Alex Palmer is an employment, workplace relations and investigations lawyer with more than 25 years’ legal experience across private practice and senior in-house roles. She advises employers on workplace matters, investigations, whistleblowing, regulatory and business integrity risk, compliance and governance.
Alex’s career includes more than a decade at Allens Arthur Robinson (now Allens) and senior legal, litigation, ethics and compliance roles with Rio Tinto, Newcrest Mining and Newmont Corporation. At Newcrest, she served as Senior Corporate Counsel and Head of Ethics, Compliance and Tenure. Following Newmont’s takeover of Newcrest, Alex supported the integration of regulatory risk, ethics and compliance frameworks across the combined business.
Her current work at Rouse is predominantly employment law and workplace relations, supported by more than two decades of experience dealing with litigation, workplace conduct, investigations, regulatory risk and governance.
Alex advises employers on employment law and workplace relations matters, particularly where workplace issues involve conduct, disciplinary processes, termination, complaints, regulatory obligations or broader business risk. She also assists employers with front-end employment arrangements, including drafting employment contracts, designing engagement and classification models, and managing labour-hire compliance.
Her work includes matters involving misconduct allegations, grievances, bullying and harassment, conflicts of interest, inappropriate workplace relationships and employee conduct involving suspected fraud or dishonesty, as well as ensuring employment contracts and engagement arrangements are structured correctly to minimise risk and support compliant, defensible workforce management.
Alex also advises on employment and workplace issues where organisations need to consider legal, regulatory, reputational and governance risks together, helping employers establish clear, defensible frameworks and proactive systems that set them up for long-term success.
Alex conducts independent workplace investigations, including matters involving senior employees and sensitive allegations.
Her work includes:
Alex’s investigations experience extends beyond private legal practice. At Worklogic , she conducted procedurally fair and trauma-informed investigations into workplace misconduct, including bullying and sexual harassment, as well as cultural reviews.
At Newcrest, Alex designed and implemented global compliance and investigations frameworks, managed whistleblowing channels and conducted sensitive workplace investigations. She also assessed group-wide conduct risks and presented findings to senior leadership and Audit and Risk Committees.
Alex advises on whistleblowing and complaints frameworks, including matters involving protected disclosures, allegations concerning senior management and complaints that indicate broader systemic or cultural issues.
Her work includes designing and reviewing whistleblower frameworks, supporting responses to protected disclosures, establishing speak-up reporting and escalation processes, and identifying systemic conduct risks arising from complaints.
Alex also advises on business integrity risks involving bribery and corruption, fraud, conflicts of interest, gifts and benefits, sponsorships and third-party relationships.
Her experience includes risk assessments, third-party due diligence, control design, registers and compliance-framework development, as well as human rights and modern slavery risk assessments and reporting.
At Newcrest, Alex led work across ethics, compliance, investigations and conduct risk. She developed global compliance and investigations frameworks, managed whistleblowing channels, delivered ethics and compliance training and reported conduct and regulatory risks to senior leadership.
In 2023, Alex joined Newmont Corporation as Head of Ethics, Compliance and Integration, supporting Newmont’s Vice President and Chief Integrity and Compliance Officer following the takeover of Newcrest Mining.
Alex advises where employment, conduct and investigation issues intersect with regulatory obligations and broader organisational risk.
She assists with independent fact-finding, investigation strategy and evidence review, particularly where matters involve parallel employment, regulatory and reputational considerations.
Alex also advises boards and executives on legal and regulatory obligations, compliance gaps and governance frameworks, including through her consulting work with corporate and not-for-profit organisations.
Alex advises on privacy and information-handling risks arising in workplace investigations, employment matters and other sensitive organisational issues.
Her work includes privacy risk assessments, privacy impact assessments, privacy considerations in investigations, data governance and data-breach response support.
Alex also assists where transactions and commercial projects raise conduct, integrity or compliance risks.
Her work includes integrity due diligence, third-party risk review and identification of bribery, corruption and fraud exposure, as well as the integration of practical compliance controls following an acquisition.
Her experience integrating ethics and compliance frameworks following Newmont’s acquisition of Newcrest gives her direct in-house experience of compliance integration following a major corporate transaction.
Alex is a Graduate of the Australian Institute of Company Directors (GAICD) and has experience advising boards and executives on governance, risk, compliance and legal obligations.
She is currently a Non-Executive Director of Olivia’s Place, a Victorian not-for-profit supporting parents and families during pregnancy and early parenting, with a particular focus on legal, compliance, risk and regulatory matters.
Alex is also a current committee member of the AICD Regional Forum in Gippsland.
Her previous governance roles include:
Through Adari Legal, Alex also provides governance and compliance advice to corporate and not-for-profit clients, boards and executives, including compliance gap analysis, contract risk reviews and board training.
Alex practises as Alex Palmer. Her practising certificate is held in her full legal name, Tracy Alexandra Palmer.
From 2023 to 2024, Alex was Head of Ethics, Compliance and Integration at Newmont Corporation, supporting the integration of regulatory risk, ethics and compliance frameworks following Newmont’s takeover of Newcrest Mining.
Alex spent approximately a decade at Newcrest Mining, where her roles included Head of Ethics, Compliance and Tenure and Senior Corporate Counsel.
Before Newcrest, Alex was an Investigation Consultant at Worklogic and Senior Litigation Counsel at Rio Tinto, where she managed litigation and internal conduct and integrity investigations and worked with audit and risk teams on risk controls.
Alex spent more than a decade at Allens Arthur Robinson (now Allens), progressing to Senior Associate in Litigation and Dispute Resolution and advising on large and medium-scale litigation for blue-chip clients.
Her career began in London at Harrods, where she worked as an Employment Law Executive supporting HR and corporate functions on workplace investigations and employment law matters.
Alex’s speaking engagements include:
Speak with Alex Palmer when you need clear, commercial guidance on an employment or workplace relations matter, workplace investigation, whistleblowing or conduct issue, regulatory or business-integrity risk, or governance and compliance challenge. She helps employers navigate complexity with confidence and protect their people, reputation and performance.
