About Patrick

Patrick has been advising Australian Governments on commercial and administrative law matters for over 15 years, and has a deep understanding of the public sector operating environment as well as the applicable laws and best practices (having been an in-house Government Lawyer for many years before joining Maddocks). Patrick is known for his practical and pragmatic advice, responsiveness to clients’ needs and achieving outstanding results for his clients.

Patrick is a highly experienced commercial lawyer, with deep expertise in providing legal and probity advice on government procurements and grant processes, drafting commercial contracts, conducting complex contract negotiations, advising on the construction of complex commercial contracts, resolving contract management issues and conducting alternative dispute resolution for such contracts.

Patrick is also a highly experienced corporate lawyer, with deep expertise in advising clients (including corporate Commonwealth entities) on compliance issues including in respect of the Corporations Act 2001, directors’ duties, constitutional change and corporate governance.

Patrick also has considerable experience as an administrative law practitioner, with expertise in advising on the interpretation of statutory frameworks, including privacy and information laws, as well as the legislation underpinning delivery of government programs across a broad range of portfolios (such as social security law, health, disabilities and families related legislation, rules of evidence and procedural law) particularly in relation to major transformational projects, guiding clients through the process of enacting legislation and regulations, and supporting policy development.

Experience

• Digital ID
  • Supporting the Digital Transformation Agency and then the Commonwealth Department of Finance with the development and enactment digital ID legislation and regulations, including the preparing of legislation drafting instructions and explanatory materials. 
     
  • Advising Services Australia in relation to its participation in the Australian Government Digital ID System, including its role as the Identity Exchange and its use of digital IDs as the relying party providing the myGov service and other online services (e.g. Centrelink and Medicare).
     
  • Establishing a series of pilot projects to deliver the NSW Government’s $2.1B Digital Identity Program. This involved negotiating and drafting the contract delivering the NSW digital identity system, as well as agreements with participants in proof-of-concept trials
• Digital Earth Africa
  • Supporting Geoscience Australia to deliver Digital Earth Africa, an initiative that aims to improve the lives of Africans by providing decision-makers across government, community and the private sector with continent-wide, quality-assured, free and fit-for-purpose satellite derived Earth observation data, information and products. This involved drafting several services contract, including with the South African National Space Agency to provide a project management office, advising on the grant agreement that provides funding for the program, advising on various other agreements with program delivery partners and supporting procurement processes to engage a long-term owner of the program based in Africa, which involved drafting the full suite of transaction documents and advising on the conduct of the procurement process, including contract negotiations.
• Aviation Rescue and Fire Fighting Services
  • Advising Airservices Australia on the procurement of a national fleet of specialised vehicles to perform aviation rescue fire fighting services at airports across Australia. This includes low emissions electric vehicles for the opening of the Western Sydney International Airport. 
     
  • Supporting Airservices Australia with a large-scale replacement of fire alarm monitoring systems in response to the decommissioning of 3G telecommunications networks. This involved extensive consideration of the regulatory frameworks that apply to aerodromes and associated environments, and the risks for Airservices Australia if the replacement program was not implemented appropriately.
     
  • Advising Airservices Australia on the operational requirements of the Marine Safety (Domestic Commercial Vessel) National Law Act 2012 (Cth) in relation to the qualifications of certificated crew operating Airservices Australia’s water rescue vessels
• Ozone Protection and Synthetic Greenhouse Gas (OPSGG) Program
  • Advising on procurement processes to engage service providers to administer the permit scheme established under the OPSGG Management Act 1989 (Cth) in respect of the fire-fighting and refrigeration industries. This involved preparing the full suite of transaction documents and advising the Commonwealth on its procurement strategy and conduct of the procurement process, as well as drafting and negotiating contracts with the selected tenderers, particularly in relation to new performance and financial management provisions to ensure the effective administration of the OPSGG Program.
• Telecommunications Services
  • Supported Services Australia in transitioning to a managed telecommunications solution, resolved contractual disputes arising between the parties during that transition and led a strategic renegotiation of the Managed Telecommunications Services Contract following the completion of transition. Also, advised Services Australia on the procurement of its future telecommunications platform.
• Capacity Investment Scheme
  • Appointed as the legal adviser to support the $10B Capacity Investment Scheme – the national framework for new investment in renewable capacity, such as wind and solar, as well as clean dispatchable capacity, such as battery storage.
• Strategic Water Purchasing
  • Appointed as the probity adviser to support the Australian Government’s $1.3B Voluntary Water Purchase Program, recovering water to bridge the gap to the sustainable diversion limits set out in the Murray-Darling Basin Plan 2012.
• Inclusive Employment Australia
  • Appointed as the legal adviser to the Department of Social Services on the Inclusive Australia Employment (IEA) Program and the National Panel of Assessors (NPA). These are major Commonwealth programs with significant funding (over $800M annually), that support people with disability, injury or a health condition to gain and retain employment. This matter involved drafting, and advising the Department on, the full suite of documentation for two major procurement processes to engage the service providers that will deliver the IEA across Australia, and to appoint assessors to the NPA that supports the IEA, and assisting the Department through the evaluation of substantial volumes of tenders and subsequent contract negotiations.