Declaring secondary employment tips
Keen to hear about your experiences lodging a conflict of interest/secondary employment declaration, successful or not (especially if there's a lesson in it). Particularly if you own your own business or do contract/consultancy work for expert panels internationally. Asking for advice from those who understand governance and disclosures as well as procurement policies and have done it or assessed those themselves.
Background: long term public servant. I finished a government fixed-term role last year and started my own engineering consultancy shortly after. It's a properly registered company (ABN, GST, professional indemnity, Pty Ltd, sole director and employee). My clients are governments at various levels here and overseas. I acquire work exclusively by applying to open public tenders and through vendor panels, in line with standard procurement as well as taking some specialist short term contracts through niche agencies. I've just been offered a full-time local government position which I have accepted.
I have been doing expert panel work for a few years now but it was done through a different tax system as it was under the cap for ABN requirements and always declared rather than having to "apply for approval".
Under this council's policy I'll need to declare this/seek approval. I've been upfront about that throughout my negotiations. Policy is standard non-specific.
My business is in the same field as my qualifications and the role I'm going into, so the overlap is real, but I'd argue the conflict risk is manageable given how I operate, scope and the fact that I'd avoid any work related to this particular or neighbouring LGA. I also only operate through procurement supply.
Looking for advice on putting together a declaration that's thorough and honest, addresses any perceived or actual conflicts head-on, and anticipates the questions the approver is likely to ask. Has anyone navigated something similar?owning and operating a business with government clients while working as a public servant?
What helped, what didn't?
If you had an unsuccessful application and you learnt something from it, I'd also be keen to hear it.
TL;DR: Started my own company, been offered a PS role, need to declare the business, looking for advice on writing a solid conflict of interest/secondary employment declaration.
edit: clarification.