Part of what I wanted to do when I started as CEO of Governance Institute was to drive our advocacy in the market and strengthen our position as the leading independent voice on governance in Australia.
Already we have ramped up our policy work by engaging actively with the government and the regulators on upcoming proposed legislative and regulatory reform. We have also stepped up our engagement with other industry associations, our partners, and media to ensure our members’ views are even more widely disseminated.
We have now produced what I like to call a ‘cheat sheet’, a six-point, quick-fire reference guide that I like to cheekily slide under doors, drop on ASX Top 100 coffee tables, and pass to every political leader I meet who wants to learn more about what our organisation does.
Most importantly, I wanted this to be clearly articulated to our valued members.
A six-point, quick-fire reference guide that I like to cheekily slide under doors, drop on ASX Top 100 coffee tables, and pass to every political leader I meet who wants to learn more about what our organisation does.
So thanks again to: all our state councils; Catherine Maxwell and Michelle Huckel in our policy and advocacy team; all the thought leaders within our various committees; and everyone else who contributed.
Six policy priorities to improve the standards of governance and risk management in Australia
1. Promoting governance as the foundation of civil society
- To raise awareness of the importance of the role of the governance and risk management professional
- Advocating our key policy positions with government and regulators
- To further develop working partnerships with key national and international stakeholder groups — including the Australian Banking Association (ABA), Australian Institute of Company Directors, Australian Shareholders’ Association
- Promoting excellence in governance and risk management
- Educating Australia on good governance and risk management practices
2. Leading the debate on governance issues
- We are a member of the ASX Corporate Governance Council
- We are a member of the Institute of Chartered Secretaries and Administrators (ICSA) Thought Leadership Committee
- We are members of the International Corporate Governance Network
- We focus on researching and analysing current, and emerging, governance issues
- We provide in-depth analysis, research and leadership on governance issues
- We speak at relevant industry events to promote good governance and risk management practises nationwide
3. Advocating for fit-for-purpose business infrastructure
- We want adequately funded, accountable regulators
- We are advocating strongly for the Modernisation of business registers
- Ensuring ASX Listing rules are fair
- We helped draft the ASX Corporate Governance Council’s Corporate Governance Principles and Recommendations – we consider it to now be best practice
- Advocating for our members’ views on the ASX CHESS replacement project
- Ongoing submissions and recommendations based upon the Financial Services Royal Commission
4. Improving the regulatory environment to drive greater efficiency
- A focus on reducing regulatory complexity and red tape
- Advising on the practical impacts of legislative reform — Director Identification Numbers, anti-phoenixing, modern slavery
- We support charitable fundraising law reform via the #fixfundraising campaign
- Advocating for the modernisation and digital reform of the Corporations Act 2001
- To ensure our members are representing effectively with relevant regulatory and standard setting bodies:
- Australian Accounting Standards Board (AASB)
- Australian Competition and Consumer Commission (ACCC)
- Australian Charities and Not-For-Profits Commission (ACNC)
- Australian Human Rights Commission (AHRC)
- Australian Prudential Regulation Authority (APRA)
- Australian Security and Investments Commission (ASIC)
- ASX
- Standards Australia
5. Promoting ethics, integrity and accountability through good governance and risk management frameworks
- Reinforcing the importance of governance and risk management in the private, not-for-profit (including aged care) and public sectors
- Supporting Griffith University’s whistleblowing research project — Whistling while they work 2
- Promoting the importance of an ethical framework to underpin the use of AI in Australia
- Advocating for independent directors on superannuation boards
6. Empowering governance professionals with skills and knowledge
- Leveraging our thought leadership via research and analysis of current and emerging governance issues, such as:
- disclosure of social and environmental risks;
- strategies for dealing with regulators;
- shareholder resolutions; and
- issues around minutes-taking
- Strongly supporting the activities of our four policy committees
- Providing world-class member resources — for example, Good Governance Guides and the climate change resource library ·
- Creating and disseminating publications including Risk management for directors, Ethics Index, Adding value to governance in aged care, Guidelines: Whole-of-organisation governance
You too are welcome to share this with your colleagues and contemporaries — download our priorities flyer. This is not set in stone; this a ‘living’ high-level document — we aim to update it at least yearly to keep up with emerging priorities in the market. So don’t hesitate to reach out to your local reps to be a part of that discussion, and raise any future opportunities you feel the organisation can focus on.
Finally, join us at National Conference (now just seven weeks away!) to talk about all of the above in our world-class keynote sessions, interactive workshops, or winding down at the end of the day with a cocktail at our networking function.
I look forward to seeing you there.