Caroline Heske

Areas of Practice

General civil litigation with particular expertise in matters relating to Northern Territory Government regulation and statutory compliance. She is currently developing her practice in personal injuries and workers compensation matters. Caroline has particular experience with mediation and investigations, as well as extensive experience working with government bodies to review, reform and implement legislation. She also has experience in criminal matters.

Career

Caroline was admitted as a lawyer in 2004 and commenced with the Office of the Director of Public Prosecutions (NT), where she worked as a prosecutor for three years. 

In 2008, Caroline joined Charles Darwin University as a Lecturer in Law, teaching evidence law, statutory interpretation, and criminology. She won Lecturer of the Year for the faculty of Law, Business and Arts.

In 2009, Caroline joined the Department of the Attorney-General and Justice to coordinate the creation of the Office of the Commissioner for Public Interest Disclosures, the predecessor to the ICAC. Over the following few years she performed the roles of Chief Investigation Officer for the Commissioner of Public Interest Disclosures, acting as Commissioner as required, Acting Director of the Anti-Discrimination Commission, and Acting Information Commissioner. She developed extensive experience investigating serious government misconduct and mediating complaints during this time, and was nominated for a Chief Minister’s Medal for her work. She also developed extensive knowledge of the Northern Territory’s freedom of information, privacy, and information sharing laws.

In 2016, Caroline joined Solicitor for the Northern Territory as a senior policy lawyer, tasked with leading the development of the legislation for the Independent Commissioner Against Corruption. After successfully completing this project, Caroline led various other legislative projects, including the development of a floor price for alcohol, industrial manslaughter laws, and COVID-19 tenancy laws. In this role she represented the Department in public briefings and before parliamentary committees. She advised on the compliance and enforcement regimes for numerous environmental and natural resources bills, and implemented a number of national reforms to the Uniform Evidence Legislation.

From 2020, Caroline led the Regulatory Team of the Commercial Division of Solicitor for the Northern Territory, providing complex legal and strategic advice to a range of government agencies regarding statutory interpretation, administrative law, and Constitutional law issues. The majority of this advice focused on natural resources legislation and data sharing, but also extended to diverse topics such as transport regulation, internet gaming, and government finance. She has expertise in Northern Territory regulatory practices and processes and statutory interpretation in the Territory context.

Caroline continues to be periodically engaged by Charles Darwin University as a lecturer, lecturing variously in business law, criminology, the Indigenous pre-law bridging program, and international data sharing.

In February 2023, Caroline was called to the Bar and joined William Forster Chambers.

Contact Details

Caroline Heske

William Forster Chambers
26 Harry Chan Avenue
Darwin NT 0800

PO Box 4369
DARWIN NT 0801

Tel: (08) 8982 4700
Email: cheske@williamforster.com