Meet Dwayne Currie

Dwayne Currie is an Expert Advisor at Proximity and has considerable legal experience. His key skills include excellent customer focus and highly effective leadership and management skills.

Dwayne and his partner Lisa can be seen regularly walking their golden retrievers and he may be found running, cycling, hiking or otherwise trying to keep active.

Q Tell us how you came to join Proximity.

A Previously I was General Counsel at the Australian Pesticides and Veterinary Medicines Authority (APVMA). I had become aware of Proximity through the Proximity Triathlon as I spent almost two decades being a triathlete I thought any organisation that put on a triathlon would have to be good to work for! When APVMA relocated to Armidale, I decided to remain in Canberra and reached out to Proximity. That was more than five years ago and I have since found a lot of other good reasons to stick around!

Q What is your proudest moment in a professional context?

A I received the Secretary’s award at the Dept of Infrastructure for management of my team. It was special as the team nominated me for the award (with no lobbying on my part!).

Q As a manager of people what is your biggest challenge?

A Managing high-performing staff can be difficult as you need to provide the right balance of autonomy and supervision.

Q What advice do you give to someone starting out in a career?

A Try to be flexible and don’t pre-judge roles or jobs. I never thought I would enjoy working in a role that dealt with pesticides and veterinary chemicals, but I loved it.

Q What keeps you awake at night?

A Post Robodebt, I am concerned that there seems to be an unrealistic expectation of the power of in-house lawyers to enforce the ‘correct’ legal decision or strategy. Also, my dog Quartz when he has an upset tummy (bless him).

Q With an eye to the future, what does success look like for you?

A From a personal perspective I’m focussed on qualifying for the Boston Marathon in the next 12 months. Professionally, I’m continuing to provide strategic legal support to government through legal secondment arrangements.

Q Away from work, what is your passion?

A I’m quite invested in my running at the moment (a looming marathon tends to do that!) having previously focussed on being a triathlete, I only started to focus on running the past few years. The other passion is my partner, Lisa, and our joint obsession with international travel (next stop, Norway and Finland!).