism, war crimes, espionage, money laundering, human trafficking, slavery and slavery like practices, tax fraud, welfare fraud, medifraud, people smuggling offences, offences against the corporation’s legislation, cartel offences and a range of regulatory offences.

We welcome and encourage applications from candidates with diverse backgrounds and experiences. We encourage everyone to be themselves without fear of discrimination or judgement about their ancestry, age, gender identity, religion, sexual orientation, cultural background and/or disability status.

About the role

The Senior Witness Assistance Officer (SWAO) is a new role located within the Office of the Commonwealth Director of Public Prosecution’s (CDPP) Witness Assistance Service (WAS). The SWAO will have responsibility for the most complex and sensitive victim referrals made to the WAS, including providing prosecution related information and support to witnesses and victims of crime related to any war crimes matters received by the CDPP.

The SWAO is primarily a complex casework role that requires excellent casework skills and a trauma-informed approach to practice. The SWAO must have the ability to establish and maintain professional, collaborative and productive working relationships with prosecutors and other CDPP staff in addition to a range of external stakeholders including investigators.

The SWAO will utilise a range of legal and practice management systems and other digital technologies and be responsible for creating and maintaining electronic files and other electronic records. The SWAO will be responsible for the timely creation of records concerning all work performed and the creation of reports relating to work performed.

The SWAO will have strong written and oral communication skills and the ability to develop strong internal and external stakeholder relationships both remotely and in person. 

As a senior member of the WAS team, the SWAO will contribute to the achievement of the WAS team’s objectives and assist in the learning and development of more junior team members by actively coaching and mentoring staff as well as modelling and promoting best practice.

The SWAO will perform an education role in relation to best practice casework within a prosecution setting.

The SWAO will work collaboratively with senior members of the WAS team and contribute to the areas of policy, procedure, training, supervision, resource development and service delivery as required. 

The SWAO role will not perform a counselling role, but will provide victims of crime and vulnerable witnesses with referrals and information to various support services, including counselling services.

Some intra and interstate travel involving overnight stays will be required. 

Due to COVID-19, the nature of our work involves a significant amount of communication via telephone, in writing and via virtual platforms such as Microsoft Teams.

Position Duties

In addition to meeting the APS Executive Level 1 work level standards and the Integrated Leadership Systems profile of Executive Level 1, primary outcomes and accountabilities will/may involve:

• Providing victims of crime, their families and vulnerable witnesses with information and support in relation to the role of the CDPP, the prosecution process, court procedures and their entitlements including the development of victim impact statements in complex cases and referrals to support services.
• Liaising with internal and external stakeholders, including investigative agencies, court officials, prosecution lawyers and other parties, establishing key contacts and communication channels on complex cases.
• Liaising between witnesses/victims and prosecutors/legal teams, providing general and case specific information, updates and debriefing where required on complex cases. 
• Creating timely and accurate records of all work performed, consistent with all record keeping requirements, and reporting upon all work performed as required.
• Analysing data and evaluating information sources to assist with the creation of recommendations, reports and training.
• Contributing to the development of guidelines, policies, procedures, resources and training to assist legal teams and other colleagues with the handling of victim/ witness issues and the development of best practice within the WAS.
• Demonstrating and promoting best practice in all aspects of work performed including casework and record keeping.

Position Eligibility Requirements

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To be eligible for employment with the CDPP, applications must be Australian citizens. The successful candidate will be required to undergo a police record check and be able to obtain and maintain a NEGATIVE VETTING 1 security clearance. The successful applicant must be willing to disclose all relevant and required information.

RecruitAbility applies to this vacancy. Under the RecruitAbility scheme you will be invited to participate in further assessment activity for the vacancy if you choose to apply under the scheme; declare you have a disability; and meet the minimum requirements for the job. For more information visit: https://www.apsc.gov.au/recruitability.