Role
The independent examiners are experts contracted to Treasury to manage complaints against multinational enterprises brought to the AusNCP relating to implementation of the OECD Guidelines for Multinational Enterprises on Responsible Business Conduct (OECD Guidelines), including:
- communication and conciliation with parties
- decision making
- published statements on findings.
Independent evaluation and decisions
The examiners provide independent evaluation and decisions at each stage of the complaints process:
- Initial assessment to determine whether to accept, reject or transfer a complaint
- Good offices facilitated dialogue between parties
- Final statement recommendations about an enterprise’s actions consistent with OECD Guidelines
- Follow up with parties on recommendations.
Raise awareness
Independent examiners also assist in raising awareness of the AusNCP functions and promote responsible business conduct standards under the OECD Guidelines through their networks and events.
The examiners are supported by the AusNCP Secretariat in the Treasury and the Governance and Advisory Board.
Current independent examiners
Shanta Martin
Shanta is a Victorian barrister and accredited mediator with over 20 years’ specialisation in business and human rights. Her extensive international experience has contributed to her position as a trusted advisor on these issues to companies, governments and civil society.
Shanta practises in commercial, corporate regulatory, and public law in the Federal and Victorian courts and in commercial arbitrations.
A former partner of a London law firm, she has led international corporate accountability cases arising from human rights abuses, environmental harms and modern slavery.
As former head of Amnesty International’s global business and human rights program, she also contributed to development of the UN Guiding Principles and the human rights chapter of the OECD Guidelines.
Shanta has worked closely with communities affected by the operations of mining companies, including while head of Oxfam Australia’s extractive industries advocacy program. She also lived and worked in Central and South America as an international legal advisor advancing labour and environmental rights.
Shanta is an active member of the Law Council of Australia’s Business and Human Rights Committee, the Victorian Bar’s Human Rights Committee, and the board of the Human Rights Law Centre.
Shiv Martin
Shiv Martin was appointed as an AusNCP Independent Examiner on 10 June 2022.
Shiv is the Assistant Information Commissioner for the Queensland Government. She is experienced in making statutory decisions on the information and privacy rights of individuals, corporations and government entities.
Shiv is a nationally accredited mediator, practicing lawyer, statutory decision maker and certified vocational trainer. She’s engaged in dispute resolution, stakeholder engagement and team building in the government and legal sectors for over 10 years. She conducts private mediations and works as a facilitator for public sector workplaces and community organisations through her own practice.
She has conducted conferences and conciliations in her role as a Conference Registrar for the Administrative Appeals Tribunal. This included public sector disputes in tax, worker’s compensation, disability support and social services complaints.
Shiv is an active member of the South Queensland Dispute Resolution Centre. She’s taught dispute resolution at the University of Queensland and the University of Newcastle.
Aleta Moriarty
Aleta Moriarty was appointed as an AusNCP Independent Examiner for complaint 31 on 6 November 2023.
Aleta is a human rights expert with almost 20 years of experience. She is currently working as a Director at the Centre for Sustainability. She has worked on human rights for the United Nations, UN Women, the World Bank, and the Asian Development Bank.
She was previously appointed to the Australian Government Advisory Group on Business and Human Rights. She has held senior roles in the private sector, including the Global Manager for Ethics and Sustainability at Cotton On Group.
Aleta has a bachelor degree from Monash University and a masters degree in international relations from the University of Cambridge.
John Southalan
John Southalan was appointed as an AusNCP Independent Examiner on 29 July 2019.
John is a barrister, academic and accredited mediator based in Western Australia with extensive experience in responsible business conduct, dispute resolution and land‑resources issues.
He has over 15 years’ experience advising and representing parties in disputes involving land and resource use. This includes working with Indigenous groups, companies, pastoralists, civil society organisations, governments (in Australia and internationally).
John has advised governments in Australia and internationally on mining law. For over 8 years, he worked with the Australian Human Rights Commission and the Yamatji Marlpa Aboriginal Corporation in relation to Indigenous land rights.
John has taught and researched about the resources sector and its regulation at universities in Australia and overseas. He is a current affiliate of the Universities of Dundee, Western Australia, Murdoch, and Curtin.
John is an active member of the Resolution Institute and is accredited under their Online Dispute Resolution Certification Programme. He is also on the Native Title Mediator List of the Federal Court of Australia.