State Records Commission

Catherine holds law degrees and a graduate diploma in business management from the University of Western Australia.  She was admitted to practice in Western Australia in 1991.

For most of her career, Catherine has worked as a legal officer in the public sector at both State and Commonwealth agencies including the (formerly named) Crown Solicitors Office, at the Commonwealth and State Offices of the Director of Public Prosecutions and at Legal Aid WA.

Catherine, for several years, taught law and legal practice courses at the Articles Training Program (run by the Legal Practice Board) and at the Universities of Notre Dame and Western Australia. 

In addition to her legal work Catherine has held numerous voluntary roles on boards and committees including the Law Society of WA, Notre Dame University, Women Lawyers WA and several sporting organisations and governing bodies.

Catherine has always been active in several sports including Masters division water polo, representing WA on several occasions at national amateur surfing titles throughout Australia and has completed, in a team of four, the Rottnest Channel swim on four occasions.

Catherine has always had a keen interest in archival materials and historical research.

Caroline Spencer began her 10-year term as Western Australia’s 19th Auditor General in May 2018.

Caroline has extensive experience in state and federal public sector financial and performance audit. Prior to commencing as Auditor General, Caroline was Managing Partner and co-founder of a Canberra-based professional services firm where she led a team of financial and performance audit professionals, specialising in public sector audit and governance. In 2015, Caroline was appointed by the Parliament of Western Australia to lead the first statutory review of the performance of the Office of the Auditor General.

Having worked with public sector entities, audit offices and regulated entities across Australia and the Pacific, Caroline has a passion for promoting accountability and continuous improvement across the public sector and the audit profession – to enhance trust and performance for the benefit of the communities they serve.

Caroline has held a number of predominantly public sector appointments on boards and committees in multiple jurisdictions.

Having also worked for a ‘Big 4’ and a smaller Chartered firm, Caroline has audited publicly listed companies and some of Australia’s largest utilities. She is a Fellow and non-executive Director of CPA Australia, Chartered Accountant and member of the Australian Institute of Company Directors and the Governance Institute of Australia. She has a Bachelor of Business from the University of Technology Sydney.

David Robinson was appointed Deputy Ombudsman in February 2024. 

David has over 30 years’ experience in the Western Australian Public Sector including senior roles at the Department of Justice, the Department of the Premier and Cabinet, the Public Sector Commission, and the Corruption and Crime Commission. At the Commission he was Director Operations for 7 years and Acting Chief Executive for 18 months. 

In 2019 and 2021 David was a sessional academic at Edith Cowan University teaching a unit on misconduct and corruption prevention. 

David has a BA in History and Politics and an MA in Public Policy. 

Alan Ralph was first appointed to the State Records Commission in January 2019 and was re-appointed for a further three-year term in November 2021.

Alan currently has his own Consultancy Services company specialising in Archive analysis and advice, and was the State Director, National Archives of Australia (NAA) Western Australia (WA) from 2003-2018, leading and managing the performance and delivery of NAA archive and recordkeeping services to the public and government agencies in WA.

Alan has over 34 years’ experience in the National Archives working as a leader and manager of teams in both the NAA WA and Canberra (National) offices, focused on the development and delivery of archive and recordkeeping programs.

This experience also includes managing the performance, improvement and effectiveness of a unique multi-story 5500sqm archival facility in Perth.

Throughout his career Alan has held numerous voluntary roles on archive, records management and public sector boards and committees including Curtin University of Technology, Department of Information Studies, Edith Cowan University, School of Computer and Security Science, Records and Information Management Professionals Australasia (RIMPA), Australian Government, Public Sector Leadership (WA) Executive committee. He was the Convener of Australian Society of Archivists, WA Branch for over 10 years.

Alan has been an active participant in several amateur sports including Australian Rules Football, as a player, official for over 35 years and President of 13 years for a Perth based amateur football club. In 2014 he was awarded Life Membership of the Western Australian Amateur Football League (WAAFL) for his extensive commitments, efforts and involvement in amateur football. Currently based in Sydney, Alan continues his commitment and involvement in AFL. He regularly assists at the Sydney Swans AFL Academy.