A Day in the Life of Anna Enquiries and Liaison Officer

Can you tell us a bit about yourself?

I’m an Enquiries and Liaison Officer with ADNSW, with a background in…you name it! I’ve packed t-shirts in a screen-printing factory, worked for an international airline, studied electronic engineering, worked on an IT helpdesk, and I did numerous temp assignments before joining ADNSW. Originally from Sydney’s Northern Beaches, I now live on Cammeraygal land. 

Why did you join Anti-Discrimination NSW?

I started in an admin position as an agency temp way back in 2001 – on a six-week assignment! The assignment was extended and eventually I successfully applied for the role of Administrative Assistant when it was advertised in 2004.

Through reading and registering complaints as part of my admin role, I found the Anti-Discrimination Act 1977 and its application really interesting and was lucky enough to be supported in doing a few acting opportunities as a phone enquiry officer. This eventuated into being permanently appointed as an Enquiries and Liaison Officer in 2007.

Can you describe your role? 

ADNSW’s Enquiry Service is a first point of contact for the general public in relation to information about our legislation and processes. We take thousands of enquiries each year – via phone, email and webform – from anyone who has a query about a discrimination issue in NSW, or our work and processes.

I refer people to other services when necessary and also do initial follow up work on complaints where further information is required – and this is all really interesting and rewarding work.

I also liaise with other ADNSW teams, provide statistics for our annual report and collaborate on joint projects, internally and externally.

What do you like most about your job?

It’s a challenging and varied job and I get to communicate with all types of people. I’m passionate about human rights outside of work too, so this is very much a perfect job for me. We have a wonderful team at ADNSW, and I really value the vast knowledge and work ethic of all my colleagues.

What keeps you busy outside of work?

My partner and I love bushwalking, but just walking around the local neighbourhood streets – especially during our various lockdown periods – has become a new favourite thing to do. We moved recently, so now there are whole new areas of neighbourhood to explore!